The kitchen was small and（ ）so that the disabled woman could reach everything without difficulty.

A.compact B.complex C.complete D.composite

The girl tried many times to sneak across the border to a neighboring country, （ ）each time.

The reason why James Bond movies are (A) so popular is (B) because (C) they combine the appeal of traditional spy (D) stories with the appeal of technological devices.

He knows little of mathematics, and （ ）of chemistry.

1. Flattery, Richard Stengel writes by way of defining his terms, “is strategic praise, praise with a purpose. It may be inflated or exaggerated or it may be accurate and truthful, but it is praise that seeks some result, whether it be increased liking or an office with a window....Flattery is also a kind of bribe, an emotional gratuity that we accept and which very often repays the giver with something he wants. It is a bribe we want to pocket....Flattery at its core is language that advances self-interest while concealing it at the same time.”2. All of which is perfectly true, but it needs to be qualified (as in time Stengel does) in one important way: Flattery is almost always recognizable for exactly what it is. If it is true, as probably it is, that most of us are susceptible to flattery and willing to employ it in our own interests, it is equally true that flattery is infrequently subtle and often blatant. In my line of work, for example, when I see in a publisher’s catalogue that a writer with whom I am acquainted has a new book forthcoming, I can predict almost to the day the letter or call from said author in which, in one fashion or another, my own perspicacity and stylistic elegance will be praised fulsomely, accompanied, perhaps, by an invitation to lunch. Similarly, a letter or e-mail from someone wholly unknown to me will begin with praise for my latest book review or column, followed, apace, with the news that the writer of the letter ― or a relative, or a friend, or a colleague ― is about to come forth with ... a book.3. It is the way of the world. Though in my case flattery infrequently produces the desired results ——quite to the contrary, if the truth be known ——I cannot claim that the silken words whispered in my ear go unheeded. Stengel quotes Lord Chesterfield: “This principle of vanity and pride is so strong in human nature, that is descends even to the lowest objects; and one often sees people angling for praise.” Though we would prefer praise that is offered without ulterior motives, that is heartfelt and generous, we readily settle for mere flattery; we may not deliver the quid pro quo so transparently sought beneath the oleaginous words — we may even hold the flatterer in contempt— yet we are not impervious to the stroking he or she administers; indeed we may luxuriate in it even as we pretend to ridicule it.4. “To describe someone as a social climber or a self-promoter is generally not considered a compliment. Those two labels seem like particularly modern putdowns (and in the culture of celebrity they have become full-time occupations). But I would make the case that they are simply neutral terms for fundamental human behavior, In fact, I’d contend that based on the principles of evolutionary biology, social-climbing and self-promotion. They are in our genes.”5. Flattery, he quite correctly says, “is a form of cooperation, and cooperation is the successful evolutionary principle of reciprocal altruism.” As Sam Rayburn used to say, during his long and productive tenure as speaker of the House of Representatives, “If you want to get along, go along.” To be sure flattery is routinely carried to obscene lengths in this city , which as Stengel correctly points out “is in some ways closer to the courts of Renaissance Europe than it is to our modern era,” yet it is the grease that oils the wheels of politics and often enables the government and its satellites to accomplish worthwhile things. The spectacle that members of the Senate present when they fawn over each other as “honorable” and “distinguished” is hardly a pretty one, yet it is not without purpose.6. In American life, flattering influential individuals is an essential part of the machinery of society and business. In a perceptive chapter called How Dale Carnegie Won Friends and Influenced People, Stengel shows how “the simplest devices of paying attention, offering appreciation and the giving of s

In spite of (A) his aged (B) appearance, his movements were as spirited (C) as a young man(D).