Option (D)

protracted (adjective): prolonged; drawn out; lengthened. Maria writes,“I have just learned that our town’s public art museum will be eliminating Saturday hours next month due to a protracted budget shortfall.” Maria goes on to describe the shortfall as “continued.” The reader can infer from this that protracted means long or drawn out. The opposite of drawn out is shortened. Therefore (D) is correct.

cursory (adjective): quick; superficial; hasty. In paragraph , when the narrator gives the checklist from the newspaper a cursory glance, she skims over it quickly without really reading it carefully or paying attention to what it says. To read something slowly and deliberately would be the opposite of giving it merely a cursory glance. Therefore (C) is correct. Angry and wilful is not the opposite of quick. Therefore (A) is incorrect. Fast is more similar to cursory, while intelligent is unrelated. Therefore (B) is incorrect. Slow is the opposite of cursory, but superficial is a synonym. Therefore (D) is incorrect.

Option (A)

The pronoun myself is generally used reflexively as the direct or indirect object of a verb or as the object of a preposition: I pinched myself to see if I was awake. Sometimes, it is used as emphasis: I myself thought it was a good idea. Use of myself is not appropriate if it does not refer to the subject of the sentence. Here, Saturday is the subject of the sentence. Myself does not refer to the subject of the sentence. Therefore (A) is correct.

Option (B)

Maria explains in the letter that closing the museum on Saturdays would create a hardship for Maria and other working people who can only enjoy the museum on Saturdays. Maria then offers a solution to the problem: the town could increase taxes on the residents to create enough revenue to keep the  museum open. Finally, Maria asks the people of the town to contact their  representatives to request more money so the museum can stay open on  Saturdays. Since Maria has explained her problem and offered solutions, it  can be inferred that Maria sincerely wants the museum to remain open on Saturdays. The tone of the letter is genuine. Therefore (B) is correct.

In given paragraph, Elaine’s father wonders why she would kick such a good boy out of the house. He says, “You will miss him so much. Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face, Elaine. Come pick this young man up.” Elaine has forced Justin out of the house even though it will hurt her. We can infer from this that the idiom cut off your nose to spite your face means pursuing revenge and hurting yourself in the process. Therefore (D) is correct. The story does not provide information to support answer choices (A), (B), or  (C). Therefore they are incorrect.

When the narrator says, “The rain was as thick as a woollen curtain,” she is comparing the rain to a curtain by using a simile. Just as a woollen curtain is too thick to see through, the rain was so thick that it obscured the narrator’s view. Therefore (A) is correct.This line does not offer any humor. Therefore (B) is incorrect. Neither a woollen curtain nor the rain is described as human. Therefore (C) is incorrect.

The correct answer is B.

In the last paragraph, the author make these points-“Since hybrid vehicles use less gasoline than conventional vehicles, they put fewer emissions into the atmosphere than conventional vehicles do.” “Hybrid vehicles are an example of an energy–efficient technology that is good for both consumers and the environment”

Option (D)

I) Incorrect. While line 3 states that 97% of the world’s water is salty, there is no information in the passage concerning the amount of salt, if any, in snow.

II) Correct. Passage states that the largest cause of preventable human death is drinking water that is unsanitary. Unsanitary means not clean.

III) Correct. Passage states that one billion people in the world do not have clean drinking water. One billion is the written form of the number 1,000,000,000.

Option (B)

Unsanitary water is not clean.Unsanitary-the word means uncleanliness and it fits in this situation as well.

The correct answer is C.

I) Incorrect. According to the passage, “A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle which uses two or more kinds of propulsion,” not braking systems.

II) Incorrect. While the passage states “Hybrid vehicles save up to 30% of the fuel used in conventional vehicles,” there is no mention of the percentage of hybrid vehicles on the road.

III) Correct. Some HEVs have engines which turn off when the vehicle is not moving- “When the vehicle is in idle, the engine temporarily turns off”