1. It was discovered that nerve receptors in the face tell the heart to ________ down the instant we hit water, causing pulse rates to drop.
- A. Slow
- B. Race
- C. Settle
- D. Choke
- E. Throttle
2. Among the dangers of free diving, the most ________ is the brain's frightening tendency to shut down within 15 feet of the surface during the ascent.
- A. Comforting
- B. Perplexing
- C. Predictable
- D. Disconcerting
- E. Unpredictable
3. Without ________ action, the atmosphere's concentration of greenhouse gases is expected to double from pre-industrial levels by the end of this century.
- A. Expeditious
- B. Valuable
- C. Expendable
- D. Crucial
- E. Prompt
4. Blood vessels in the skin and extremities constrict, while those in the brain, heart and lungs dilate, ________ blood to the places that count.
- A. Delegating
- B. Shunting
- C. Bleeding
- D. Diverting
- E. Relegating
5. The researchers called for ________ new efforts to improve existing technologies and develop others like fusion reactors or space-based solar power plants.
- A. Deleterious
- B. Detrimental
- C. Intensive
- D. Adverse
- E. Exhaustive
6. The envelope, at least in part, is formed at the end cell division by ________ fragments of the endoplasmic reticulum.
- A. Amalgamating
- B. Dispersing
- C. Rescinding
- D. Coalescing
- E. Disintegrating
7. He belongs to an international panel of experts that works under United Nations ________.
- A. Aura
- B. Auspices
- C. Aeonian
- D. Adytum
- E. Aegis
8. The crux of his speech was that the issue of climate change remains too complex and ________ to generate the requisite focus.
- A. Multifarious
- B. Facile
- C. Contentious
- D. Debatable
- E. Homogenous
9. In the party that has ruled the country for 25 years continuously, factionalism is not something ________.
- A. Inappropriate
- B. Obscure
- C. Unseemly
- D. Appropriate
- E. Familiar
10. A ________ in his nature shows through his record of teaching English in a Junior High School and not trying to speak that language in public later.
- A. Monotony
- B. Tenacity
- C. Split
- D. Dichotomy
- E. Bonding
11. Until the mid-20th century, scientists believed that the human chest cavity would ________ at a depth of around 115 feet underwater.
- A. Explode
- B. Implode
- C. Cave in
- D. Saturate
- E. Drown
12. When he was the President, he gave the impression of an extremely cautious man with high ________ for consensus.
- A. Veneration
- B. Contempt
- C. Trepidation
- D. Reverence
- E. Apathy
13. It is evident that this point of view is given ________ by the prevalence of multinucleate cells.
- A. Citation
- B. Credibility
- C. Casualty
- D. Causality
- E. Credence
14. He cannot be facing an easy future as the country's next leader and there is nothing to show yet that he will be drawing on secret reserves of ________.
- A. Leadership
- B. Oratory
- C. Vigour
- D. Dynamism
- E. Resolve
15. This is a superstitious practice that can be traced back to great ________, possibly to about 50,000 BC.
- A. Archaism
- B. Innovation
- C. Novelty
- D. Antiquity
- E. Modernity
16. Amidst the strong criticisms, there were two distinct arguments that could easily be ________.
- A. Annulled
- B. Cultivated
- C. Discerned
- D. Neglected
- E. Ascertained
17. The training is highly specific and those who receive it have neither the capacity nor the ________ to quit.
- A. Inducement
- B. Impiety
- C. Incapability
- D. Incentive
- E. Incertitude
18. This is a ritual which is ________ from the very dawn of human culture and which has been practiced in most parts of the world.
- A. Detested
- B. Followed
- C. Attested
- D. Resisted
- E. Affirmed
19. It was argued that business schools must be either unnecessary or ________ because Japan does so well without them.
- A. Detrimental
- B. Deleterious
- C. Delectable
- D. Deliberative
- E. Deliberate
20. The ________ belief is that management should be born out of experience and many years of effort and not learnt from educational institutions.
- A. Atrocious
- B. Noteworthy
- C. Customary
- D. Mirthful
- E. Prevailing
21. The ________ among these traditional elements has made the industry highly productive and given corporate leadership a longer-term view.
- A. Discord
- B. Harmony
- C. Discontent
- D. Rivalry
- E. Amicability
22. Preventive action of this kind has a further significance, for it implies a belief that the dead might be ________ and had power to harm the living.
