Far from viewing Jefferson as a skeptical but enlightened intellectual, historians of the 1960s portrayed him as ............. thinker, eager to fill the young with his political orthodoxy while censoring ideas he did not like.
a cynical
Step 1: Context interpretation.
The passage contrasts Jefferson’s enlightened intellectualism with a more rigid, dogmatic view. “Doctrinaire” fits as it refers to someone strictly adhering to a doctrine.
Step 2: Analyze the options.
- (A): “Adventurous” does not fit with the description of a rigid thinker.
- (B): “Doctrinaire” fits perfectly as it refers to someone holding firm to a set of principles, often in a dogmatic way.
- (C): “Eclectic” refers to a broad, varied approach, which contrasts with a rigid mindset.
- (D): “Judicious” suggests good judgment, which is opposite of being doctrinaire.
- (E): “Cynical” doesn’t fit with the description of an intellectual with a fixed ideology.
Step 3: Conclusion.
The correct answer is (B).
Dramatic literature often ............. the history of a culture in that it takes as its subject matter the important events that have shaped and guided the culture.
recapitulates
Step 1: Context analysis.
The passage talks about dramatic literature recounting important cultural events, so “recapitulates” (repeats or summarizes) fits perfectly.
Step 2: Analyze the options.
- (A): “Confounds” means to confuse, which doesn’t align with the passage’s meaning.
- (B): “Repudiates” means to reject or disown, which contradicts the idea of recounting history.
- (C): “Recapitulates” is correct as it means to summarize or retell key events.
Step 3: Conclusion.
Thus, the correct answer is (C).
Early critics of Emily Dickinson’s poetry mistook for simplemindedness the surface of artlessness that in fact she constructed with ...............
The macromolecule RNA is common to all living beings, and DNA, which is found in all organisms except some bacteria, is almost as ...............
Linguistic science confirms what experienced users of ASL—American Sign Language—have always implicitly known: ASL is a grammatically .............. language, as capable of expressing a full range of syntactic relations as any natural spoken language.
Dreams are .............. in and of themselves, but, when combined with other data, they can tell us much about the dreamer.