The sentence doesn't tell us much about the hikers' states of mind. Thus, we don't know if the boulder might have annoyed or even frightened them. What we do know is that it seems that it was unable to stop them from proceeding onward in their journey. Therefore, the boulder did not hinder their progress. When something is a "hindrance," that thing is an obstacle, preventing the accomplishment of a task.

The key clue for this question is the word "teach." Paul wants his father to teach him how to repair the mower. This means that he would like to be "instructed" on how to repair it. "Instructions" explain the steps needed for doing something. The verb "to instruct" means to teach or explain.

Pay careful attention in this long sentence. It is said that the people do something for many years. They do it in order to improve their abilities at some given task. When they fail, they do so in spite of all this work. Therefore, this means that they are actively working to gain a skill. We call this kind of activity "practicing", as you well know. It is not mere listening or learning (though these are involved). The simple word "practice" is the best answer for this long and complex sentence!

For this question, it is critical that you have the appropriate vocabulary. To "lament" something is to cry and moan greatly about that thing. We are told that Sebastian wept and wailed for the passing of his cat. Therefore, we are sure that he was "lamenting" the death of the animal.

Gregory is not trying to make an argument to his mother about the vegetables. The sentence implies that he is trying to trick her by his little "maneuver" of putting the remainder of his food onto his father's plate. Therefore, he is trying to deceive her. A deception is a kind of trick that tries to make someone think that something is true when it is not. Something is called "deceptive" when it "tricks" us into thinking something that is not true.

Notice that the parents are going to "erect" the tree house. This means that they are going to put it up. (Whenever we say that someone is "standing erect", that person is "standing up straight.") From this, we can see that the parents are aiming to build a tree house. This means that the only acceptable option is "construct", which is a verb meaning to build or make.

The key fact to note in this sentence is that the boss, in fact, likes Ferdinand and Imelda more than the other employees. The first half of the the sentence implies that she claims not to like any employee more than the others. This interpretation of the first half is supported by the fact that the second half talks about her liking Ferdinand and Imelda more than the others. Therefore, we can say that the boss says that she does not favor any employees—though, apparently she actually does!

This sentence implies that Regis does not want to buy any of the company's products. When you do this, you boycott the company and its products. This is not the same as a strike. A strike happens when employees decide not to work. Now, there is nothing in the sentence that implies that Regis wants to destroy the products. He merely does not want to support the company. He likely just does not want to buy the products. Hence, "boycott" is the best option.

Notice in this sentence that we are told that the soldiers are going to go away somewhere else. This means that they are leaving their current fort. They are abandoning their location. A synonym for this would be "forsake," which is the best option provided here. When we "forsake" something, we leave it behind.

The idea of the sentence is that a host should show the new arrival that he or she is aware of the new person's arrival. Technically, if the host were to discuss the person, this could let the new person know that the host was aware of the arrival. This is pretty rude and is not the normal use of a discussion. Perhaps you could interrogate the new arrival—asking many questions. This too would let him or her know that you were aware of the arrival. The simple word "greet" is the best option. If you greet the new arrival, you certainly show them that you are aware of his or her presence—and you make him or her feel welcomed!