GRE Text Completion Practice Test 01

1. With his sub-four minute mile Bannister broke a psychological barrier, and inspired thousands of others to attempt to overcome seemingly ____ hurdles.

A. insurmountable
B. inane
C. trivial
D. traumatic
E. ineffable

2. Ricks has written extensively not only on the poetry of such (i)____ figures in English poetry as Milton and Housman, but also on the less obviously (ii)____ lyrics of Bob Dylan.

3. People who seek advice from (i)____ often find that what they are told can seem true, because these seekers of information attribute significance to some predictions and ignore others. The mind seeks to make sense of predictions that, in themselves, have no (ii)____ value, and thus it becomes difficult to prove that the forecasts are (iii)____ .

4. Stress-induced amnesia is a rare and (i)____ phenomenon; it strikes the patient apparently without warning and the memory loss can be as (i)____ as that induced by (iii)____ trauma.

5. The publishers, unwilling to (i)____ the entire risk, insisted that the author pay half the cost of the initial print run of his (ii)____ new book.

6. Science advances (i)____ as (ii)____ change abruptly and we are forced to stop and reorient ourselves to view old information in new ways.

7. The game of chess is an example of a ___ information system: the pieces sit inertly on the board until the players move them according to known rules.

A. interactive
B. passive
C. cybernetic
D. disruptive
E. logistic

8. A highly intelligent person often thinks (i)____; a few snippets of information can trigger a (ii)____ conclusion that might not stand up to closer, and (iii)____, scrutiny.

9. Major philosophical (i)____ about morality, identity and rationality, for example, can often be (ii)____ by thought experiments: short and simple expositions that pose an abstract and complex problem in a concrete manner with all the (iii)____ factors removed.

10. All good comic writers use humor to ____, not to side-step the problems of human behavior.

A. amuse
B. avert
C. juxtapose
D. confront
E. solve