NEO 57

Question 1

exploit

Answer 1

to use something in a way that helps you:
example: The Harappans exploited the seasonal overflow from their rivers by
capturing the water with dams and distributing it to crop-growing farms

Question 2

salinization

Answer 2

to treat or to be saturated with salt
example: where they slowly poison plant life through a process called salinization

Question 3

permeate

Answer 3

to spread through something and be present in every part of it:
example: Moreover, salt-permeated topsoil is easily blown away by
passing winds, causing desertification

Question 4

exacerbate

Answer 4

to make something that is already bad even worse:
example: These conditions are further exacerbated where a hard layer of bedrock impervious to water lies not far beneath the surface

Question 5

impervious

Answer 5

not allowing liquid to go through:
example: These conditions are further exacerbated where a hard layer of bedrock impervious to water lies not far beneath the surface

Question 6

strip

Answer 6

to remove, pull, or tear the covering or outer layer from something:
example: Harappan woodsmen may have stripped much of the Indus Valley of its local forests

Question 7

eradicated

Answer 7

to get rid of something completely or destroy something bad:
example: Dramatic earth movements have often altered the course of human history: earthquake-related tsunamis (large ocean waves) alone have eradicated cities from ancient Mycenae (Crete) to Port Royal (Jamaica) in
the early modern period

Question 8

dissolution

Answer 8

the ending of esp. an official organization or a legal arrangement:
example: Cities show signs of a slow dissolution of civic cohesion, including the rise of slums

Question 9

civic

Answer 9

of or relating to a citizen, a city, citizenship, or community affairs
example: Cities show signs of a slow dissolution of civic cohesion, including the rise of slums

Question 10

cohesion

Answer 10

the situation when the members of a group or society are united:
example: Cities show signs of a slow dissolution of civic cohesion, including the rise of slums

Question 11

slums

Answer 11

a very poor and crowded area, especially of a city:
example: Cities show signs of a slow dissolution of civic cohesion, including the rise of slums

Question 12

perish

Answer 12

to die, especially in an accident or by being killed, or to be destroyed:
vs flourish
example: Harappan cities along the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra rivers may have been the first to perish

Question 13

annihilation

Answer 13

complete destruction, so that nothing or no one is left:
example: In an effort to avoid annihilation, Harappans may have moved farther east and south in search of
fertile land and reliable rainfall.

Question 14

subside

Answer 14

If a condition subsides, it becomes less strong or extreme:
example: when bombardment by
asteroids had subsided substantially.

Question 15

substantially

Answer 15

to a large degree:
example: when bombardment by
asteroids had subsided substantially.

Question 16

precursor

Answer 16

one that precedes and indicates the approach of another
example: Some researchers have concluded that precursor compounds, and ultimately life itself, arose in small bodies of water

Question 17

preponderance

Answer 17

the largest part or greatest amount:
example: Knowing that photosynthesis produces the preponderance of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere today

Question 18

liberate

Answer 18

to free from combination
example: light breaks down water vapor in Earth’s upper
atmosphere, slowly liberating oxygen

Question 19

vicinity

Answer 19

the quality or state of being near
example: The most likely setting was a warm area beneath the seafloor in the vicinity of a mid-ocean ridge (submarine mountain range).

Question 20

percolate

Answer 20

If a liquid percolates, it moves slowly through a substance with very small holes in it:
example: mid-ocean ridges warms seawater that has percolated into the crust through pores and cracks

Question 21

lukewarm

Answer 21

(especially of a liquid) only slightly warm:
example: Others live in
lukewarm water farther from ridge axes.

Question 22

primitive

Answer 22

of or relating to the earliest age or period
example: the most primitive living bacteria.