Direction: For the following question, choose the option that fills up the blanks most correctly.

Like many eighteenth-century scholars who lived by cultivating those in power, Walton neglected to neutralize, by some _________ gesture of comradeship, the resentment his peers were bound to feel because of his _________ the high and mighty.

The use of the phrase 'like many eighteenth-century scholars who lived by cultivating those in power' in beginning of the sentence means that Walton also cultivated (meaning made friends with) those in power. His relationship with the high and the mighty must therefore have been one of involvement or familiarity. So, from the point of view of the second missing word, only (2) and (3) are the possible choices. His peers (meaning colleagues) would have naturally resented his closeness to the powerful persons. So, if he had wanted to neutralize (meaning nullify) their resentment, he must have made some propitiatory (meaning conciliating), and not enigmatic (meaning puzzling) gestures towards them. So, from the point of the view of the appropriateness of the first missing word, it is (3) and not (2), that is the answer. Salutary means promoting health. Quixotic means an impractical or an idealistic person.