9. Despite the increase in anti-Asian hate crimes in the U.S., one-third of Americans __ unaware of the situation.

(A) recede

(B) remain

(C) represent

(D) retinue

5. From abroad, the American flag is a straightforward stand-in for the __-state. (A) group (B) nation (C) people (D) human

6. The President of PEN Germany recently __ that "the enemy is Putin, not Pushkin," relying on word games to protest against the idea of a "blanket boycott" of Russian culture. (A) defused (B) descended (C) declared (D) demoted

7. With his threats to use the bomb, Russia's president has __ the nuclear order. (A) overturned (B) overreacted (C) overstepped (D) overwhelmed

8. The historic Maya __ their calendars and rituals to celestial events. (A) amplified (B) anticipated (C) audited (D) anchored

10. Defenseless-looking ribbon worms are anything __, according to a study of the many toxins that they produce. (A) yet (B) as well (C) however (D) but

11. Elden Ring has a story that has something to do with a ring, but more important is its design: It's an open-world game, meaning you can do __ whenever you want. (A) wherever (B) whatever (C) whoever (D) whichever

12.mounds in the southwest corner of the Amazon Basin were once the site of ancient urban settlements, scientists have discovered. (A) Mysterious. (B) Mystified. (C) Misperceived. (D) Misfired.

13. Humans produce two million blood cells each second, derived from a relatively small pool of haematopoietic stem cells. (A) leisurely. (B) intensely. (C) roughly. (D) precisely.

14. An analysis finds that women have a better chance of winning awards not named a person than of winning prizes named a man. (A) after. (B) before. (C) as. (D) with.

15. Alexander Pope wrote in an age of Party - in the political rather than Downing Street sense - and his kind of intelligence was exactly to an environment in which different groups of people knew different things and supported distinct political causes. (A) attempted. (B) atoned. (C) attached. (D) attuned. Grammar & Vocabulary in Context 30% Choose the best answer to each of the following test items. During (16) arguments in the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard, one of Heard's attorneys, Benjamin Rottenborn, described a series of Catch-22s that often (17) women who, like Heard, accuse their partners of domestic violence. "If you didn't take pictures, it didn't happen; if you did take pictures, they're fake," he said. "If you didn't tell your friends, you're lying; and if you did tell your friends, they're part of the (18). If you didn't seek medical treatment, you weren't injured; if you did seek medical treatment, you're crazy." Rottenborn did not name a few other damned-if-you-do scenarios that were (19) by Depp's ferociously adept legal team in the course of the six-week-long trial: if you (20) record abusive behavior, you are conniving and untrustworthy; if you don't, it didn't happen. If you ever try to laugh off your partner's ghastly behavior-because the "cycle of abuse" is no less terrifying for being so pathetic and predictable then it's not abuse. If you talk back or fight back, then you are the real abuser.