The best clues in this sentence are "new believer" and "seeking out new converts." The latter helps us to find the second blank. A "proselyte" is a new convert to a religion, and a "proselytizer" is someone who looks for such new converts. Likewise, since the believer is new, we can guess that he or she has experienced a conversion—meaning that he or she has "turned" from a former way of life to a new way of life in the given religion or group. (The "-vers-" portion of the word comes from the Latin for "to turn." It is found in words like "reverse" and "adverse.") Finally, such a person will do such conversion work with great ambition and energy. To be "zealous" is to act in such a manner. The word is related to the word "jealous"—and jealousy does indeed often lead to great zeal!

The best initial clue for this sentence is the description "prolix stream." The word "prolix" means, in short, wordy. It comes from roots that are related to "liquid"—as though the words are flowing. Therefore, all we know is that Herman's sister is very talkative. "Loquacious" means this. The word is related to "colloquy," "elocution," and "eloquent"—all words pertaining to speech. The option containing "talkative" does not work because "contumacious" means inflexibly disobedient. This is not a good contrast to "loquacious"; however, "laconic" is, for it means terse or pithy, or in other words, not using many words. Finally, to "inundate" something is to overwhelm it. The word comes from roots that mean "flood" or "wave." (An "undulating" motion is one that is in a wave-like pattern.) The room was filled and overwhelmed by Herman's sister's voice because she was so talkative!

You are told in the sentence that Steve has had problems with alcoholism, it would therefore make sense for him to join an "abstinence" program. "Abstinence" means the act of restraining from participating in something addictive or harmful, particularly drugs or alcohol. An adjective that might reasonably be used to describe an addiction is "unremitting." This word means incessant, ceaseless and constant. Finally, you are told that Steve fails to stick to his program of abstinence and succumbs to a certain lifestyle. Because it is likely to be a lifestyle associated with drunken behavior the correct answer choice is "bacchanal." To provide additional help, "superficial" means not important, not real; "deleterious" means harmful; "abstemious" means abstaining from something, not participating in something enjoyable; "hostile" means aggressive; "remorseful" means feeling bad or sorry for some past wrong; "objective" means based on fact, not biased; "subjective" means based on opinion, biased; "obsolete" means outdated, no longer useful; "homogenous" means the same as, similar; "clandestine" means secretive; "garrulous" means talkative. 

From the clues given in the sentence it is hard to tell whether the evidence provided by the comparison of the wife and the husband will prove or disprove the “opposites attract” theory, but you know that the husband and wife are being compared in some way to prove some further point; therefore, to solve this problem you have to see which answer choices fit with this format. If the wife were “eccentric” (interesting, unconventional and extraordinary) and the husband was defined by his “banality” (lack of originality, boringness) it would make sense for the two of them to act as an “archetype” (a typical example of something) for the theory that opposites attract. To provide additional help, “haughty” means arrogant, bold; “humility” means possessing modesty and being humble; “mockery” means make fun of; “gregarious” means outgoing, sociable; “cowardice” means fear, not being brave; “anachronism” means something that does not fit in the time period; “languid” and “lethargy” both refer to having no energy or motivation; “prototype” means an original example of something; “envious” means jealous; “modesty” means humility, or the quality of being unassuming; “invective” means abuse.

The best beginning clue for this question is the fact that the scientists are described as being "all but unintelligible." This means that they are basically completely unintelligible to those who do not understand their language. "Jargon" is a system of terms that are used in a profession but are very difficult to understand for those who are outside of the profession. The term "laity" is often used in religion to describe those who are not part of the clergy; however, it can also mean non-professional people as well. Therefore, this is a good contrast to the jargon-laden scientists described in the sentence. Finally, such language is difficult to understand. Something that is "cryptic" is obscure in this manner.

Note that while "academically . . . scholarly . . . public" could also be correct, the best answer is the one whose words more specifically reference their unintelligibility. While "acadmic" and "scholarly" work is often obscure and hard to understand this is not an inherent part of their definitions as words.

The fact that Laura's friends feared to introduce anything interesting seems to hint that the conversation was quite boring and uneventful. The general idea is that it has nothing of real "bite" to it. The word "aseptic" directly means having no disease. Think of an antiseptic agent. This gets rid of anything that is diseased. A "septic tank" is where human waste is stored when there is no connection from a house to a sewage system. Apparently the friends feared anything that could disturb the peace or, to put it another way, the tranquillity of the gathering.

The first two blanks are opposites of one another. Contextual clues are "mild flavors of inland cuisine" and "he much preferred... of the coastal regions." The clues for the last blank are "indulged so frequently" and "discern each individual flavor." Of the answer choices, only "insipid, piquant, and epicure" fit the meaning of the sentence. 

For the first blank, we need a verb that means something like stop. "Abstain from," "forbear from," and "cease" could all work, as they mean just that. For the second blank, we're looking for an adjective that means something like "causing harm"; either "deleterious" (causing harm or damage) or "pernicious" (having a gradual harmful effect) could work. For the last blank, we need a noun that means something like "fondness"; in choosing between "predilection" (a preference for something) and"platitude" (a moral saying used too often to be interesting or thoughtful), "predilection" is the better choice, so the answer is "abstain from . . . deleterious . . . predilection."

We know that initially, not a lot of evidence supported the scientist's theories. We know the word for the first blank is a adjective with a negative connotation because of the phrase "at best" that follows it; from these context clues, we can select "ambiguous," "esoteric," and "tenuous" as possible choices. For the second blank, we need a word similar to "confirmed," so "corroborated" and "vindicated" are both suitable choices. For the final blank, we need to choose between "accolades" (awards granted as acknowledgments of merit) and "elegies" (laments for the dead), and "accolades" is the best choice. So, the correct answer is "tenuous . . . corroborated . . . accolades."

The best clue for this sentence is "doppelgänger," though this is a rather difficult word. It means a "double" of someone—coming from the German word that means "one who goes doubly" (rather strange, but understandable). Even if you do not know this meaning, you can also see that he has "shifting personality features." Only one option provides this for the first blank, namely to "emulate." This means to reproduce. The word "earned" makes sense on the whole, as his actions led to his coworkers giving him this title. Apparently, they simultaneously have two different attitudes. This is at least hinted by the word "simultaneously," so "vexed" (meaning annoyed) is a good contrast to "amused."