Directions: Each sentence below has one or two blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Beneath the sentence are five fettered words or sets of words. Choose a set of words for each pair of blanks that best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.
1. Philosophers tell us that ones lifetime is _____ when considered from the viewpoint of _____ making humans appear much less important than they think in the grand scheme of things.
(A) laudatory..prestidigitation
(B) jaded..youth
(C) ephemeral..eternity
(D) superfluous..transience
(E) gauche..theology
2. The primitive emotions of love and hate, even though extreme opposites, are found in varying degrees even in the most _____ and _____ person, according to sociologists.
(A) brackish..mature
(B) sylvan..intellectual
(C) celestial..civilized
(D) beneficent..stable
(E) defunct..healthy
3. When surveying the rule of the elderly king, we could only conclude that as he neared his _____ he became a(n) _____ ruler, which was obvious by his inattention to some matters.