"Consternation" is a feeling of distress caused by something surprising and disturbing. To provide further help, "delight" is great joy and happiness; "piety" is deep religious belief; "wisdom" is knowledge and understanding; "wit" is mental sharpness, intelligence, particularly with regard to humor.

Whenever someone experiences great "mirth", he or she experiences great joy. This is one of those words that you just have to memorize. Some examples can help:

"The children experienced great mirth as they opened their gifts for Christmas."

"The friends danced with great mirth, joyfully celebrating the end of the school year."

"The old grumpy man hated the children's mirthful attitude."

Whenever we talk about the "degree" of something, we are talking about how much of it there is. Thus, the "degree of anger" that someone is feeling is the amount of anger that he or she is feeling in a particular situation. Thus, "degree" can mean "how far," "amount," or "extent." The word "extent" is a synonym for "area" (or "distance") but it also is a good synonym for "degree." Think of some expressions you might use. You could say, "To what degree was the building damaged in the earthquake?" You could, however, also say, "What was the extent of the damage to the building during the earthquake?"

Based on the options for this question, it is clear that the word "ridicule" is being used as a noun. All of the options are nouns. Now, the verb form of "ridicule" means to make fun of or to mock. Thus, the noun "ridicule" describes the kind of mockery that happens whenever someone is made fun of. While this kind of mockery is a kind of abuse, the general idea of ridicule has to do with mocking and "laughing at" someone else. Hence, the best option is "mockery."

Do not confuse the word "hospitality" with "hostility." The latter means enmity—quite different from "hospitality"! "Hospitality" is the kind of kindness or help that we show to others such as neighbors or guests. Hence, the best option is "kindness," which expresses this idea of helping others.

Whenever something is "profound," it is very deep and intensely influential. A "profound" feeling is a very deep feeling. The word "profundity" is a noun that describes something that has such a depth. For example, whenever someone says something that is very insightful and true, we say that he or she has expressed something of great profundity. This is the sense implied by the word in this question. Hence, you can say that he or she expressed something of "great depth"—speaking metaphorically, of course!

The word "pretence" is related to pretending, but do not confuse it with words like "conceptualize" and "imagining." Yes, when we pretend, we use our imaginations and our minds. The word "pretence," however, does more with making up something so as to be deceptive. A "pretence" is a fake appearance. For example, someone might have a kind of pretence that makes himself look more intelligent than he actually is.

The word "hindrance" quite clearly is related to the word "hinder," meaning to make more difficult. A "hindrance" is the very thing that makes matters more difficult. Therefore, it is a kind of obstacle that gets in the way. A "hindrance" can be either physical or more abstract. Thus, a tree in the middle of the road is a hindrance for travel. Emotions that are very strong might be hindrance in the way of someone accomplishing a given goal.

Perhaps you have used the word "epitome" without completely knowing its meaning. For example, you can say, "He was the epitome of kindness," or, "The book was the epitome of a depressing story." These expressions mean something like, "He was like a personification of kindness itself," and, "The book completely expressed the essence of a depressing story."

An epitome is the perfect kind of example or case of something else. Hence, the book was a perfect example of a depressing story, and the person was a perfect example of human kindness. Hence, the word "exemplar" works well. An exemplar is more than a mere example. It means a perfect example of something else. 

Perhaps you have heard an expression like "the annals of the king." Granted, the word is not the most popular of words today. It is used to describe the records that might be kept for a given year. Most often, it refers to the official records for that year—be they for a kingdom or for a modern nation. For this question, the only option that expresses this idea of having records is "archive." An "archive" is a stored set of documents for a given period of time about some particular thing or group.