Understanding the Passage and Fill-in-the-Blank Questions

This question asks us to fill in the blank in a passage about the first ascent of Mount Everest. These types of questions test your vocabulary and ability to understand the context of a sentence and the overall meaning of the passage.

Let's look at the relevant part of the passage again:

"Tenzing and Hillary have done it! Mount Everest has been conquered!" This news evoked (1) ______ reactions. Somehow, there was a sense of disappointment (2) ______ the fact that the great mountain had been (3) ______. It would have been nice to (4) ______ the Everest as an (5) ______ part of the Earth.

We need to select the most appropriate word for blank number 3.

Analyzing Blank 3 in the Mount Everest Passage

The sentence containing blank 3 is: "Somehow, there was a sense of disappointment (2) ______ the fact that the great mountain had been (3) ______."

This sentence is talking about a feeling of disappointment related to something that happened to the mountain. The previous sentence gives us a big clue: "Mount Everest has been conquered!". This tells us what major event just happened to Mount Everest.

Now let's examine the options for blank 3:

• Option 1: occupied - To occupy means to take control of a place, often with people or troops. While a summit might be "occupied" by climbers for a short time, the word isn't the primary term for successfully climbing a mountain.
• Option 2: conquered - To conquer a mountain means to successfully reach its summit, overcoming the challenges involved. This word directly relates to the achievement of climbing Mount Everest and is used in the preceding sentence.
• Option 3: challenged - A mountain can "challenge" climbers, meaning it presents difficulties. However, the mountain itself isn't "challenged" in this context; it is something that is overcome.
• Option 4: invaded - To invade means to enter a place by force, often in large numbers. This word is usually used for territories or countries and doesn't fit the context of climbing a mountain as well as "conquered" does.

Selecting the Most Appropriate Word for Blank 3

Considering the previous sentence explicitly states "Mount Everest has been conquered!", the blank in the next sentence, describing why people felt disappointment, logically follows from this fact. The disappointment is because the mountain had been successfully overcome or "conquered". The word "conquered" for blank 3 makes the sentence flow smoothly and aligns with the main event described in the passage.

Detailed Explanation of the Choice

The passage establishes that the news is about Mount Everest being "conquered". The subsequent sentence expresses disappointment that the mountain "had been" something. The options provided are actions or states that could apply to the mountain. Out of the given options, "conquered" is the word that most directly describes what happened to Mount Everest according to the passage and is the likely cause of the "disappointment" mentioned, perhaps because the idea of an unconquered Everest was appealing to some.

Let's place "conquered" into the sentence:

"Somehow, there was a sense of disappointment ______ the fact that the great mountain had been conquered."

This makes perfect sense in the context of the passage.

Revision Table: Understanding Vocabulary in Context

Additional Information: Passage Completion Skills

Fill-in-the-blank questions in passages test your ability to:

• Read and understand the context of the entire passage.
• Pay attention to the sentences immediately before and after the blank.
• Consider the grammar and part of speech needed for the blank (e.g., verb, noun, adjective).
• Analyze the meaning of each option provided.
• Choose the option that makes the sentence grammatically correct and logically fits the meaning of the passage.

In this case, understanding that "conquered" is used to describe the successful climbing of Mount Everest is key to choosing the correct word for blank 3.