Since scientific truths must be discovered, and since many, probably most, are far from (i)____________, futile investigations are (ii)____________. Thus, the path to the truth is decidedly a (iii)____________ one.
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Responsibility for the nation's decline rests squarely with a people who take for granted their claims to preeminence but do not ____________ interest in or commitment to actually maintaining it.
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The photocopier, widely adopted in the 1960s, became not merely a vehicle for copying but one for publishing in ____________ manner, so that ideas could be circulated without interference from potential censors.
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The safety features of modern cars have actually had ____________ effect on people's driving: drivers are lulled into a false sense of security by their cars' sophistication and therefore drive less attentively.
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The myth of the scientific method as a neat progression from hypothesis to experiment to conclusion is dispelled once you enter a lab and observe the _____________ process by which researchers actually make discoveries.
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The reliable production of usable energy through the controlled fusion of hydrogen atoms into helium remains an elusive dream: even the most ardent efforts to achieve it have thus far been _____________.
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In his writings on Bob Dylan, Greil Marcus is admirably _____________: he knows that not to hold Dylan to the highest possible standard is to condescend to him.
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The series of documentaries certainly does seem to promote the country's recent diplomatic initiatives; in fact, some of the films appear to be _____________ those initiatives.
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The rebellion was _____________ one, driven less by ardor than by reason and calculation.
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The concept of the Hellenistic period in ancient history has proved useful but also _____________, with scholars disagreeing on the dates when the period began and ended.
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In the 1980s the press release announcing the discovery of a new fundamental particle turned a once _____________ hypothesis of interest to no more than a few hundred physicists into an undisputed fact of global significance.
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Whereas the original editor had sacrificed clarity for brevity and her successor had been too _____________, the new editor took an intermediate approach, explicit as to the purport of each document and not too ambitious in detail.
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The intense interest in probing the Martian soil for water is no mere (i)________ preoccupation. Beyond solving the mystery of where Mars's surface water went, scientists are simply being (ii)________. Human exploration or even settlement of Mars is being considered as a real possibility, and it certainly will not be cost-effective to (iii)________ water.
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In hindsight, it is easy to say that the geological evidence for ice ages was _____________ and to wonder why such periods in the Earth's past were not recognized earlier.
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In literature, thrillers thrive on heroes and villains, and usually the characterization is not very _____________; writers don't want to confuse or slow the plot.
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The tape recorder is to blame for the (i) _____________ of the interview and has thus had a (ii) _____________ effect on journalism. The possibility of verbatim reproduction has fostered the illusion that the voice of truth is that of the interviewee rather than the more critically detached voice belonging to the journalist. Maybe journalists should return to the lowly notebook, which allows them to (iii) _____________ while listening, relegating the tape recorder to its real role of invaluable witness.
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Parker's model of human affairs reflects (i) _____________outlook, in stark contrast to the generally (ii) _____________ analyses of her colleagues in the economics department.
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Scholars often attribute the emergence of a new conception of women writers as literary artists to elite, male- dominated venues like the Atlantic Monthly, which gained influence during the 1860s and 1870s. The careers of Mary Gibson and other women writing during the 1850s, however, suggest a different account of the transformation of American female authorship-pushing its inception into the antebellum period and locating its origins in more popular venues. Far from waiting for the elite imprimatur of the Atlantic, writers like Gibson took advantage of the opportunities for publication provided by midcentury story papers (periodicals containing popular fiction). Women supplied much of the material for story papers and, in the process, presented striking images of female authorship and artistry to thousands of readers.
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The author of the passage would most likely agree with which of the following statements about writers like Gibson?
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Which statement best describes the function of the highlighted sentence?
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