19. PAPER : ORIGAMI a. china : fragile b. syllabus : opus c. licorice : fennel d. lotion : emollient e. osier : baskets 20. MACHIAVELLIAN : DUPLICITOUS a. Faustian : pleasant b. Orwellian : intrusive c. Dickensian : palling d. Emersonian : dispiriting e. Proustian : succinct – THE GRE VERBAL SECTION– 125 Antonyms Instructions: In each of the following questions, you will be presented with a capitalized word followed by five answer choices lettered a — e. Select the answer word or phrase that has a meaning most nearly opposite to the initial word. Some of these questions will require you to discriminate among closely related word choices. Be sure you choose the answer that is most nearly opposed to the capitalized word. 1. AMBIVALENT : a. insecure b. inconstant c. positive d. cheerful e. insatiable 2. CATASTROPHIC : a. bold b. pleasurable c. salubrious d. nihilistic e. beneficial 3. PALATIAL : a. chintzy b. feudal c. democratic d. decorous e. subterranean 4. OMNISCIENT : a. resonant b. mutable c. ignorant d. superstitious e. phlegmatic 5. CAPITULATE : a. embolden b. simplify c. assuage d. persevere e. postulate 6. INDEMNIFY : a. call for assistance b. put at risk c. cause to collapse d. resist attack e. protect from harm 7. PALLIATE : a. accumulate b. exaggerate c. aggravate d. extirpate e. misconstrue 8. SYCOPHANTIC : a. flattering b. empathetic c. self-serving d. self-sufficient e. selfless 9. OUST : a. veer b. ensconce c. pacify d. purge e. enslave 10. ANOMALOUS : a. abnormal b. confident c. reserved d. ordinary e. careless 11. BRUSQUE : a. courteous b. diffident c. rancorous d. jaunty e. timely 12. AUDACIOUS : a. defiant b. daring c. timid d. simple e. possible 13. PALPABLE : a. without substance b. in lieu of c. easily deceived d. not forceful e. damaging 14. STAID : a. serious b. weak c. climactic d. solipsistic e. frivolous 15. LOQUACIOUS : a. meddlesome b. productive c. vivacious d. taciturn e. piddling 16. PROTRACTED : a. abridged b. circumvented c. excessive d. tangential e. monumental 17. OBLIQUE : a. hearty b. direct c. careful d. superlative e. insightful 18. DOLOROUS : a. passive b. fickle c. cheerful d. sincere e. incredulous – THE GRE VERBAL SECTION– 126 19. MUTABLE : a. fatuous b. confusing c. changeable d. elemental e. constant 20. SUPERFLUOUS : a. insouciant b. genteel c. essential d. obtuse e. undeserved – THE GRE VERBAL SECTION– 127 Sentence Completion Instructions: Each of the following sentences contains either one or two blanks. Below each question are answer choices lettered a — e. Select the lettered choice that best completes the sentence, bearing in mind its intended meaning. 1. Chemical fingerprints of space debris that has impacted the moon are similar to those found in meteorites that have struck the earth, prov- ing that ____________ and ____________ impacts derived from analogous sources. a. common…extraordinary b. lunar…terrestrial c. possibility…intergalactic d. dangerous…simultaneous e. interstellar…other 2. The truth is the truth; neither childish absurdi- ties, nor ____________ contradictions, can make it otherwise. a. unscrupulous b. true c. possible d. certain e. unseemly 3. Humans are necessarily social creatures, for whom ____________ is a matter of survival; however, as discrete entities, we often keenly experience yearnings for solitude. a. sustenance b. entertainment c. alienation d. encouragement e. collectivity 4. The wayfarer, with no companion but his staff, paused to exchange a word with the innkeeper, that the sense of ____________ might not utterly overwhelm him before he could reach the first house in the valley. a. fatigue b. rancor c. insufficiency d. loneliness e. miscalculation 5. In the twentieth century, artists found them- selves unshackled from the necessity to faith- fully reproduce appearances; and they used their liberation to develop a purely _____________ purpose in their _____________. a. transparent…assertions b. commercial…idolatry c. aesthetic…oeuvres d. benign…portfolios e. casual…attire 6. One theory of ancient human migration patterns holds that ____________ originated in Africa more than 100,000 years ago and from thence ____________ the remainder of the world. a. music…enchanted b. culture…freed c. savannahs…dotted d. glaciers…covered e. Homo sapiens…colonized 7. To the writings of the alchemists were almost certainly added spurious elements, which compounded the difficulty of deciphering the ____________ from the ____________ in an already disconcerting amalgam of fact and allegory. a. genuine…apocryphal b. gold…silver c. Latin…Greek d. witchcraft…wizardry e. wheat…chaff 8. It is no wonder that insect displays are very popular at zoological parks worldwide; ____________ make up over 90% of all ____________ on Earth. a. ants…insects b. zoos…museums c. arthropods…animals d. administrators…bureaucrats e. curators…people 9. Artistic expression is highly culture-specific; that is to say, the forms art takes and the functions it performs vary radically according to the ____________ location and ____________ of the artist. a. original…temperament b. geographic…ethnicity c. local…desires d. temperate…predilections e. possible…opportunities 10. The Industrial Revolution greatly improved physical living conditions for many European inhabitants; however, it also initially fomented ____________ working conditions and human rights transgressions such as ____________ labor. a. radical…intensive b. insufficient…malicious c. luxurious…inimical d. unsafe…child e. regressive…hard 11. In literature, a literal image is one that is unambiguously ____________ to sensory per- ception, but a ____________ image is subject to wide-ranging interpretation. a. apparent…figurative