Clearly, this sentence is talking about eating the food. Therefore, the word "consume" is by far the best option. Do not be tempted by the option "took." Yes, the young man did "take in" the food by eating it. The most proper way of speaking is "consumed," which describes the action of "taking in" food.

The sentence contrasts the fact of the matter with the boys' action. Although he actually did the deed, he did not want to admit that he did it. Therefore, the young boy "denied" his guilt.  This is the only option that expresses how someone would not admit his or her guilt.

Since George has already received his report card, he cannot really improve his poor grade. Therefore, he must want to change the grade on the physical card itself. This means that he wants to put a false grade on the report card. The verb "falsify" indicates this kind of action. If you think of the literal meaning of the word, it means, "To make false"!

From what we can tell in this sentence, Pamela seems to desire greatly that her husband return home. None of the other answers really make much sense in this regard. The only one that does make sense is "longed." The word "long" can be used as a verb meaning, "To desire greatly." For example, you could say, "After thirty straight days of loud construction, I longed for a quiet morning on my street."

Notice carefully that the sentence says that the worker was afraid that the boss wouldn't believe his reasons for doing the action. This means that he tried to give the boss a reason—that is, he tried to explain his reasoning for burning the building. This answer is better than some trick answers like "deliver", "recall", and "remember." None of these options have the sense of explaining the reasons in addition to merely telling some facts. Hence, "explain" is by far the best option.

Notice that the boy wants the bird to eat the cherry out of his hand. Therefore, he is not going to toss it above his head nor throw it. Instead, he is just going to lift it above his head. The word "elevate" describes this kind of lifting. The "elevation" of a mountain is its height. The verb "to elevate" means "to lift upward." 

The general idea of this sentence is that the road didn't get better after the work was done. It seems to have remained just as bad—quickly returning to its former state with potholes causing problems. Therefore, the best option is the simple word "improve." The work didn't help to make the road better—that is, it didn't help to improve its condition.

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!