OE

The word "profligacy" means "immorally extravagant" and is very negative. Thus, the leader must take a dim view of physical pleasures. Blank (iii) will reflect the leader's negative view of "profligacy." The word "as" is a straight-ahead roadsign connecting what the order is known for to the leader's orders about "profligacy." Since profligacy isn't allowed, the members of the order must be clean-living. The first two blanks are closely related, as they are part of phrases joined with "and"; these two phrases will both describe this clean-living order.

Predict an answer

For blank (iii), predict that profligacy might "interfere with" or "harm" a search for understanding.

For blank (i), predict an adjective such as "austere" or "plain" or "not much fun." For blank (ii), predict a verb such as "denying" or "forgoing" or "not having."

Select the choice(s) that most closely match(es) your prediction

Blank (iii): (I) a distraction from matches the prediction and is correct. These pleasures are not (G) a key to the search for understanding-the opposite is the case. They are also not (H) a distortion of the search for understanding. Someone's understanding of something could be distorted through faulty information or interpretation, but it doesn't make sense to say that the "search for understanding" is twisted out of shape or made untrue.

Blanks (i) and (ii): (B) ascetic and (D) abjuring work here. The first means "self-denying" or "morally strict," and the second means "formally rejecting." Members of this order practice asceticism and abjure physical pleasure. There is no evidence for the other choices for these blanks. (F) espousing means "to support, especially a cause."

Check your answer

The order was best known for its ascetic living and abjuring all physical indulgences, as the leader had decreed that any profligacy represented a distraction from its search for understanding.