Carcass, I didn't understand why solving these old gre big book problems doesn't worth. Would you explain?
These problems seem to me like a double blank question. Rather thery are also helpful to get an idea of sentence structure.

The main reason , per se, does not have a perfect explanation, in teh sense that IF a thing is not longer studied in academia, or is NOT reported in a book, or is NOT tested anymore in a test why I have to practice that ?

Things evolve and change, never stay the same.

That format was supplanted by the SE in the new GRE. So for me, they do not deserve any more attention.

Practically speaking and I said always that NOT to practice this material is NOT mandatory. It is just my humble opinion.

Now,. I believe, and this is MY idea, ETS faded out those questions because in the new SE you have two similar words alike in meaning and the process could be quite tricky.

Instead here, even though you do NOT know ONE of the words but the other, you can still nail the right option. There is nothing to add more.

I hope I satisfied your question sir

regards

Thanks a lot.

Posted from my mobile device

could someone explain the second portion again?

I am not inclined to explain double blanks from the BB. They are faded out from the new GRE

Moreover, I have edited the question above because it did look like new two blanks which are different in logic.

Now, prudery poses or emphasizes attention to the vice or I would also translate it as addiction that must be repressed or pushed down or eliminated. The first blank is not that difficult. At this point, we do know already the answer. That's why I do not like these old questions: you do not need double reasoning. You know one and bingo

the very act that forbids speech or prohibits sight (II) ______ what is hidden.

When we repress a vice we can also repress a speech or sight making worse what the same speech brought to us. therefore, dramatizing or emphasizing the whole mechanism.

This is what I understood. Frankly, it does not make any sense