- A. Magnanimous
- B. Auspicious
- C. Malevolent
- D. Vindictive
- E. Melancholy
23. All definite knowledge belongs to science; all ________ as to what surpasses definite knowledge to theology.
- A. Dogma
- B. Ambiguity
- C. Belay
- D. Belief
- E. Ambidexterity
24. Everything that passes between the cytoplasm and the nucleus in the eukaryotic cell must ________ the nuclear envelope.
- A. Transude
- B. Transverse
- C. Crank
- D. Transpose
- E. Cross
25. It is not good either to forget the questions that philosophy asks, or to persuade ourselves that we have found ________ answers to them.
- A. Irrational
- B. Ironical
- C. Indubitable
- D. Irrefutable
- E. Interactive
26. We lend stars our affections only and we lend businessmen our chance of future _________.
- A. Affections
- B. Affluence
- C. Bankruptcy
- D. Prosperity
- E. Businesses
27. It is like an algebraic equation where the equation is the only truth, and the _________ may stand for anything.
- A. Truth
- B. Equation
- C. Terms
- D. Algebra
- E. Conditions
28. All this is an allegory – the _________ of reality in the mirror of illusion.
- A. Restoration
- B. Reflection
- C. Termination
- D. Manifestation
- E. Creation
29. The interpretation of this mystery, however, is so well known so as to need no _________.
- A. Explanation
- B. Expedition
- C. Elation
- D. Expedience
- E. Elaboration
30. It safeguards the example, _________ it from contamination with history, and protects it from contact with the industrialized, urban world.
- A. Innovates
- B. Inoculates
- C. Immunises
- D. Imbibes
- E. Intoxicates
31. A distant train whistle is heard, and the sounds of construction in the clearing _________ with the cries of birds and the rustle of wind in the trees.
- A. Whistle
- B. Mingle
- C. Vie
- D. Clash
- E. Compete
32. The prize competition was ____ as a showcase for new technology, but instead the competition was marred by disqualifications and disputes.
A. disappointing
B. conceived
C. touted
D. heralded
E. promising
F. required
33. The new institute provides intensive postgraduate teaching to a wide range of students, in the hope that these students will use their knowledge to boost the country's ____ economy.
A. languishing
B. emerging
C. booming
D. domestic
E. bankrupt
F. flagging
34. Like other metaphors, the "book of Nature" has two facets: it is ____ but if taken literally, it may mislead.
A. heuristic
B. perceptive
C. poetic
D. insightful
E. prosaic
F. iconoclastic
35. The increasing interactivity emerging in the latest computer systems means that the traditional view of the computer as a ____ of information now unduly limiting.
A. gleaner
B. transformer
C. processor
D. producer
E. repository
F. cache
36. Turing's life exerts a powerful and ____ effect on writers – the combination of the highly intellectual and the personally dramatic is hard to resist.
A. abiding
B. pervasive
C. perennial
D. irresistible
E. unmitigated
F. multifaceted
37. As a result of his regimented upbringing, that left him unable to see the nuances of complex situations, he was often accused of being ____ .
A. indecisive
B. tyrannical
C. obtuse
D. boorish
E. xenophobic
F. imperceptive
38. It is paradoxical that String Theory inspires such widespread respect when it is so ____ that few could ever hope to master its claims.
A. intractable
B. confusing
C. elevated
D. arcane
E. obscure
F. rigorous
39. Those with a reputation for ____ behavior seldom inspire respect: unwavering adherence to a viewpoint is more admired than flexibility.
A. capricious
B. bombastic
C. dogmatic
D. fickle
E. honorable
F. stalwart
40. The courtiers of the time had to be ____ in order to survive in an atmosphere where the least sign of rebellion could lead to banishment or worse.
A. taciturn
B. fawning
C. docile
D. self-serving
E. upright
F. servile
41. Forgiveness was fine in theory, but she had trouble in accepting a religion that would allow ____ evil-doers access to heaven.
A. repentant
B. contrite
C. blatant
D. venial
E. pardoned
F. recalcitrant
42. The Countess dressed with a (an) ____ elegance which seemed to proclaim to the world just how distinguished she was.
A. studied
B. pronounced
C. ingenuous
D. understated
E. mannered
F. rococo
43. It is a waste of time to ____ someone so dimwitted; he is too dull to recognize your barbs.
A. disparage
B. ridicule
C. lampoon
D. laud
E. enlighten
F. train
44. The teacher was so abstracted that she gave a ____ evaluation of what was really an interesting solution to the problem she had set.
