多选题 Directions: For the following questions, select the two answer choices that, when used to complete the sentence, fit the meaning of the sentence as a whole and produce completed sentences that are alike in meaning.

多选题 Normally an individual thunderstorm lasts about 45 minutes, but under certain conditions the storm may ______ , becoming ever more severe, for as long as four hours.

A. wane
B. moderate
C. persist
D. endure
E. vacillate
F. disperse

多选题 Perhaps because something in us instinctively distrusts such displays of natural fluency, some readers approach John Updike's fiction with ______.

A. wariness
B. indifference
C. suspicion
D. veneration
E. bewilderment
F. remorse

多选题 We lost confidence in him because he never ______ the grandiose promises he had made.

A. forgot about
B. reneged on
C. carried out
D. tired of
E. delivered on
F. retreated from

多选题 We were amazed that a man who had been heretofore the most ______ of public speakers could, in a single speech, electrify an audience and bring them cheering to their feet.

A. prosaic
B. enthralling
C. accomplished
D. pedestrian
E. auspicious
F. iconoclastic

多选题 Despite the mixture's ______ nature, we found that by lowering the temperature in the laboratory we could dramatically reduce its tendency to vaporize.

A. resilient
B. homogeneous
C. volatile
D. insipid
E. acerbic
F. unstable

多选题 In a revolutionary development in technology, some manufacturers now make biodegradable forms of plastic; some plastic trash bags, for example, gradually ______ when exposed to sunlight.

A. harden
B. stagnate
C. inflate
D. propagate
E. decompose
F. disintegrate

多选题 Aimed at curbing European attempts to seize territory in the Americas, the Monroe Doctrine was a warning to ______ foreign powers.

A. pertinacious
B. cautionary
C. credulous
D. rapacious
E. predatory
F. remote

多选题 Few other plants can grow beneath the canopy of the sycamore tree, whose leaves and pods produce a natural herbicide that leaches into the surrounding soil, ______ other plants that might compete for water and nutrients.

A. inhibiting
B. distinguishing
C. nourishing
D. suppressing
E. harvesting
F. fertilizing

多选题 The child was so spoiled by her indulgent parents that she pouted and became ______ when she did not receive all of their attention.

A. discreet
B. suspicious
C. elated
D. sullen
E. tranquil
F. grumpy

多选题 The reasoning in this editorial is so ______ that we cannot see how anyone can be deceived by it.

A. unsound
B. coherent
C. astute
D. dispassionate
E. scrupulous
F. specious

多选题 Because Inspector Morse could not contain his scorn for the police commissioner, he was imprudent enough to make ______ remarks about his superior officer.

A. ambiguous
B. impartial
C. unfathomable
D. contemptuous
E. scathing
F. pertinent

多选题 Though he was theoretically a friend of labor, his voting record in Congress ______ that impression.

A. implied
B. confirmed
C. created
D. belied
E. tallied
F. contradicted

多选题 Modern architecture has discarded trimming on buildings and has concentrated ______ on an almost Greek simplicity of line.

A. flamboyant
B. ornate
C. austere
D. inconspicuous
E. aesthetic
F. derivative

多选题 The young clerk was quickly promoted when his employers saw how ______ he was.

A. indigent
B. assiduous
C. autocratic
D. industrious
E. intractable
F. self-serving

多选题 Because it arrives so early in the season, before many other birds, the robin has been called the ______ of spring.

A. prototype
B. hostage
C. harbinger
D. herald
E. progeny
F. newcomer