As one ages (and becomes tired), they can be said to be in a state of “dotage,” meaning that they are old and weak. To step down from rule is to “abdicate” from it.

We are told that the director's reaction is due to his thick skin, which tells us that there is some substantial criticism (so we can rule out "dearth," or lack) and that he is not overly-affected by it (so we can cross out "unaffected," because if he is "hardly unaffected," the double negative (as in math) would mean that he was, in fact, quite affected by the criticism. The "impacted . . . waive" option would work if the second word were the noun "wave" instead of the verb "waive," which means to give something up willingly. We are left with "fazed" (affected) and "barrage" (an onslaught or flood).

Something that is “higher level” in a given structure could be called the “macrostructure.” The prefix “macro” means larger or longer and is used in words like “macroeconomics” and “macrophage.” If explanations of such structures “must” include that of the simpler ones, the former are directly bound to the latter. If two things are “inextricable,” they cannot be separated from each other. To extricate something is to remove it from things constraining and bound to it.

That a school subject is popular even though it has another characteristic tells us that characteristic should be negative. "Burdensome" and "strenuous" would both work. This makes the options for the second blank "intricacies" and "prowess." "Intricacies" makes more sense in the context of this sentence, because it indicates complexity, where "prowess" indicates skill.

Since Katherine’s work is called impressive, it is likely the case that one could say that she was very careful regarding every detail of the work; therefore, the best option would be to say that she was “assiduous,” meaning that she cared about every detail of the project. Because of this, the option “aspect” fits well with the blank found in the main clause, for such “assiduous care” would imply that no single aspect of the overall project would show any shortfall in quality.

For the first blank, we can infer that whatever is scattered across the lawn "spilled from the back of an overly-full garbage truck" and is "disgusting." Knowing that, we can infer that we need to pick out an answer choice that means "trash" or "waste," so either "debris" ("dirt or refuse") or "refuse" ("matter thrown away or rejected as worthless; trash") could be correct. For the second blank, we know that the cottage has "attractive old brick walls, [a] garden of roses, and smoke coming out of its chimney," so we can infer that either "quaint" ("attractively unusual or old-fashioned") or "charming" ("pleasant or attractive") could potentially be correct. Of the words that we've identified as potentially correct for each blank, only "refuse" and "quaint" appear in the same answer choice, so the correct answer is "refuse . . . quaint."

We know that the food ran out very quickly at the party, so there mustn't have been very much of it. Knowing this, we should pick an adjective for the first blank that is a synonym of little. Both "meager" and "minuscule" could work, leaving us to decide between "dearth" and "malady" for the second blank. For the second blank, we're looking for a noun that conveys the lack of available snacks after the food ran out. Since "dearth" means lack or shortage and "malady" means disease or ailment, "dearth" is the better choice, and the answer is "meager . . . dearth."

For the first blank, we can tell that we need a noun that means something like "poison," because we know that it "poisoned the laboratory's water system." Either "contaminant" or "pollutant" could work. For the second blank, we need a word that describes the water system's initial state, so we need an adjective that means something like clean. Either "unadulterated" (pure) or "unsullied (not dirtied) could be correct. Of the answer choices we have identified as potentially correct, only "contaminant" and "unadulterated" appear in a single answer choice, so "contaminant . . . unadulterated" is the correct answer.

We can infer that for the first blank, we need to pick out an adjective that means something like "unable to be defeated or overcome," because we know that the pirates' fortress is "located on an island" and "if anyone made it across the water to attack them, their fortress was also guarded by stone walls topped with cannons." So, either "impenetrable" or "unassailable" could be potentially correct. For the second blank, we need to pick out an answer choice that describes a body of water, because know that the fortress is "located on an island" and "surrounded by deep water and sharks" to reach it. Either "lagoon" ("a stretch of salt water separated from the sea by a low sandbank or coral reef") or "bay" ("a broad inlet of the sea where the land curves inward") could be potentially correct. Of the possible words that we've identified as potentially correct for each blank, only "impenetrable" and "lagoon" appear in the same answer choice, so the correct answer is "impenetrable . . . lagoon."

For the first blank, we can tell from the sentence's context that we need to find a noun that means something like loyalty. Either "fidelity" (faithfulness) or "allegiance" (loyalty) could work. For the second blank, we need to find an adjective that means useless, since the other fans didn't even bother to watch the games since they knew the star quarterback wouldn't be playing and the team had little chance of winning. Either "inefficacious" (ineffective) or "futile" (pointless) could be correct. Of the four words we've identified as being potentially correct answer choices, only two line up in a single answer choice: "fidelity" and "futile." So, "fidelity . . . futile" is the correct answer.