b. open…closer c. subject…possible d. interpretive…retractable e. closed…amorphous – THE GRE VERBAL SECTION– 128 12. Voltaire espoused the philosophy that an enlightened monarch would rule with benevo- lence; such a ruler, he believed, would promote ____________ in order to ____________ the rights of the populace. a. communication…clarify b. nutrition…purify c. conservation…countermand d. iniquity…evince e. reforms…enhance 13. Technical shortcomings hindered the advent of polyphonic music until the Renaissance era, when ____________ arrangements became increasingly common. a. popular b. romantic c. complex d. string e. electronic 14. Metacognition is the term for what, why, and how we know what we know; in other words, it is ____________ about ____________. a. much ado…nothing b. thinking…thinking c. potentially…knowledge d. convincing…explanation e. presumably…research 15. Science education can be greatly enhanced by the use of interactive videodisc technology; it can be a tremendous ____________ to see a scientific principle in action, rather than merely to read about it. a. advantage b. challenge c. tedium d. calamity e. perception 16. Rarely do we arrive at the summit of truth without running into extremes; in fact, we have frequently to exhaust the part of ____________, and even of ____________, before we work our way up to the noble goal of tranquil wisdom. a. yoga…tai chi b. opulence…complacency c. parcel…obedience d. error…folly e. ourselves…others 17. Any grand quest commences with the blind, intuitive calculation that, against all odds, the seeker will inevitably ____________. a. overreach b. commiserate c. triumph d. dominate e. participate 18. Examining the means by which traditional societies living in large groups keep all mem- bers supplied with food provides illuminating contrast between the objective material condi- tions of life and the culture bearers’ ____________ of those ____________. a. enchantment…groups b. perceptions…conditions c. scrutiny…societies d. contemplation…proofs e. illustrations…objects – THE GRE VERBAL SECTION– 129 19. Let it be remembered that this plan is neither recommended to blind approbation, nor to blind ____________, but to a sedate and can- did consideration. a. idiosyncrasy b. pathology c. appeasement d. uniformity e. reprobation 20. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid ____________ conversation. a. trifling b. assertive c. laudable d. dormant e. implausible – THE GRE VERBAL SECTION– 130 Reading Comprehension Instructions: Read the passages that follow. After each passage, answer the content-based questions about it. Each question must be answered using only the information that is either implied or stated in the passage. Laughter appears to stand in need of an echo. Listen to it carefully: It is not an articulate, clear, well- defined sound; it is something which would fain be prolonged by reverberating from one to another, something beginning with a crash, to continue in successive rumblings, like thunder in a mountain. Still, this reverberation cannot go on forever. It can travel within as wide a circle as you please: The circle remains, nonetheless, a closed one. Our laughter is always the laughter of a group. It may, perchance, have happened to you, when seated in a railway carriage or at table d’hote, to hear travelers relating to one another’s stories which must have been comic to them, for they laughed heartily. Had you been one of their company, you would have laughed like them; but, as you were not, you had no desire whatsoever to do so. A man who was once asked why he did not weep at a sermon, when everybody else was shedding tears, replied: “I don’t belong to the parish!” What that man thought of tears would be still more true of laughter. However sponta- neous it seems, laughter always implies a kind of secret freemasonry, or even complicity, with other laughers, real or imaginary. How often has it been said that the fuller the theater, the more uncon- trolled the laughter of the audience! On the other hand, how often has the remark been made that many comic effects are incapable of translation from one language to another, because they refer to the customs and ideas of a particular social group! It is through not understanding the impor- tance of this double fact that the comic has been looked upon as a mere curiosity in which the mind finds amusement, and laughter itself as a strange, isolated phenomenon, without any bear- ing on the rest of human activity. Hence those definitions that tend to make the comic into an abstract relation between ideas:“an intellectual contrast,”“a palpable absurdity,”etc.,—definitions that, even were they really suitable to every form of the comic, would not in the least explain why the comic makes us laugh. How, indeed, should it come about that this particular logical relation, as soon as it is perceived, contracts, expands, and shakes our limbs, while all other relations leave the body unaffected? It is not from this point of view that we shall approach the problem. To (5) (10) (15) (20) . hearty b. direct c. careful d. superlative e. insightful 18. DOLOROUS : a. passive b. fickle c. cheerful d. sincere e. incredulous – THE GRE VERBAL SECTION 126 19. MUTABLE : a. fatuous b. confusing c open…closer c. subject…possible d. interpretive…retractable e. closed…amorphous – THE GRE VERBAL SECTION 1 28 12. Voltaire espoused the philosophy that an enlightened monarch would rule with benevo- lence;. constant 20. SUPERFLUOUS : a. insouciant b. genteel c. essential d. obtuse e. undeserved – THE GRE VERBAL SECTION 127 Sentence Completion Instructions: Each of the following sentences contains either