多选题Years of neglect had left the inside of the building in ______ condition: workstations were filthy and furnishings were dilapidated.

多选题Tocqueville, apparently, was wrong. Jacksonian America was not a fluid, egalitarian society where individual wealth and poverty were ephemeral conditions. At least so argues E. Pessen in his iconoclastic study of the very rich in the United States between 1825 and 1850. Pessen does present a quantity of examples, together with some {{U}}refreshingly intelligible statistics,{{/U}} to establish the existence of an inordinately wealthy class. Though active in commerce or the professions, most of the wealthy were not self-made, but had inherited family fortunes. In no sense mercurial, these great fortunes survived the financial panics that destroyed lesser ones. Indeed, in several cities the wealthiest one percent constantly increased its share until by 1850 it owned half of the community's wealth. Although these observations are true, Pessen overestimates their importance by concluding from them that the undoubted progress toward inequality in the late eighteenth century continued in the Jacksonian period and that the United States was a class-ridden, plutocratic society even before industrialization. The author's attitude toward Pessen's presentation of statistics can be best described as A. disapproving B. shocked C. suspicious D. amused E. laudatory

多选题The {{U}}common{{/U}} belief of some linguists that {{U}}each language is a perfect vehicle{{/U}} for the thoughts of the nation speaking it is in some ways the exact counterpart of the conviction of the Manchester school of economics that supply and demand will regulate everything for the best. Just as economists were blind to the numerous cases in which the law of supply and demand left actual wants unsatisfied, so also many linguists are deaf to those instances in which the very nature of a language calls forth misunderstandings in everyday conversation, and in which, consequently, a word has to be modified or defined in order to present the idea intended by the speaker: "He took his stick—no, not John's, but his own." {{U}}No language is perfect{{/U}}, and if we admit this truth, we must also admit that it is not unreasonable to investigate the relative merits of different languages or of different details in languages. The primary purpose of the passage is to A. analyze an interesting feature of the English language. B. refute a belief held by some linguists. C. show that economic theory is relevant to linguistic study. D. illustrate the confusion that can result from the improper use of language. E. suggest a way in which languages can be made more nearly perfect.

多选题To avoid being ______, composer Stephen Sondheim strives for an element of surprise in his songs.

多选题In addition ______ stacks of resumes and references, some employers want to ______ the hiring process by employing graphologists to study applicants hand-writing for character analysis.

多选题The picture book Red Sings from Treetops ______ the changing seasons, with whimsical illustrations that ______ colors, sounds, and tastes associated with different times of the year.

多选题The instability of the regime, ______ by global economic woes, unfortunately led to a national ______.

多选题The painter lamented the evanescence of beauty, even though she seemed in several of her work to have ______ it as it passed and so ______ it for posterity.

多选题The new antifungal agent has such ______ uses, from treating Dutch elm disease to rescuing water-damaged works of art from molds, that it is considered one of the most ______ antibiotics.

多选题The scrapbooks compiled by artist and historian William Dorsey are so ______ that they constitute ______ view of Philadelphia"s African American community between 1873 and 1902.

多选题Judy Dater"s photographs depict everyday reality while also evoking qualities so ______ that few photographers can capture them.

多选题Marie Curie is ______ among female Nobel Prize winners: she alone has been honored in two different fields.

多选题Bracken fern has been spreading from its woodland strongholds for centuries, but the rate of encroachment into open countryside has lately increased alarmingly throughout northern and western Britain. A tough competitor, bracken reduces the value of grazing land by {{U}}crowding out other vegetation.{{/U}} The fern is itself poisonous to livestock, and also {{U}}encourages proliferation of sheep ticks{{/U}}, which not only attack sheep but also transmit diseases. No less important to some people are bracken's effects on {{U}}threatened habitats and on the use of uplands for recreational purposes, even though many appreciate its beauty.{{/U}} The author cites all of the following as disadvantages of bracken encroachment EXCEPT: A. Bracken is poisonous to farm animals. B. Bracken inhibits the growth of valuable vegetation. C. Bracken indirectly helps spread certain diseases. D. Bracken is aesthetically objectionable. E. Bracken disturbs habitats that some people would like to protect.

多选题Women in the United States gained ______ long after Black American men did, but Black citizens had greater difficulty exercising their new voting rights.

多选题While in many ways their personalities could not have been more different—she was ebullient where he was glum, relaxed where he was awkward, garrulous where he was ______—they were surprisingly well suited. A. solicitous B. munificent C. irresolute D. fastidious E. taciturn

多选题Latoya"s ______ is shown by her ability to be ______; she can see her own faults more clearly than anyone else can.

多选题While most pets are relatively ______ in a veterinarian"s office, occasionally vets have to treat more aggressive animal patients.

多选题Benjamin Franklin was renowned for being a ______, having delved deeply into fields as diverse as politics, business, diplomacy, statecraft, science, and publishing.

多选题In his vivid representations of the African American experience, painter Romare Bearden often used colors so ______ that viewers could not take their eyes off his works of art.

多选题The child had a tendency toward aggressive behavior, a ______ fighting rather than resolving differences amicably.