46. Her husband did not like her new interests and her ______ added further strain to an already failing marriage.

  A. persistence                               B. obstinacy

47. Political leaders have reached a ______ agreement to hold a preparatory conference next month.

  A. hesitant                                   B. tentative

48. Initially this was ______ at as farfetched conjecture, but gradually it has received grudging respect and empirical support.

  A. scolded                                         B. scoffed

49. Gaining ______ to the club was no easy matter.

   A. permission                              B. admittance

50. Even though thousands of people die violently each year in Sri Lanka, the death of an important figure causes national ______.

   A. anguish                                 B. melancholy

51. The rapid fire of questions was deliberate, she knew, designed to scare her into ______ out the truth.

   A. blurting                                  B. blunting

52. Small debts could rapidly mount up and begin to exert ______ pressure on the relationship between husband and wife.

  A. intolerant                                 B. intolerable

53. This part of the story is perhaps the most exciting, since the company not only kept its head above water, but produced a series of plays which ______ its reputation.

  A. increased                                       B. enhanced

54. He looked across the sea: a faint ______ of pale light was rising in the midnight-blue sky.

  A. glimmer                                  B. glamour