In this sentence, it is really a matter of knowing the vocabulary, though you can likely eliminate several options as being a bit too limited. The most tempting wrong answers are both “contribution” and perhaps (if one thinks too much) “waiver.” Strictly speaking, the latter would imply more than what is said in the sentence. Against the option of “contribution,” the word “stipend” is better, as it means “a fixed salary, payment, or allowance.” “Contribution” is more vague than “stipend,” and therefore is less acceptable.

If something is “anachronistic,” it does not really belong in its given time period. Sometimes, the adjective can merely mean that something is old-fashioned, but it often is used to indicate the situation when someone describes something in one time period according to the customs or historical contingencies of another period. The prefix “ana-” comes from the Greek preposition meaning “backward” (among other things). The familiar “-chronistic” comes from the Greek word for time and has familiar English derivatives (such as “chronological”).

While “dilettante” may be related to the sentence and appear a potential choice, it indicates a person who cultivates an area of interest, such as food, but without any real commitment, only dabbling in it. The sentence indicates that the person in question has a knowledge more extensive than the rest of the group, so “epicure” is the more suitable answer choice.

A "cacophony" is a clamor or harsh noise, which is implied by "disruptive" and "resonating."

The adjective “veritable” is used to intensify noun that it describes. It could be translated “quite truly.” (It is related to words like “verity”, “veridical”, and “verify.” All of these come from the Latin "verus," meaning true.) Since the room was deadly in its heat, it is best called an "inferno," at least metaphorically speaking. An inferno is generally a large fire. The word is related to the late Latin word for “Hell.” It communicates the idea of great amounts of heat and does so without the “health benefits” that are somewhat connoted by “sauna.”

From the context of the sentence it is apparent that Plato’s work changed the direction of Western thought; therefore the answer we select must reinforce this meaning. Virulence and maliciousness both relate to the bitterness or immorality of an action, as the sentence makes no mention of these concepts we can eliminate these answer choices. Debacle means disaster, which neither fits grammatically nor matches the meaning of the sentence. Perdition means everlasting punishment or hell, which likewise fails in both respects. Only profundity which means intellectual complexity or insight supports the framework of the sentence.

An orator is someone who is talented at speaking to audiences. It stands to reason that the ability to make oneself best understood would be of critical importance to an orator. Articulation, which refers to the coherent expression of thoughts, ideas and narrative, is the best fit for this sentence. Overabundance means to have too much of something. Experiments would be of more useful study to a scientist than an orator. Advancements likewise might be useful for an orator, but far less important than speaking ability. Implementation means to carry out an idea.

From the language of the second clause you know that the blank in the first clause must relate to the oratorical skills of Henry Clay and his ability to argue with great clarity. Orator, if you do not know what it means, is someone who is good at public speaking. Of the five answer choices only rhetoric could be correct. Rhetoric means persuasive speech that communicates a point. Boorishness refers to someone who is ill-mannered; smugness means cockiness; animosity refers to hostility between two or more parties; generosity refers to kindness and selflessness.

The "penumbra" cast by an object is the outer part of its shadow. The word comes from the Latin “umbra,” which means shade or even ghost, as well as from the verb “umbrare,” meaning, to cast a shadow on or to shade. Related words in English are not only “umbrella” and “umbrage” but also “somber” and “sombrero” (really as a Spanish import, of course).

In order to be trusted by a firm, one would have to show great devotion to the firm—particularly in the case of such a worker that is perhaps not the most efficient. Such devotion could be termed “fidelity,” a word derived from the Latin "fides" (and related words), meaning trust or (particularly later) faith. A related English word is "fideism" (the religious belief that knowledge relies solely on faith), and the motto of the U.S. Marines, “semper fidelis,” comes directly from the Latin for always faithful.