Some economical archivists____that late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century households in the United Kingdom experienced an economy of scale when it came to food purchases-they assumed that large households spent less on food per person than did small households. Economist Trevis Richard showed, however, that a close look at the available data disproves this supposition.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) questioned

B) surmised

C) manufactured

D) regretted

The work of Kiowa painter Lois smoky derives its power in part from the tension among his ____influences: classic American portraiture, with its realistic treatment of faces; the American pop art movement, with its vivid colors; and flat style, the intertribal painting style that rejects the effect of depth is typically achieved through shading and standpoint.

According to the text, Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) harmonious

B) unknown

C) replaceable

D) disparate

An interesting research conducted by James Alfred, Alice and AL-Franklinj is inspired by their observation that though there have been many studies of the effect of high altitude on blood chemistry, there is a____studies of the effect on blood chemistry of living in locations below sea level, such as the California towns of San diego City and Seeley.

Which choice completes the text with the most reasonable word or phrase?

A) argument about

B) paucity of

C) abundance of

D) verisimilitude in

Miss Emily sat by the window watching, in her finest dress, looking stately and calm; she seldom went out now, and it was almost time for the carriage. Martha was just coming in from the garden with the strawberries and with more flowers in her apron. It was a bright, cool evening in the month of July; the golden robins sang in the elms, and the sun set behind the apple trees at the foot of the garden. The beautiful old house is open to the long-expected guest.

In the given statements Which is the best states the main purpose of the text?

A) To depict the setting as the characters await a visitor’s arrival

B) To describe the troubles brought about by a new guest.

C) To describe the activity indoors and outside

D) To describe how the change in characters overtime

Astronomers believe that the star Betelgeuse will eventually use up all the helium in its core and explode in a supernova. They have very low self-confidence, however, about when this will happen since that depends on internal characteristics of Betelgeuse that are largely unknown. Astrophysicist James Webb and colleagues recently investigated whether acoustic waves in the star could be used to determine internal stellar states but concluded that this method could not sufficiently reveal Betelgeuse’s interior characteristics to firmly establish its evolutionary status.

Which choice best describes the function of the second sentence in the overall structure of the text?

A) It presents the central discovery reported by Webb and colleagues.

B) It describes a harsh restriction of the method used by Webb and colleagues.

C) It explains to Webb and colleagues how the work is received by others in the field.

D) It identifies the problem that Webb and colleagues attempted to solve but did not.