Test your intermediate level vocabulary

Fill-in-the-blanks. Answers are below the exercise.

15 useful words

wealthy, have an advantage over, an election, a lottery, to dominate, the role of, disgraceful, desperate, a campaign, an opponent, to get sick of something, a socialist, under the tutelage of, in the minority, a term

1. I used to live in Flushing but I had to take a bus to reach the subway station to go back and forth, to and from, work.  I just _________________ having to spend so much time traveling each day, so I moved to Woodside, closer to a subway station.

2. New York City has changed a lot in the last 15 years. The biggest change is that rent prices have sky-rocketed (have soared, have risen sharply).  Unless you are willing to live with roommates, you really need to be kind of ______________ to live here.

3. One of the reasons Obama was re-elected president was that he did not have a strong _____________.  Mitt Romney was not a good choice by the Republican Party.

4. As a foreign student I was at a disadvantage in an American school, since native-English speakers tend to ______________ the class discussions.  It always took me awhile to think in English before I could answer a question in class.

5. A US Congressperson will usually serve a _____________ of 2 years, but most Congressmen and women get re-elected at least a couple more times.  Some Congressmen have been re-elected over and over again and have served for over 40 years.  They are usually among the most corrupt Congressmen.

6. Although it is easy to raise a great amount of money through a public _____________ system, where citizens can pay small amounts of money to try to win large amounts, it has been pointed out that most of the people who try to make money this way are poor and they cannot afford to lose even small sums of money.

7. Although many conservatives have attacked Obama and called him a ___________________; he seems to support capitalism, and is not even a very liberal president any more.

8. Although many Asian immigrants have been coming to new York City, and Asians are much more noticeable than they were 15 years ago, they are still __________________ in New York City.

9. If you look at SAT scores (the SAT is a test high school students take which helps determine which colleges they will be accepted at) you can see that the wealthy have _________________ over poorer students.  The more money a student’s family makes, the higher his/her SAT score will be.

10. ________________ nurse requires not only medical knowledge but a sense of compassion for others and really good people skills.

11. Jean Valjean stole a loaf of bread because he was _________________; he had to feed his family.

12. PeiWen became an amazing violinist even before she began studying ______________________ some of the best violin teachers that the Julliard School of music has.

13. In a political ___________ a candidate will often attack his/her opponent instead of focusing on the positive changes he/she will bring about him/herself.

14. In the last ________________ for mayor, only about 25% of the people of New York voted.

15. In the last Congressional election in Flushing, Grace Meng, Taiwanese-American, ran against Rory Lancman, Jewish-American.  There were an equal number of Jewish and Asians in the district. In order to try to win the election in an unethical and _________________ manner, Meng found a Jewish volunteer from her campaign staff and apparently encouraged him to run for Congressman too.  She was hoping that some Jews would vote for Lancman while others would vote for the other guy with the other Jewish name. In this way the Jewish voters would be divided and she would win with all the Asian votes she received. She is now a Congressperson.

Answers are below:

Answers:

1. got sick of, 
2. wealthy, 
3. opponent, 
4. dominate, 
5. term, 
6. lottery, 
7. socialist, 
8. in the minority, 
9. an advantage, 
10. the role of, 
11. desperate, 
12. under the tutelage of, 
13. campaign, 
14. election, 
15. disgraceful,