A. philosophical
B. cursory
C. detailed
D. considered
E. perfunctory
F. tangential
45. Punishment for transgressions of the law ceases to have a deterrent effect if the punishment is frequently ____ .
A. arbitrary
B. changed
C. waived
D. lenient
E. commuted
F. applied
46. Not only love affects the eye of the beholder; other emotions also ____ the interpretation of the events that we witness.
A. cloud
B. trigger
C. devalue
D. color
E. objectify
F. impact
47. The human mind can often reject the most ____ data in favor of something that, though valueless, at least sounds familiar.
A. anomalous
B. inconsequential
C. peripheral
D. pertinent
E. germane
F. visible
48. ____ behavior never has the effect its practitioners hope for; the attempt to hide only draws attention to what is hidden.
A. Misogynistic
B. Puritanical
C. Covert
D. Miserly
E. Prudish
F. Camouflaging
49. He completed the work with unusual ____ ; his need to get out of the office overcame his habitual torpor.
A. dispatch
B. grace
C. effectiveness
D. slovenliness
E. carelessness
F. celerity
50. When Smithers took over as chairperson, her colleagues were looking forward to a less confrontational time on the board of governors, since they reasoned that no one else was likely to be as ____ as her predecessor.
A. mordant
B. aggressive
C. flexible
D. bellicose
E. complaisant
F. jaundiced
51. When faced with an urgent problem for which there is no immediately obvious solution, we tend to welcome any suggestion, however ____ , that might throw light on the dilemma.
A. unusual
B. hackneyed
C. tentative
D. outrageous
E. illuminating
F. flimsy
52. Mannering's personal diary, a record of ____ preoccupations and domestic details, belies the depth of thought for which he was renowned in the academic world.
A. philosophical
B. mundane
C. petty
D. weighty
E. erudite
F. untoward
53. Animal welfare charities have found that extensive advertising, especially over the Christmas period, can actually drive down the volume of donations as people who view images of maltreated pets more than a few times rapidly become ____ .
A. inured
B. miserly
C. disgusted
D. hardened
E. bored
F. overwrought
54. The study's ____ conclusion is that during the first half of the 20th Century improved standards of personal hygiene reduced the risk of an individual's contracting poliomyelitis, yet tended to make the disease more lethal to communities.
A. exciting
B. paradoxical
C. unwarranted
D. long-awaited
E. anomalous
F. interim
55. The devotion to the syllabus and testing regime has become so extreme that most school students close their minds to anything ____ to the needs of the examination.
A. related
B. catering
C. extraneous
D. similar
E. helpful
F. peripheral
56. The ____ tone of the biography is entirely unexpected since both the biographer in her previous works and her subject in all that he has written have valued levity over solemnity.
A. lugubrious
B. jaunty
C. jocose
D. frivolous
E. ironic
F. melancholy
57. After hours of acrimonious arguments the negotiations reached a(n) _____ ; neither side was willing to compromise.
A. solution
B. impasse
C. conclusion
D. end
E. deadlock
F. resolution
58. This new staging of King Lear is not a production in which every aspect falls neatly into place throughout; however, the drama does ____ at certain points to give the audience memorable and thought-provoking moments.
A. coalesce
B. crystallize
C. triumph
D. flower
E. dissolve
F. transcend
59. The teacher's mercurial mood changes and ____ approach to grading made the students uneasy; they never knew what would please him or what would earn good marks.
A. tardy
B. authoritarian
C. strict
D. ambivalent
E. whimsical
F. hidebound
60. The book is an attempt on the part of the eminent scholar to reconcile the ____ experience and theoretical underpinnings of certain everyday phenomena.
A. philosophical
B. empirical
C. arcane
D. practical
E. superficial
F. obtuse
61. The last candidate interviewed conducted herself with commendable ____ even when badgered with questions that had drawn unseemly outbursts from all the other interviewees.
A. pertinacity
B. adroitness
C. alacrity
D. decorum
E. propriety
F. presence of mind
62. ____ adherence to outdated political ideas and defunct sects characterized the last years of a man who had, surprisingly, been one of the most flexible thinkers of the 1920s.
