The key word in this sentence is the rather difficult vocabulary item, "soporific". This word means sleep-inducing. Without knowing this, several options might be rather tempting; however, if you know this, you can then guess the first blank very well. Scott must have felt tired—and this is well expressed by "lethargic," which means sluggish. In contrast to such sluggishness, "ebullience" is the state of being energetic—almost "bubbly," metaphorically speaking.

The word “Pollyanna” is derived from a story about a character (named Pollyanna) who is overly positive about reality, seeing everything in positive terms and being optimistic almost to a fault. The implication here is that Paula is very positive—having a strong emotional bent that way. In contrast to this, being “despondent” means being hopeless, which works well to show Laura’s different temperament. Both of these women, being of strong emotions, could be said to have “extreme” emotions.

The construction "although . . . in fact" lets us know that this sentence expresses a contrast. Most people believed that Immanuel was daring. In contrast to this, the acceptable answers are "ossified" and (perhaps) "outmoded." The former means having become hardened or stagnant. It comes from the root words for "bone." Hence, "ossified" ideas are ones that have hardened like bones. The option "outmoded" means out of date. This is not as good as "ossified," which directly contrasts the fluidity of changing positions. For the second blank, "altered" (meaning changed) works well enough.

The best clue in this sentence is "often wasting time on such unimportant matters." Thus, the second blank needs to be either "trivial" (meaning unimportant) or, perhaps, "jejune" (meaning superficial or uninteresting). The first blank, though, has to describe such an action of heeding trivial details to the point of wasting time. To "vacillate" is to go back and forth between two options; however, the sentence is saying something a bit different. Nigel seems to pay too much attention to the details. Thus, he fixates on them, becoming overly attached to them while he heeds them.

In order for a film to be made, it needs sufficient funding or budget. Even if the script is stellar (high-quality), it can't be produced without the necessary money.

"Finite" and "ephemeral" are synonyms meaning temporary or limited. So, if John's time is finite, then his life is also ephemeral.

Generally speaking, an "esteemed" position is one that requires a high level of experience or qualification, which contrasts with the status of a "novice." Thus it makes sense that such a case could be unprecedented.

In a raffle, it's common for contestants to be "hopeful" that they will win, but at the same time no one "assumes" or expects that they will, given the low probability of a win. "Fortunate" might work for the first word, but "powerless" does not make sense as the second. The rest of the words are not contextually relevant to this sentence.

"Exorbitant" means expensive, and "affluent" means wealthy. So, the following statement is true: "Living in the apartment building was expensive, but the residents were so wealthy that this wasn't an issue."

A virtuoso musician is one of great ability and talent, which contrasts with the feeling of tremulousness (or nervousness) that Debra feels leading up to her performances.