Q.1
NEW: The coming decades will likely see more intense clustering of jobs, innovation, and productivity in a smaller number of bigger cities and city-regions. Some regions could end up bloated beyond the capacity of their infrastructure, while others struggle, their promise stymied by inadequate human or other resources.

As used in line 55, “intense” most nearly means

Q.2
OLD: The addition of descriptive details to the basic information serves to ------- the book by producing a fuller account.

Q.3
NEW: As Kingman developed as a painter, his works were often compared to paintings by Chinese landscape artists dating back to CE 960, a time when a strong tradition of landscape painting emerged in Chinese art. Kingman, however, [vacated] from that tradition in a number of ways, most notably in that he chose to focus not on natural landscapes, such as mountains and rivers, but on cities.

Which word makes the most sense in this context?

Q.4
OLD: There is no doubt that Larry is a genuine ------- : he excels at telling stories that fascinate his listeners.

Q.5
OLD: Joshua's radical ideas were frowned on by most of his coworkers, who found them too ------- for their conservative tastes.

Q.6
NEW: The nature of impeachment: a narrowly channeled exception to the separation of powers maxim. The Federal Convention of 1787 said that. It limited impeachment to high crimes and misdemeanors, and discounted and opposed the term “maladministration.”

As used in line 37, “channeled” most nearly means

Q.7
OLD: A discerning publishing agent can ------- promising material from a mass of submissions, separating the good from the bad.

Q.8
NEW: In 1996, a loggerhead turtle called Adelita swam across 9,000 miles from Mexico to Japan, crossing the entire Pacific on her way. Wallace J. Nichols tracked this epic journey with a satellite tag. But Adelita herself had no such technology at her disposal. How did she steer a route across two oceans to find her destination?

As used in line 3, “tracked” most nearly means

Q.9
OLD: Ramona had never visited Niagara Falls, but she could appreciate their splendor ------- through the descriptions of others.

Q.10
OLD: The novel's protagonist, a pearl diver, naïvely expects that the buyers will compete among themselves to pay him the best price for his pearl, but instead they ------- to ------- him.