The idea of this sentence is that Mark knew that he couldn't rely on his own skills to advance in this world. Instead, he relied upon others to "raise" or "elevate" him to a higher station of life. Whenever you "fawn over" someone, you flatter him or her, hoping to get some benefit from that person. Therefore, the best option in this sentence is "flatter." When we do such flattering, we always make our kind remarks with an eye to what we can gain from these "kindnesses."

The general idea here is that the defendant can't prove his innocence of the crime. Whenever we "establish" something, we set it up. When a business is established, that is when it first opened up. (Think of signs that say, "Est. 1839." This means, "We were established—i.e. opened up for business—in 1839.) In a secondary sense, "establishing" the facts of the case involves proving something to be, in fact, true. This is the way that the word is being used in this sentence. The defendant wants to convince the jury that he is innocent.

"Obscured" in this context means hidden. The sentence states. "I could not see..." which implies that the speaker is hidden. The other answer choices do not match the context of the sentence.

Be careful with that, do not mar the surface! Whenever something is marred, it is scratched up or broken.

"Ideal," when used as a noun, is defined as a standard of perfection or excellence, so "standard" is the best choice. Be careful not to confuse "ideal" with "idea." None of the other answer choices are close in meaning to "ideal": "scheme" means plot; "perception" means the act of recognizing something using one's senses; "feat" means accomplishment; and "bulletin" means report or news story.

The word "horrid" means horrible or terrible. The best choice is "terrible" as it shares the same definition as "horrid."

"Scarce" means rare or in short supply, so "rare" is the correct answer. To help you, "abundant" means plentiful, "common" means normal or regularly encountered, "rout" means beat or thrash, and "admonish" means criticize, tell-off, or scold. 

"Scarce" means few in quantity. The word "rare" is the best choice because it means not common or infrequent. Considering the other choices, "shameless" means without shame, "gleeful" means very happy, and "spacious" means large in area.

"Ordinary" means normal or common, so "normal" is the correct answer. None of the other answer choices are close in meaning to "ordinary": "fallible" means potentially failing or making errors; "mandatory" means required or obligatory; "devout" means extremely religious; and "inevitable" means unavoidable or certain to happen.