Question 41·Medium·Words in Context
Early surveys portrayed the Bronze Age settlement as a cluster of hastily built huts, but recent excavations have uncovered a meticulously arranged street grid, substantial stone foundations, and evidence of long-term trade, dispelling the notion that the community was merely ______.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
For words-in-context questions, first identify any contrast or cause/effect signals (like "but," "although," or "because") and use them to decide whether the blank should agree with or oppose the surrounding idea. Then, in your own words, summarize what the sentence implies should go in the blank (for example, "a word meaning it didn’t last long"). Finally, test each option by plugging it into the sentence and eliminating choices that don’t match the overall meaning or that introduce ideas (like social rank or isolation) that the passage never mentions.
Hints
Locate the contrast in the sentence
Pay attention to the words "but" and "dispelling the notion"—they show that the blank is the old idea that the new evidence is proving wrong.
Focus on the evidence after the comma
Ask yourself: What kind of settlement would have a meticulously arranged street grid, substantial stone foundations, and evidence of long-term trade? Think about how organized, stable, and connected that sounds.
Match the answer to the old, incorrect picture
The blank describes how the community was misunderstood before the new excavations. Which option would describe a community in a way that clashes with the strong, well-organized, long-term picture presented by the new evidence?
Step-by-step Explanation
Use the contrast signal words
Notice the structure:
- "Early surveys portrayed... but recent excavations have uncovered... dispelling the notion that the community was merely _____."
The word "but" and the phrase "dispelling the notion" tell you that the blank is the old, incorrect idea, which is being contradicted by the new evidence that follows.
Summarize what the new evidence shows
Look at the list after "have uncovered":
- "a meticulously arranged street grid"
- "substantial stone foundations"
- "evidence of long-term trade"
Together, these suggest a community that was carefully planned, physically solid, and engaged in ongoing trade with others—in other words, stable, established, and connected, not quickly thrown together or simple.
Infer what the mistaken idea must have been
Because the new evidence shows the settlement was organized, solid, and involved in long-term trade, the earlier wrong idea (the blank) must be almost the opposite of that.
The phrase "merely ______" also suggests the old view made the community sound less developed and less permanent than it really was.
So we need a word that would describe a community wrongly thought to be just a brief, simple presence, rather than a stable, lasting settlement.
Test each answer choice against that meaning
Now compare each option to the idea of a community that was incorrectly thought to be brief and not firmly established:
- A) prosperous means wealthy or economically successful. That actually fits with long-term trade, so it is not something being "dispelled."
- B) isolated means cut off from others, but the evidence of long-term trade suggests the community was not isolated. Still, the old view was about being "hastily built huts," not necessarily about isolation.
- C) hierarchical means arranged in levels of rank; the sentence never mentions social ranks.
- D) transient means temporary or short-lived, which perfectly matches the mistaken idea of a hastily built, not-lasting settlement that the new evidence disproves.
Therefore, the correct answer is D) transient.