The clear parallel being stated in this sentence is that it takes a hard heart to allow children to fall into complete poverty. Many of the options are related to poverty, such as "sadness," "hunger," and "craving." Indeed, "difficulty" is perhaps the most tempting wrong answer, for it seems to indicate a general enough state of hardship to qualify as a synonym of "complete poverty." However, the word "destitution" is far better because it means utter and complete poverty, even regarding the necessities of life." This is by far a better synonym than the much weaker "difficulty."

Clearly the needed word is a verb to complete an infinitive form. The key interpretive phrase is the direct object of that verb, namely, "the blaze to a small flame."  A "blaze" is a large fire. The implication is that Peter is deciding to do something that will take a fire from being a blaze to being a small flame. The only option that describes such a process is "reduce," meaning, make smaller or lessen in degree. ("Reduce" is also an antonym of "stoke," meaning make a fire larger).

There are two important clues in this sentence. First of all, notice that the sentence begins with "in contrast with." Therefore, what follows in the main clause will be contrasted with the robust health that Sebastian had in his youth. Notice, however, that this is not a matter of being healthy or sick (in the sense of having diseases or other directly health-related issues). Instead, the sentence states that he could not perform many tasks at all. This means that he is now weak—perhaps because of disease but perhaps merely because of age. The only option that expresses weakness is "feeble."

The contrast between Vernon and the other classmates is not merely a matter of him being "on display" (i.e. perhaps always talking in a loud, pushy manner). If this were the case, the option "boisterous" would be acceptable. Instead, he was not humble and would display his high estimation of himself to the others. A "pompous" person acts in a way that is grand and self-important. This is far from being humble. At least among the options provided, it is the best choice. "Pomp" is ceremonial display. Vernon must make such displays about himself.

Since the sentence says nothing about Theobald's health, do not infer more than is justified by the strict sense of the sentence. Apparently, he had to rest all day, meaning that he was tired in some way. Therefore, if he "still" (i.e. continues) to feel anything, he feels like he still needs rest. His lack of strength should only be attributed to that and nothing else. Among the options provided, only "fatigued" fits, for it means extremely tired.

The use of the conjunction “but” indicates that the subject of this sentence does not have concrete plans. We can say that his plans are hazy or unclear. This is most similar in meaning to “nebulous.” To provide further help, “precise” means accurate; “genteel” means polite; “obsolete” means no longer useful, outdated; “novel” means original. 

Because people rushed to buy the water bottles, it stands to reasons that the supply of them would be diminished or exhausted, both of which are meanings of “depleted.” “Enhanced” means improved; "decorated" means adorned or honored; "misplaced" means lost; and "expedited" means hastened.

We can infer from the sentence's context that we need to pick out a word for the first blank that means something like "not realistic," because the type of art that the blank describes is being contrasted against "art which clearly depicts recognizable figures and objects." Given that, the best answer choice is "amorphous," an adjective that means "without a clearly defined shape or form."

Because the subject of this sentence had a large amount of money (“a fortune”) but was later reduced to poverty, it can be determined that he must have wasted, or “squandered,” his fortune. “Invested” means spend money with the expectation of making more money back; “throttled” means strangled; “uttered” means spoke; and “adorned” means decorated with.

Because the subject is going to have to get used to (“accustomed to”) hospitals, you can infer that she must be vulnerable, or “susceptible,” to infection. As for the other answer choices, “immutable” means not changing or not changeable; “immune” means not susceptible or not able to be affected by; “parallel” means running along side, analogous, or corresponding; and "particular" means specific or notable.