LITERATURE: Leo Tolstoy

Question 1

very great, or the best: It was in his eyes, the {…} medium by which we can get to know others

Answer 1

supreme

Question 2

to fall or drop heavily: He {…}ed at university.

Answer 2

flop

Question 3

to risk money, for example in a game or on a horse race: He spent a few years {…}ing and drinking and chasing gypsy women before signing on as an artillery officer in the Crimean War.

Answer 3

gamble

Question 4

the state or period of being a baby, or fig. the early stage of growth or development of something: They had 13 children, 9 of whom survived {…}.

Answer 4

infancy

Question 5

expressing a lot of hate and anger: There were huge arguments about sex and {…} on both sides.

Answer 5

bitter

Question 6

in order to help or bring advantage to someone: Tolstoy didn’t believe in the idea of art for art’s {…}.

Answer 6

sake

Question 7

too quick to criticize people: He was deeply invested in the belief that good art should make us less moralistic and {…}.

Answer 7

judgmental

Question 8

relating to or denoting a type of personality or behaviour characterized by the avoidance of intimacy or social interaction. But is also rather emotionally remote and {…}.

Answer 8

avoidant

Question 9

to be affected by someone in a strong and often negative way: Natasha meets a handsome cynical waster called Anatole and {…} {…} his {…}.

Answer 9

falls under his spell

Question 10

believing that people are motivated by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity. Natasha meets a handsome {…} waster called Anatole and falls under his spell.

Answer 10

cynical ˈsinək(ə)l

Question 11

to make someone feel attracted to you and want to have sex with you, often someone younger or less experienced: He almost manages to {…} her and persuades her to run away with him.

Answer 11

seduce

Question 12

having strong feelings of shock or disapproval: Everyone is {…} and furious with Natasha.

Answer 12

appalled /əˈpɔːld/

Question 13

to destroy or badly damage something: This sort of madness {…} her own prospects and deeply shames her family.

Answer 13

wrecks

Question 14

to meet someone unexpectedly: If we {…}ed a news clip about such a person, we might rapidly come to the conclusion that she lies beyond the range of normal sympathy.

Answer 14

encountered

Question 15

to take or move out or back, or to remove: And yet Tolstoy’s view is that if we grasp what things are like for Natasha inside her mind, we can’t and won’t {…} our sympathy.

Answer 15

withdraw

Question 16

allowing yourself to have or do anything that you enjoy: She isn’t in truth {…}-{…}, frivolous or totally lacking in devotion.

Answer 16

self-indulgent

Question 17

behaving in a silly way and not taking anything seriously: She isn’t in truth self-indulgent, {…} or totally lacking in devotion.

Answer 17

frivolous

Question 18

loyalty and love or care for someone or something: He inspired respect and {…} from his pupils.

Answer 18

devotion

Question 19

thinking or worrying about something too much: She’s just a sexually inexperienced young woman who feels abandoned by her {…} boyfriend.

Answer 19

preoccupied

Question 20

to cause someone to become very excited and to lose control: to become so excited about something that you do not control what you say or do: She is someone who has a deeply impulsive and warm nature and is easily {…}ed {…} {…} joy and happiness.

Answer 20

carried away by…

Question 21

completely or extremely: She is also {…} worried about letting other people down, which is what leads her into trouble with the scheming and manipulative Anatole.

Answer 21

acutely /əˈkjuːt.li/

Question 22

having height or width or length, but not two or all of these: if we more accurately saw the inner lives of others, they couldn’t appear to us in the normal cold and {…}-{…} way, and we would treat them with the kindness which they truly need and deserve.

Answer 22

one-dimensional

Question 23

full of life and energy; active and outgoing. The novel, a tragedy, tells the story of the beautiful, clever, {…} and generous-hearted married Anna.

Answer 23

lively /ˈlaɪv.li/

Question 24

excellent, or beautiful and impressive: We had {…} food/a {…} holiday/{…} weather. whose life falls apart when she falls in love with Vronsky, a {…} young cavalry officer.

Answer 24

splendid

Question 25

aware of something/to notice that a particular thing or person exists or is present: Karenin is a fussy, status-{...}, mannered high-ranking government official.

Answer 25

conscious /ˈkɒn.ʃəs/

Question 26

not easily satisfied, or having very high standards about particular things: All my children were {...} eaters. Karenin is a {...}, status-conscious, mannered high-ranking government official.

Answer 26

fussy

Question 27

unkind, cruel, and without sympathy or feeling for other people: Karenin, who is often {...} towards Anna and unable to answer any of her emotional yearnings.

Answer 27

callous /ˈkæl.əs/

Question 28

a strong feeling of wishing for something, especially something that you cannot have or get easily: Karenin, who is often callous towards Anna and unable to answer any of her emotional {...}s.

Answer 28

yearning

Question 29

reputation, rank, or position in an area of activity, system, or organization: it might lead to social gossip which could undermine his public {...}.

Answer 29

standing

Question 30

to behave in a way that makes people believe that you have a particular characteristic: He {...} {...} as simply cold and brutish.

Answer 30

come across

Question 31

rough, unpleasant, and often violent: He comes across as simply cold and {...}.

Answer 31

brutish /ˈbruː.tɪʃ/

Question 32

to cry: But then Anna gives birth to her lover’s child, she is ill, and in a highly touching scene, Karenin is deeply moved, {...} for the infant, for the mother, and forgives Anna.

Answer 32

weeps

Question 33

extremely or completely happy: And yet he suddenly felt a {...} spiritual condition that gave him all at once a new happiness he had never known: a glad feeling of love and forgiveness for his enemies filled his heart.

Answer 33

blissful

Question 34

He knelt down, and laying his head in the curve of Anna’s arm; he {...} like a little child.

Answer 34

sobbed from the verb (to sob)

Question 35

having or showing reason and good judgment in making decisions: Thanks to the {...} Tolstoy, we see entirely unexpected aspects of the man.

Answer 35

judicious dʒuːˈdɪʃ.əs

Question 36

slightly unpleasant or worrying so that you do not want to get involved in any way: It is highly usual for rather {...}-{...} people to have huge reserves of buried tenderness, to have dimensions to their characters very different from and often much nicer than those that their forbidding appearance suggests.

Answer 36

off-putting

Question 37

easily annoyed: He’s short and {...}-{...} back.

Answer 37

ill-tempered

Question 38

very well; excellently. As a {...} skilled and seductive writer,

Answer 38

supremely

Question 39

to understand something, especially something difficult: And yet Tolstoy’s view is that if we {...} what things are like for Natasha inside her mind, we can’t and won’t withdraw our sympathy.

Answer 39

grasp