1) German companies have long enjoyed a reputation for producing some of the most finely- _______ products ever made. a) engineer b) engineering c) engineered d) engine 2) Rampant _______ in the Florida land boom was a precursor of the Great Crash of 1929. a) speculators b) speculation c) spectacles d) speculative 3) It is often said that necessity is the mother of _______ . a) invent b) inventors c) inventive d) invention 4) Walter Scott was avery famous writer of _______ novels . a) history b) historic c) historical d) historically 5) By introducing an computerized stock system, the manager hoped to _______ the process of shipping goods. a) expedite b) expedition c) expeditonary d) expeditious 6) He spent his winter vacations in Hawaii for three _______ years. a) successive b) success c) successfully d) succession 7) The sun came up over the high Himalayas and flooded the valley with a _______ light. a) wondering b) wonder c) wonderfully d) wonderous 8) The swaying of a cobra has a _______ effect on its prey. a) hypnosis b) hypnotic c) hypnotist d) hypnotize 9) The _______ of the murder was shocking, even to the most hardened police detectives. a) brutal b) brutality c) brutally d) brute 10) Even in the Japan of the 21st century, _______ marriages are not uncommon. a) arrangement b) arranging c) arrange d) arranged 11) Although they lagged seriously behind in the 1980's, American cars are now _______ their Japanese counterparts. a) reliable b) as reliable c) more reliable d) as reliable as 12) The rocket-powered Bell X-1, piloted by Chuck Jaeger, was the first aircraft to fly _______ the speed of sound. a) faster b) faster than c) as fast d) more fast 13) The black mamba, a highly aggressive reptile, is without doubt _______ snake in Africa. a) the most dangerous b) the more dangerous c) as dangerous as d) the dangerest 14) Despite the fact that many of his contemporaries considered him a clown and a buffoon, Ronald Reagan was probably _______ peacetime president the United States has ever had. a) goodest b) best c) better d) the best 15) When hiring new staff, there are many companies that consider educational qualifications are not as _______ experience in determining whether someone is able to do the job they have applied for. a) important b) as important c) important as d) more important 16) The _______ developments in surgical techniques have enabled doctors to be less intrusive during operations than was previously the case. a) most recent b) more recent c) recently d) recenter 17) The game of soccer, the most played sport in the world, has become much _______ in the United States since the hosting of the World Cup there in 1998. a) more popular than b) popular than c) the most popular d) more popular 18) The _______ solution to the country's energy problem was to build a series of dams across the fast-flowing rivers that came out of the northern mountains. a) the more obvious b) most obvious c) more obvious than d) as obvious as 19) In the 19th century, as indeed it still is, St. Helena _______ outpost of the British Empire. a) was the far-flung b) was the farthest-flung c) farther flung far than 20) _______ mountain in the world is called K2 and is located in that part of the Himalays that forms the northern boundary of Pakistan. a) Second highest b) The second highest c) The higher d) as high as