GRE Text Completion Practice Test 08

1. The crew of the air balloon ____ the sand bags to help the balloon rise over the hill.

A. capsized
B. jettisoned
C. salvaged
D. augmented
E. enumerated

2. We were not fooled by his (i)____ arguments; his plan was (ii)____ . That even he was (iii)____ by his own reasoning was apparent from his unenthusiastic demeanor.

3. Hawkins is ____ in his field; no other contemporary scientist commands the same respect.

A. disparaged
B. ignominious
C. obsolete
D. anachronistic
E. preeminent

4. The model paraded in front of the celebrities with (i)____ ; it was impossible to tell that this was her (ii)____.

5. English words and expressions have come into being (i)____, and some common expressions are decidedly illogical. The term lead pencil, for example, is a (ii)____ ; pencils are filled with graphite not lead.

6. When the (i)____ weather forced us to stay indoors, we resorted to (ii)____ board games to pass the time. Anything, however (iii)____, was better in our present troubled state of mind than sitting in silence.

7. It will be hard to (i)____ Leonid now that you have so (ii)____ him.

8. Edward was understandably upset that he had lost the position, but he was (i)____ by the conviction that he had done nothing to (ii)____ the dismissal.

9. She was roundly condemned for her ____ ; she betrayed the woman to whom she owed her success.

A. truculence
B. perfidy
C. serendipity
D. pragmatism
E. discernment

10. Our grandfather was an entertaining (i)____; he used to (ii)____ us with marvelous anecdotes that we, in our childlike simplicity, (iii)____.