Choose the word or set of words that best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

1. Mr. Miller has expressed his hope that the project can __________ support for conserving the Silverson Wildlife Complex.

2. People and rhinoceroses prefer similar habitat but don't mix very well, which is one reason rhinoceroses have almost __________ from the earth.

3. __________ its high concentration of family-owned manufacturing firms, dating back to the late 1800s, Blendens Furniture is accustomed to the ups and downs of the business __________ .

4. Last week, Texitron , an American firm with factories in 40 countries, __________ it was closing two more plants, __________ the number of Texitron jobs lost to 1,030 this year.

5. The improved sales were largely the result of a 21.3% increase in unit volume, but a 12.1% ___________ in average selling ___________ negatively impacted results.

6. No other people of the world are quite so ___________ with installing and ___________ expanses of short grass ? mostly around houses but also at schools, parks, golf courses, graveyards, freeway embankments and corporate headquarters.

7. The grandson of a Haitian slave, Dumas became the most famous author in France ; now, his rousing romantic novels are enjoying renewed ___________.

8. Though the general died young, leaving his son without an inheritance, the young man overcame ___________, the lack of ___________ education to become one of the world's most popular writers.

9. C. copious - abomination D. uncontrollable - anathema E. bountiful - atomization The best answer is C. Both copious proliferation and bountiful proliferation are redundant. Uncontrollable is the most logical choice for the first blank. Since uncontrollable has a negative connotation, anathema, also a negative word, is a logical choice. Front Inc., ___________ by the 1999 merger between Front Bank and Merchant's Bank, has been at the ___________ of merger rumors for years.

10. The agency is working on faster ways to ___________ rapidly moving ___________ like the SARS virus, which began in China and spread worldwide early last year.