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.

The situation described in the second clause is very negative, which means the blank word must mean something opposite to the negative situation. The correct answer is "ideal,” which means perfect. To further help you, "fruitful" and "abundant" are two words that both describe something there is plenty of.

The structure of the sentence sets up a contrast between the two dinosaurs, so we can infer that we need to pick out an adjective that means something like "enormous" or "slow" and is the opposite of "small" and "speedy." "Swift," then, cannot be the correct answer because "swift" is a synonym of "speedy," and the sentence already tells us that the brontosaurus was "slow." "Lumbering," however, is a great word to describe the brontosaurus, because "lumbering" means "moving in a slow, heavy, awkward way." Because "lumbering" is the answer choice that best describes the "enormous" and "slow" brontosaurus, "lumbering" is the correct answer.

Since the book received something that is the opposite of rejection from some critics, the correct choice is "acclaim", which means praise. None of the other answer choices have anything to do with the sentence's context: "frenzy" means panic, "parapet" refers to a short wall that encloses a raised part of a building, "lull" means pause or respite, and "criticism" means censure or denunciation.