The construction "although . . . in fact" lets us know that this sentence expresses a contrast. Most people believed that Immanuel was daring. In contrast to this, the acceptable answers are "ossified" and (perhaps) "outmoded." The former means having become hardened or stagnant. It comes from the root words for "bone." Hence, "ossified" ideas are ones that have hardened like bones. The option "outmoded" means out of date. This is not as good as "ossified," which directly contrasts the fluidity of changing positions. For the second blank, "altered" (meaning changed) works well enough.

The best clue in this sentence is "often wasting time on such unimportant matters." Thus, the second blank needs to be either "trivial" (meaning unimportant) or, perhaps, "jejune" (meaning superficial or uninteresting). The first blank, though, has to describe such an action of heeding trivial details to the point of wasting time. To "vacillate" is to go back and forth between two options; however, the sentence is saying something a bit different. Nigel seems to pay too much attention to the details. Thus, he fixates on them, becoming overly attached to them while he heeds them.

In order for a film to be made, it needs sufficient funding or budget. Even if the script is stellar (high-quality), it can't be produced without the necessary money.

"Finite" and "ephemeral" are synonyms meaning temporary or limited. So, if John's time is finite, then his life is also ephemeral.

Generally speaking, an "esteemed" position is one that requires a high level of experience or qualification, which contrasts with the status of a "novice." Thus it makes sense that such a case could be unprecedented.

In a raffle, it's common for contestants to be "hopeful" that they will win, but at the same time no one "assumes" or expects that they will, given the low probability of a win. "Fortunate" might work for the first word, but "powerless" does not make sense as the second. The rest of the words are not contextually relevant to this sentence.

"Exorbitant" means expensive, and "affluent" means wealthy. So, the following statement is true: "Living in the apartment building was expensive, but the residents were so wealthy that this wasn't an issue."

A virtuoso musician is one of great ability and talent, which contrasts with the feeling of tremulousness (or nervousness) that Debra feels leading up to her performances.  

A funeral is a very tragic occasion, one that lends itself to tears and mourning. Both "lugubrious" (sad) and "lachrymose" (given to tears) fit the conduct of a funeral.

Probably the most tempting wrong option is the one that is quite opposite of the correct option, namely "opponent of . . . aversion to." This can seem to work, but it doesn't make sense to say that such an opponent wants people to have such an "aversion" to certain topics in opposition to being overly specialized. Instead, it makes sense to contrast such specialization to being merely acquainted with various topics (i.e. at a largely superficial level). Thus the best option is the one that says that Alfred advocated such general education.