0QUESTION
There are two gaps in the sentence/paragraph given below. From the pairs of words given, choose
the one that fills the gaps most appropriately.
Britain’s international development department – has occasionally been ________in the kind of economic growth that strangulates the poor while making the richest even richer. However, with all
its flaws, it is still more ____________than most of its western peers – especially US aid agencies, which blatantly funnel large portions of “aid” money to American “consultants”.
(a) persuasive, scrupulous (b) complicit, conscientious
(c) involved, judicious (d) prudent, fastidious
ANSWER
b The clue to this question lies in the phrase - ‘However,
with all its flaws’. The first word should highlight
something negative in Britain’s actions. ‘Complicit in
the kind of economic growth that strangulates the
poor’ fits well. In the second sentence, since it starts
with ‘however’ we are looking for something that has
a positive connotation. ‘Conscientious’ therefore is
appropriate. Another option, which can be considered
is (b). ‘Involved’ would fit the first blank but ‘judicious’
is primarily used to imply ‘wise’ or ‘of sound judgement’.
This does not set up the contrast with the actions of
other western peers that well. ‘Conscientious’ on the
other hand means ‘having moral integrity’. This is a
much better contrast with the actions of other nations,
which are acting to serve their own purposes. Options
(a) and (d) can be eliminated as the words ‘persuasive’
and ‘prudent’ are inappropriate in the context.
