From the context of the sentence, you know that the speaker likes to sleep in the dark, rather than when it is light out. When you have two options, and you like one more than the other, you say that you “prefer” one of them. So, someone might say, “I prefer to eat ice cream rather than vegetables.” To provide further help, the word “despise” means to really hate something; the word “create” means to make; the word “insist” means to strongly say something is true; and the word “portray” means to show something.

Because the speaker tried to do something, we can say that the correct answer is “attempted.” To “attempt” something means to try to do that thing. The word “established” means officially set up; the word “implied” means indirectly suggested something; the word “demonstrated” means showed how to do something; and “cancelled” means stopped.

Something that flowers do in the spring is “blossom.” “Blossom," when used as a verb, means produce flowers. The word “perish” means die; the word “consume” means eat, ingest, or use up; and the word “pretend” means to behave as if something that is not true is true.

Because people praise this person’s honesty, it makes sense that he or she does not have the ability to lie. If you do not have something, this means you “lack” it. The word “desire” means to want very much.

Because the person being described won the race, it makes sense that her classmates would want to tell her she did a good job or share in her happiness. This means the correct answer is “congratulate.” The word “punish” means to tell someone off or hurt someone for doing something bad; “propose” means suggest an idea as a possibility; “suspend” means pause; and “apprehend” means catch. One might say, "The police apprehended the thief."

The student was caught doing something he was not supposed to do—leaving school during the day—so he had to tell and reveal where he had been during this time. This means the correct answer is “disclose,” which means to reveal hidden facts. “Suspend” can mean to pause. The word “refuse” means to say no or not allow something.

When someone else decides your bad fate or your punishment, we say that they have “condemned” you. So the judge “condemned” the prisoner. The word “observed” means noticed or looked at; the word “supposed” means imagined or suggested hypothetically; and the word "omitted" means left out or deleted. "Ruled" might look like a potentially correct answer because judges "rule" when they make decisions about things; however, judges just "rule," they don't "rule" things. So, grammatically, this would not work in the sentence.

Given that the girl likes to read because it helps her forget her problems, the word that fills in the blank should be one that captures her desire to leave reality behind. The best word for the blank is therefore "escape."

Because the boy had lied to his parents often, it makes sense that they would not trust him anymore, so the correct answer is “mistrust.” The prefix "mis-" can sometimes make the word it is added on to mean the opposite, so it makes sense that “mistrust” means not trust.

The context of the sentence makes it sound as if the boy had to implore or beg certain people to forgive him; this leads us to the correct answer, which is “plead,” a synonym of beg.