Because Alice’s friends do not like her extreme enthusiasm, it is likely they would wish her to be more relaxed and calm, or “mellow.” To provide further help, “belligerent” means aggressive; “impulsive” means acting without thinking; “antagonistic” means annoying, irritating.

A "cheery" attitude is one that is very happy and often "optimistic" (seeing the best in everything). If someone has the opposite of such an attitude, such a person is depressing, "dark," and unhappy.  Since Donald is being contrasted with Geneva, this is the case for him. It is not proper to say that he has an "angry" attitude (or any of the options related to that). Likewise, "chipper" is really a synonym of "cheery"; we need an antonym.  "Dreary" works best, as it means bleak or depressing.

The first thing to notice is the the conjunction "but," which indicates that there is some contrast or qualification in the second clause. In the second clause, it is said that others were not always sure whether or not James was avoiding the truth. It is uncertain whether or not he was being deceptive. Therefore, the first clause states that he was not, properly speaking, deceptive—even though he did seem to be so at times.

We need to pick out an answer choice that is a verb and means something like "unknowing” or "oblivious" because the sentence tells us that Mrs. Wilson said something and Max responded by staring at her instead of reacting to her statement. We can tell that Mrs. Wilson is reading Max's expression because the sentence starts out with the phrase "Judging by Max's ________ stare." "Impassive" is the best choice because it means emotionless or lacking expression. This best describes a stare that Mrs. Wilson might receive from Max after she says something he does not understand (and thus does not react strongly to). None of the other answer choices make sense in the blank: "grave" means serious when used as an adjective or a crypt when used as a noun; "dynamic" means lively; and "devious" means dishonest or immoral.

In contrast with being sensible, Paul appears to his friends as becoming "adolescent." The period of "adolescence" is the time in a person's life between childhood and adulthood, often marked by immaturity, for such people have not completely grown into emotional adulthood. In contrast with Paul's sensible youth, he now—strangely enough—is acting rather "immature," that is, not-mature.

In contrast with Aaron's voice, John's was "lilting" and "varied." This means that his tone was not always the same. A "lilting" voice is one that rises and falls in various ways, not having that boring, unchanging tone that some people can have—like Aaron, it seems! Therefore, the best option to describe Aaron's voice is "monotonous." This word literally means having one tone or one pitch. The prefix "mono-" means one. The word "monopoly" describes a situation in which one company alone has control over an industry. 

To complete this sentence, we need to select a word that properly describes the growth of the cricket population. If Daniel "sees the bugs everywhere," we can assume that the population is increasing. This information allows us to immediately eliminate "slowing" and "plummeting," both of which refer to a decrease. "Nonexistent" growth means that the population is not growing at all, a statement that does not make sense given Daniel's observations. Our correct answer must be "rampant," a word that describes extreme and even uncontrollable growth.

Since every routine after the first one became easier, it indicates that these routines follow the first or are "subsequent" to the first one. "Preceding" and "prior" both indicate something that came before. "Ongoing" is something happening in the same moment and "latter" is the last item in a series.

Clearly, this sentence is contrasting Albert's method of working with the unmethodological approach taken by his peers. When someone works "with a method" (or "methodologically"), he or she works with a plan and procedure. The so-called scientific method has its name because it describes a procedure for arriving at scientific truths. If Albert's peers are "unmethodical," he must be "methodical." This means that he works "systematically" or according to a plan.

Dylan is described as being serious and also as not smiling. The (mental) picture that we get of him is rather grim. While you might think that he is perhaps angry, we cannot say that. Someone can be serious (and even grim) without being angry. Likewise, we shouldn't presume that he is worried or concerned (i.e. "vexed"). The best option is "somber," which means extremely solemn, serious, or sober in demeanor or manners.