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The passage is stating how the field of meteorology has been pulled, against its will, into the world of politics. This is described as being a burden on meteorologists. Note that the first blank is difficult to answer without reading the rest of the passage. Working in the context of political discourse is not inherently good or bad, so further reading is necessary to establish what answer to choose. After reading, however, it becomes clear that political discourse is undesirable for meteorologists. "Auspices" means backing, or support. Given what we learn about the relationship between political discourse and meteorology, this word doesn't fit. "Insight" means "intuition." Once again, this word does not describe how political discourse effects meteorology "Encumbrance" means "burden," or "hindrance." Given what we learn in the passage, political discourse would be a burden to the study of meteorology.

The second blank describes scientists being thrust into another world. Given the use of the word "thrust," we can infer they were forced to be there. Therefore, we want words that establish the personality of a person who does not want to be in a public situation. "Ostentatious" means "flashy." A person like this would want to be in public situations. "Conspiratorial" is a word that means of or relating to unsavory and secretive behavior. There's no evidence provided in the passage that suggest that meteorologists would want to partake in unsavory and secretive behavior. "Reticent" means "quiet," or "discreet." It makes sense that a quiet person would only enter a public forum when being "thrust" into it.