A. Intransigent
B. Vacillating
C. Sectarian
D. Confused
E. Frantic
F. Dogged
63. The ____ effects of constant noise drove Natasha to seek refuge in a more salubrious spot until she recovered her mental equilibrium.
A. stimulating
B. debilitating
C. deafening
D. enervating
E. soporific
F. precipitating
64. Grandfather liked us children to learn self-discipline, and, unlike many others of his generation, seldom ____ us even for those actions that we felt deserved censure.
A. rewarded
B. consoled
C. upbraided
D. applauded
E. cherished
F. chided
65. To the layman, a philosopher who attempts to elucidate a complex moral dilemma by reducing it to a simple yet apparently ridiculous test case seems rather to ____ the issue.
A. ridicule
B. obfuscate
C. over-simplify
D. denigrate
E. becloud
F. attenuate
66. Fraser taught by example: he ____ long-windedness in his own lectures and berated his students for any tendency toward circumlocution.
A. eschewed
B. epitomized
C. accentuated
D. embraced
E. welcomed
F. shunned
67. If he had not had the ____ to follow his own iconoclastic theories in the face of the apparently unassailable conclusion of the accepted experts in the field, progress would have been inestimably slower in this area of knowledge.
A. incentive
B. audacity
C. temerity
D. incapacity
E. unwillingness
F. wisdom
68. With an abiding interest in Medieval poetry, Boris found it difficult to relate to his peers in school whose ____ ran to nothing even remotely literary.
A. predilections
B. successes
C. inclinations
D. backgrounds
E. achievements
F. amities
69. The novel is admittedly not the finest example of its genre, but I object to the ____ preface written by a supposed expert on detective fiction from whom we might have expected at least one or two perceptive comments.
A. egregious
B. inane
C. pretentious
D. subliminal
E. vacuous
F. unexamined
70. It is not only the poor and uneducated that fall prey to ____ ; desperate or unhappy individuals from any walk of life or social background can be duped.
A. mavericks
B. malcontents
C. quacks
D. charlatans
E. agitators
F. hypochondriacs
71. The director, accustomed to unquestioning loyalty, was chagrined when she discovered that her directions had been ____ by the chief executive.
A. underscored
B. misinterpreted
C. undermined
D. misplaced
E. substantiated
F. subverted
72. Even though Byron is frequently glib, it is still hard to dismiss him as a ____ thinker.
A. superficial
B. profound
C. lightweight
D. lucid
E. verbose
F. uncompromising
73. Far from being an innocent prank, their action is a ____ attempt to spoil my reputation.
A. malicious
B. salubrious
C. naive
D. saturnine
E. innocuous
F. callous
74. Although his findings were initially greeted with ____ , the unlikely hero was finally vindicated when the French Academy acknowledged his work.
A. derision
B. accolades
C. commendations
D. sympathy
E. jubilation
F. incredulity
75. Their latest theory aims to integrate the seemingly ____ elements of twenty years of research to form a coherent whole.
A. relevant
B. sporadic
C. incessant
D. disparate
E. discrete
F. extensive
76. Svensson's ____ in his work earned him few friends: his colleagues probably thought that he would be unwilling to overlook their foibles.
A. xenophobia
B. mendacity
C. meticulousness
D. intuition
E. punctiliousness
F. prevarication
77. Icons would be well-advised to write their own memoirs; there are too many ____ writers out there who forego accuracy to pander to the preconceptions of the market.
A. creative
B. lackluster
C. hackneyed
D. sycophantic
E. fawning
F. best-selling
78. Both commentators noted the way that Dylan can submerge himself in tradition while somehow managing to create works of startling ____.
A. gestation
B. singularity
C. provenance
D. conservatism
E. nonchalance
F. originality
79. When aid is given to an autocracy, the donors are prone to rationalize their decision to support non-democratic governments, and thus lay themselves open to the charge of ____.
A. negligence
B. hypocrisy
C. equivocation
D. slander
E. autonomy
F. nepotism
80. The insertion of a fiction into a news bulletin cannot be condoned, but inserting propaganda for a good cause seems less ____.
A. untoward
B. democratic
C. reprehensible
D. credible
E. insupportable
F. utilitarian
81. In showing the shocking images of depravity and degradation, the curators of the art museum said that the importance of historical accuracy outweighed the danger of encouraging ____.
A. prurience
B. avarice
C. vandalism
D. voyeurism
E. outrage
F. torture
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