Fill in the Blanks

Dawdling fits with habit. It means to waste time; idle; trifle; loiter. 'Scorn at' means to treat or regard with contempt or disdain.

Virtuoso means a person highly skilled in art, especially in sculpture or music. Enervated means weakened, tired, or feeling drained of energy. The sentence contrasts being highly skilled with feeling tired after long hours of work. Covetous means greedy, and Bravo is an exclamation, not a noun describing a person.

Oration means a formal speech. Zeal means great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause. Azim Premji's speech on goal setting inspired enthusiasm in youth. Evocation means bringing a feeling to mind, effigy is a statue, valor is courage, and perdition means damnation - none fit the context.

Schema means a plan, concept, or framework. Biliousness means irritability or bad temper. Excessive narration of one's plans or frameworks can indeed irritate others. Fables are fictional stories, and tempest is a storm - trapes is not a standard word.

Deism is the belief that God exists but does not intervene in the universe. Congruence means agreement or harmony. A person who believes in deism would believe in harmony between the human soul and God without direct intervention. Theanthropism is the belief that God is both human and divine. Paroxysm is a sudden attack, sadism is deriving pleasure from pain.

Debase means to degrade, lower, or reduce in quality or value. Fecund means fertile, productive, or capable of producing offspring or ideas. The sentence means politicians are trying to degrade the productive minds of youth through their mean acts. Evade means to escape, extirpate means to destroy completely.

Dowry was historically most prevalent in conventional (arranged) marriages. The Dowry Prohibition Act (1961) banned this practice across all marriage types, making it illegal even in traditional arranged marriages.

Family planning helps control rapid population increase. Spurt suggests sudden growth, augmentation means adding to, and spread is too vague. Increase is the most appropriate term for sustained population growth.

Disputed means to argue about or doubt the validity of something. When a state disputes a commission's findings, it challenges their authority or conclusions. Rejected would mean complete refusal, questioned implies doubt, and objected suggests strong opposition - but disputed specifically captures the legal-political context of challenging findings.

The correct answer is 'worry' because it creates a meaningful contrast with 'desire'. The sentence suggests that kings, having power and wealth, have few things to desire, but they have many responsibilities and concerns that cause worry. 'Crave' and 'long' are too similar to 'desire', while 'apprehend' (meaning to arrest or understand) does not fit the context.

The correct answer is 'at' because 'shout at' is the correct phrasal verb when speaking angrily to someone. 'Shout to' would be used to get someone's attention, but the context 'at the top of his voice' combined with 'she did not hear' suggests he was directing his anger toward her. 'Against' and 'for' are not used with 'shout' in this context.

Regulate means to control something such as a resource. It is the correct asnwer in context with the passage.

The correct answer is 'fanned' because 'fan the fire' is an idiom meaning to make a fire stronger or more intense. A breeze adds oxygen to a fire, making it burn more intensely, which is why it 'made it more dangerous'. 'Blew' is too neutral, 'ignited' and 'lit' would mean starting a fire, not making an existing one worse.

The correct answer is 'minutes' based on the famous proverb 'Take care of the minutes, and the hours will take care of themselves' (attributed to Lord Chesterfield). This saying emphasizes time management - if you focus on using small time units well, larger time periods will naturally be productive. 'Days' and 'years' are too large, while 'seconds' is too small for practical time management.

The correct answer is 'tortuous' because it means twisting, winding, or complex. The context clues ('winding road', 'steep turn') describe the physical nature of the road. 'Tortuous' is often confused with 'torturous' (painful), but here it correctly describes the road's winding shape. 'Easy', 'fast', and 'slow' don't capture the winding nature.