Sat-reading-1

Excavation is, in essence, an act of _________:

to clear a site down to the lowest level means

that all the upper levels are completely

obliterated

• exploration

• destruction

• validation

• malice

• spontaneity

Hummingbirds use spider silk to strengthen

nest walls to better _______ the weight and

pressure of wriggling hatchlings.

• withstand

• discern

• expose

• transmute

• induce

A map purporting to show that Vikings charted

North America long before Columbus, ____ as

a fraud in 1974, could turn out to be ____ after

all, according to California scientists.

• honored...questionable

• condemned...superficial

• branded...genuine

• labeled...fragmentary

• dismissed...extant

Although the poet Stevie Smith had a childhood

that was far from ____, she always

envied children, believing they alone had the

ideal life.

• idyllic

• envious

• indifferent

• dubious

• neutral

A prudent, thrifty New Englander, DeWitt was

naturally ____ of investing money in junk

bonds, which he looked on as ____ ventures.

• enamored...worthless

• terrified...sound

• chary...risky

• tired...profitable

• cognizant...provincial

In Christopher’s _____ family, _____ begun

over dinner frequently carried over for days.

• contentious...arguments

• abstemious...accusations

• garrulous...doubts

• assiduous...conversations

• irreverent...rituals

The Cabinet member’s resignation was not a

total ____: rumors of his imminent departure

had been making the rounds in Washington for

a week.

• withdrawal

• success

• shock

• eclipse

• pretense

It is possible to analyze a literary work to

death, ____ what should be a living experience

as if it were a laboratory specimen.

• questioning

• dissecting

• amending

• nurturing

• reviving

The wagon train leaders chose to ____ their

route when they realized that the heavy rains

had made fording the river too ____ a task.

• question...uncomplicated

• disregard...common

• abandon...legitimate

• alter...impracticable

• follow...elusive

Anthropologists traditionally argue that the

male-female division of labor in hunter-gatherer

societies arose because it ____ the nuclear

family’s joint interests and thereby represented

a sound, ____ strategy.

• impaired...collaborative

• respected...divisive

• ignored...disinterested

• restricted...provisional

• promoted...cooperative