Thanks for explaining this!

Why 1st blank is "scholarly"?

Because her work is related to her field of study being her a professor. Her work cannot be surreal or romantic.

These two options are out of scope.

Regards

Could someone explain the answer for the 3rd blank ?
I associated "myth" and "legends" with anonymity, because the scholarly work was an excavation myth and legend - something which was not known earlier, whose origin or details were not known

Professor emeritus at Occidental College and the leader of an international folkdance ensemble, she has described her (i)___ work as standing at the crossroads of archeology and linguistics. This work, however, is not a (ii) ____ but rather an excavation of myth and legend that draws attention to tantalizing traces of dancing in the shape of agrarian ritual and then leaps into (iii) ____.

Focus on the highlighted double shift word----whatever you will fill with the 2nd black; the 3rd blank will be its same direction. SO what we know about "an excavation of ( myth and legends; dancing in the shape of agrarian ritual ) " ----seems whoever feels it, it's a euphoria. What if we do not see the euphoria , must be mysterious.

Can someone break down this sentence for me? Seems really complex, as I completely failed to pick up any clues
Thanks

Professor emeritus at Occidental College and the leader of an international folkdance ensemble,

prepositional phrase (modifier) of the next sentence where we do have SHE. Therefore SHE was a professor AND a leader of something (who cares)

she has described her (i)scholarly work as standing at the crossroads of archeology and linguistics.

Her scholarly work I.E: her work as a professor was described as a mix between archeology and linguistics



This work, however, is not a (ii) social history but rather an excavation of myth and legend that draws attention to tantalizing traces of dancing in the shape of agrarian ritual and then leaps into (iii) mystery.

Nonetheless, this work (I guess her actual work) has not a connotation of a social history work rather a dive, a focus on myth and legend which turns out put attention on the ritual of the agrarian and turns out (second step) into a mystery of this ritual

Basically the meaning could visualize this way: her work put deep attention on the ritual and when we focus on this attention the result is much deeper and in-depth attention down to the mystery. See it as you descend into a black hole

Hope this helps

Thanks for the answers and the explanations. Were really helpful!

If you see this part, but rather an excavation of myth and legend that draws attention to tantalizing traces of dancing in the shape of agrarian ritual and then leaps into

Now what tantalize means, it means promise of something unobtainable - so you are looking something you don't know, and out of 3 choice you can see which answer suit this meaning.

2nd - not a ___ but rather.. myth and legend (means fiction).
Thus blank has to be opposite of fiction. D is fantasy. F is fictional. Hence, E is answer.

3rd - traces of dancing leaps into ____.
The work is a myth/legend. Traces of dancing are not myth, hence the blank shud be something mythical or legendary like word.

Hello from the GRE Prep Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GRE Prep Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.