A person who does not take risks may well not have much confidence in him- or herself. Such a person is called "timid." Often, timid people are afraid. In a way, this sentence is speaking of a fear of taking risks. Among the options provided, none of the others expresses exactly the kind of character someone might have when he or she is afraid of taking risks. Therefore, "timid" is the best option provided. Yes, "scholarly" people and even "religious" people can be afraid of risks; however, this is not always the case (nor even necessarily the case most of the time). A "timid" person, however, is almost certainly afraid of taking risks.

George's idea apparently made his brothers think that he was quite crazy. It must have been a crazy idea in itself—which is likely the case. When could someone ever buy a baseball team for five cents? Therefore, the idea could also be called "deranged." When we call something or someone "deranged," we are saying that he or she is insane or crazy.

All that we know about the flower is that it is plastic and fake-looking. We can't say anything about how expensive it looks ("cheap") or about its size ("miniature"). Therefore, the best option is "artificial." Something that is artificial is made up, not real,or not authentic. A plastic flower that is fake-looking can at least be called "artificial," if nothing else!

This sentence is describing someone who has very high moral standards for himself or herself. This means that he or she is not merely an agreeable personality. No! He or she has a virtuous character, one that is ready to do good at any time. This moral aspect is needed for the sentence to be completed correctly.

Since Peter apologizes for his tendency to yell at others, we can rightly guess that he is not very proud of this character trait. It doesn't make sense to say that he is "hateful of it." We can say that he is embarrassed by it—or, is ashamed of it. 

It seems that Laura is trying to encourage her son to be more positive. We don't know if he is being angry or impulsive (or really anything else). All that is indicated is that Laura wants him to look for the best in every situation. Therefore, his attitude must be rather negative. A negative person looks for the worst thing in every situation. It actually comes from roots that mean "no"—as though the negative person always says "no."

You might think that this sentence is saying that the turkey was the common or traditional thing for the meal. It doesn't really indicate that at all. Perhaps the person eating the meal can only eat turkey meat. In that case, it is not really because of tradition that it is needed. Instead, the point of this sentence is that although other things don't really matter, the turkey is "essential."  Another way of saying this is that it is something that you just can't go without.

The most important clue in the sentence is the final clause. This means that there is a contrast being discussed here. The army went from losing to winning. Therefore, we can say that it was finally "victorious," at least in one very important battle.

The scheme used to trick their parents every night was well thought out and detailed or elaborate. They needed to think up several ways to delay the process of going to bed early.