021. But in many cases consumers are misled if they believe organic foods can maintain health and provide better nutritional quality than conventionally grown foods. So there is real cause for concern if consumers, particularly those with limited incomes, distrust the regular food supply and buy only expensive organic foods instead.

The word "maintain" is closest in meaning to which of following?

(A) improve

(B) monitor

(C) preserve

(D) restore

022. In addition, there were performers and since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in the enactment of rites, religious leaders usually assumed that task.

The word "considerable" is closest in meaning to which of following?

(A) thoughtful

(B) substantial

(C) relational

(D) ceremonial

023. In addition, there were performers and since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in the enactment of rites, religious leaders usually assumed that task. The word "enactment" is closest in meaning to which of following?

(A) establishment

(B) performance

(C) authorization

(D) season

024. Staggering tasks confronted the people of the United States, North and South, when the Civil War ended. About a million and a half soldiers from both sides had to be demobilized, readjusted to civilian life, and reabsorbed by the devastated economy.

The word "Staggering" is closest in meaning to which of following?

(A) specialized

(B) confusing

(C) various

(D) overwhelming

025. About a million and a half soldiers from both sides had to be demobilized, readjusted to civilian life, and reabsorbed by the devastated economy.

The word "devastated" is closest in meaning to which of following?

(A) developing

(B) ruined

(C) complicated

(D) fragile

026. Some botanists hypothesized that the living cells of plants acted as pumps. But many experiments demonstrated that the stems of plants in which all the cells are killed can still move water to appreciable heights.

The word "demonstrated" is closest in meaning to which of following?

(A) ignored

(B) showed

(C) disguised

(D) distinguished

027. As water is lost from the surface of the leaves, a negative pressure, or tension, is created. The evaporated water is replaced by water moving from inside the plant in unbroken columns that extend from the top of a plant to its roots. The same forces that create surface tension in any sample of water are responsible for the maintenance of these unbroken columns of water.

The word "extend" is closest in meaning to which of following?

(A) stretch

(B) branch

(C) increase

(D) rotate

028. By opening vast areas of unoccupied land for residential expansion, the omnibuses, horse railways, commuter trains, and electric trolleys pulled settled regions outward two to four times more distant from city centers than they were in the premodern era.

The word "vast" is closest in meaning to which of following?

(A) large

(B) basic

(C) new

(D) urban

029. The new accessibility of land around the periphery of almost every major city sparked an explosion of real estate development and fueled what we now know as urban sprawl. Between 1890 and 1920, for example, some 250,000 new residential lots were recorded within the borders of Chicago, most of them located in outlying areas.

The word "sparked" is closest in meaning to which of following?

(A) brought about

(B) surrounded

(C) sent out

(D) followed

030. Anxious to take advantage of the possibilities of commuting, real estate developers added 800,000 potential building sites to the Chicago region in just thirty years- lots that could have housed five to six million people.

The word "potential" is closest in meaning to which of following?

(A) certain

(B) popular

(C) improved

(D) possible