021. But in many cases consumers are misled if they believe organic foods can maintain health and provide better nutritional quality than conventionally grown foods. So there is real cause for concern if consumers, particularly those with limited incomes, distrust the regular food supply and buy only expensive organic foods instead.
The word "maintain" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) improve
(B) monitor
(C) preserve
(D) restore
022. In addition, there were performers and since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in the enactment of rites, religious leaders usually assumed that task.
The word "considerable" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) thoughtful
(B) substantial
(C) relational
(D) ceremonial
023. In addition, there were performers and since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in the enactment of rites, religious leaders usually assumed that task. The word "enactment" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) establishment
(B) performance
(C) authorization
(D) season
024. Staggering tasks confronted the people of the United States, North and South, when the Civil War ended. About a million and a half soldiers from both sides had to be demobilized, readjusted to civilian life, and reabsorbed by the devastated economy.
The word "Staggering" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) specialized
(B) confusing
(C) various
(D) overwhelming
025. About a million and a half soldiers from both sides had to be demobilized, readjusted to civilian life, and reabsorbed by the devastated economy.
The word "devastated" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) developing
(B) ruined
(C) complicated
(D) fragile
026. Some botanists hypothesized that the living cells of plants acted as pumps. But many experiments demonstrated that the stems of plants in which all the cells are killed can still move water to appreciable heights.
The word "demonstrated" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) ignored
(B) showed
(C) disguised
(D) distinguished
027. As water is lost from the surface of the leaves, a negative pressure, or tension, is created. The evaporated water is replaced by water moving from inside the plant in unbroken columns that extend from the top of a plant to its roots. The same forces that create surface tension in any sample of water are responsible for the maintenance of these unbroken columns of water.
The word "extend" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) stretch
(B) branch
(C) increase
(D) rotate
028. By opening vast areas of unoccupied land for residential expansion, the omnibuses, horse railways, commuter trains, and electric trolleys pulled settled regions outward two to four times more distant from city centers than they were in the premodern era.
The word "vast" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) large
(B) basic
(C) new
(D) urban
029. The new accessibility of land around the periphery of almost every major city sparked an explosion of real estate development and fueled what we now know as urban sprawl. Between 1890 and 1920, for example, some 250,000 new residential lots were recorded within the borders of Chicago, most of them located in outlying areas.
The word "sparked" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) brought about
(B) surrounded
(C) sent out
(D) followed
030. Anxious to take advantage of the possibilities of commuting, real estate developers added 800,000 potential building sites to the Chicago region in just thirty years- lots that could have housed five to six million people.
The word "potential" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) certain
(B) popular
(C) improved
(D) possible
031. The quality of preservation is outstanding, but what is even more impressive is the number of ichthyosaur fossils containing preserved embryos.
The word "outstanding" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) extensive
(B) surprising
(C) vertical
(D) excellent
032. Ichthyosaurs with embryos have been reported from 6 different levels of the shale in a small area around Holzamden, suggesting that a specific site was used by large numbers of ichthyosaurs repeatedly over time.
The word "site" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) example
(B) location
(C) development
(D) characteristic
033. The quality of preservation is almost unmatched, and quarry operations have been carried out carefully with an awareness of the value of the fossils. But these factors do not account for the interesting question of how there came to be such a concentration of pregnant ichthyosaurs in a particular place very close to their time of giving birth.
The phrase "account for " is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) record
(B) describe
(C) equal
(D) explain
034. In the seventeenth century the organ, the clavichord, and the harpsichord became the chief instruments of the keyboard group, a supremacy they maintained until the piano supplanted them at the end of the eighteenth century.
The words "a supremacy" in line 9 are closest in meaning to
(A) a suggestion
(B) an improvement
(C) a dominance
(D) a development
035. A series of mechanical improvements continuing well into the nineteenth century, including the introduction of pedals to sustain tone or to soften it, the perfection of a metal frame, and steel wire of the finest quality, finally produced an instrument capable of myriadtonal effects from the most delicate harmonies to an almost orchestral fullness of sound, from a liquid, singing tone to a sharp, percussive brilliance.
The word "myriad" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) noticeable
(B) many
(C) loud
(D) unusual
036. Each one was virtually a stone town, which is why the Spanish would later call them pueblos, the Spanish word for towns. These pueblos represent one of the Anasazis' supreme achievements. At least a dozen large stone houses took shape below the bluffs of Chiaco Canyon in northwest New Mexico.
The word "supreme" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) most common
(B) most outstanding
(C) most expensive
(D) most convenient
037. They functioned as sanctuaries where the elders met to plan festivals, perform ritual dances, settle pueblo affairs, and impart tribal lore to the younger generation.
The word "settle" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) sink
(B) decide
(C) clarify
(D) locate
038. Then, to connect the pueblos and to give access to the surrounding tableland, the architects laid out a system of public roads with stone staircases for ascending cliff faces.
The word "ascending" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) arriving at
(B) carving
(C) connecting
(D) climbing
039. Within a very short time, however, the incongruity of playing lively music to a solemn film became apparent, and film pianists began to take some care in matching their pieces to the mood of the film.
The word "solemn" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) simple
(B) serious
(C) short
(D) silent
040. Certain films had music especially composed for them. The most famous of these early special scores was that composed and arranged for D. W. Griffith's film Birth of a Nation, which was released in 1915.
The word "composed" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) selected
(B) combined
(C) played
(D) created
The word "scores" is closest in meaning to which of following?
(A) totals
(B) successes
(C) musical compositions
(D) groups of musicians