QUESTION EXPLANATIONS

1. (C) — The passage talks repeatedly about increasing healthcare demands, using statistical evidence in lines 1-7, and a hypothetical example in lines 49-59. It also repeatedly states explicitly that there need to be more doctors and that that need will not change, including in lines 7-11, 35-37, 38-42, and 59-60. (C) contains both of those central ideas. The passage makes no reference to shutting down hospitals, so (A) is incorrect. The passage explicitly argues against the idea that waste is a major problem in the medical system (lines 20-30), so (B) is incorrect. The passage does discuss ACOs, but it says that there is a lot of “wishful thinking” about their ability to improve the health care system, which suggests the author does not have high hopes for them; thus, (D) is incorrect.

2. (B) — The passage refers to an aging population in lines 1-2, and to new legislation (the Affordable Care Act) in lines 2-5; it then refers to these factors as creating a “surge in demand” (line 8). The passage makes no reference to doctors retiring early, so (A) is incorrect. The passage discusses other people who believe the health care system involves a lot of waste, but it does not endorse the idea that such widespread waste exists; therefore, (C) is incorrect. The passage makes no reference to medical programs being closed, so (D) is incorrect.

3. (A) — The lines in answer (A) discuss the “shortfall of doctors,” referring to the content of the previous sentence. It links the shortfall to a rise in demand, which matches the answer to the previous question. (B) discusses the idea that there is significant waste in the health care system, which the passage goes on to disagree with; it refers to an idea the passage is arguing against, not for, so it is incorrect. (C) discusses higher medical needs, but does so in context of the present day, not the approaching future the author is arguing will bring a shortfall. (D) offers an example to illustrates the author’s argument, but it does not contain the reasons for that argument, so it is incorrect.

4. (A) — The passage states that “Primary care and prevention will increase the need for doctors” (lines 49-50); if they contribute to an increased need, they will therefore not contribute to the solution of a doctor shortage, so (A) is correct. The passage argues against the idea that preventing diseases will reduce cost, saying that such thinking “didn’t turn out to be the reality” (line 47-48), and makes no reference to changes in early death; therefore, (B) is incorrect. The passage never argues in favor of relocating doctors anywhere, so (C) is incorrect. The passage contains what the author believes are the causes of the doctor shortage, and at no point does the passage advocate for more research, so (D) is incorrect.

5. (D) — The selection in answer (D) contains the argument that the correct answer to the previous question was accurately rephrasing. None of the other options make reference to primary care and prevention, which are the subject of the correct answer to the previous question, so (A), (B), and (C) are all incorrect.

6. (B) — In context, the “small, vocal minority” of researchers is described as “vocal” to emphasize how often and publicly they share their opinions; “outspoken” (B) carries these meanings. “Blunt” (A) and “forthright” (D) both have meanings that suggest that the truth is being stated; the author of the passage disagrees with this minority, so it would not make sense to use these words. “Out loud” refers to a manner of speaking, not a group; it would not make sense to say “an out loud minority,” so (C) is incorrect.

7. (C) — In the paragraph following the portion referred to by the question, the author points to the “sicker patients” that “explain higher levels of spending” in some areas (lines 28-30). This matches with answer choice (C). The author never argues that anything is likely to reduce the demand for physician time, so (A) is incorrect. The author does not refer to the cost of training enough new doctors, so (B) is incorrect. The author says that “higher concentrations of poor people” result in higher spending, not higher levels of affluent, or wealthy, people, so (D) is incorrect.

8. (D) — The fifth paragraph explicitly refers to ACOs as a “new experiment” in patient care (line 38) which have not reduced the need for doctors, and it compares them to HMOs, which also failed to reduce the need for physicians. This matches with the description in answer (D). The passage specifically says that ACOs do not seem to be able to mitigate the coming shortage of physicians, so (A) is incorrect. The passage does not give historical context for these organizations, so (B) is incorrect. The paragraph does not refer to the government’s ability to address problems in healthcare, so (C) is incorrect.

9. (C) — When used to describe an illness, such as leukemia, “acute” means “severe” (C); that is the context in which the word is being used in this case. Furthermore, “critical,” “keen,” and “sharp” are not words that are used to describe illnesses, so (A), (B), and (D) are all incorrect.

10. (D) — The paragraph in question states that “everyone […] deserves first-rate care every step of the way” (lines 59-61), implying that we have a responsibility to provide quality care; it also states that primary care and prevention will increase the need for doctors (lines 49-50) matching with answer (D). It does not argue that primary and preventative care can offer savings, so (A) is incorrect. It does not argue that providing high-quality care will reduce costs, so (B) is incorrect. It does not argue that there is an excessive amount of primary care, so (C) is incorrect.

11. (A) — The graph shows both the highest number of doctors since 2008 and the largest gap between number of doctors and number of doctors needed since 2008 in 2020; the gap between the number of doctors and the number of doctors needed is the shortage of doctors. Thus, (A) is correct. The graph shows that the number of doctors will increase, not decrease, so (B) is incorrect. The lines refer to numbers of doctors, not patients, so (C) is incorrect. The graph does not say anything about what will cause the increase in demand, so (D) is incorrect.

12. (B) — Passage 1 talks about “convincing scientific work” (lines 6-17) about the health benefits of an organic diet and gives examples of recent findings that suggest organic diets have health benefits (lines 34-47); it also argues that non-organic foods might have problems that haven’t been discovered (lines 18-29). Furthermore, it ends with an explicit statement that it “makes great common sense” to eat organic food, which supports answer (B). It uses new research to support this argument, but that new research is confined to specific examples, not the major focus of the passage, so (A) is incorrect. The passage does critique a specific study claiming there were no health benefits from eating organic food in lines 30-38, but that is a single example, not the major focus of the passage, so (C) is incorrect. The passage attributes a lack of evidence to insufficient funding, but it does not explicitly argue in favor of more funding for better research, so (D) is incorrect.

13. (B) — Answer (B) is the best choice, as the first passage mentions both unique health benefits of organic diets (lines 34-44) and studies which claim the contrary but which the passage claims omitted relevant research (lines 30-34). The passage does not claim that most studies agree that it is healthiest to eat an all-organic diet, so (A) is incorrect. The passage does not claim that any studies have shown organic diets are essential, or necessary, to human health, so (C) is incorrect. The passage refers to a specific study conducted on children (lines 11-17), but it does not claim that overall studies demonstrate benefits of organic diets for children, so (D) is incorrect.

14. (D) — Answer (D) mentions both the “incomplete studies” and the “unique health benefits” referred to in the correct answer to the previous question. (A) refers only to the lack of complete research, so it is incorrect. (B) is an example of research supporting health benefits of organic diets but does not refer to incomplete studies claiming otherwise, so it is incorrect. (C) refers to events of the past to make a logical argument about the dangers of non-organic foods; this is not closely related to the correct answer to the previous question, so it is incorrect.

15. (B) — The author of Passage 2 refers to studies failing to show a nutritional difference between organic and nonorganic versions of specific types of food (lines 58-61); the author also states that “we can’t draw conclusions” about the presence or lack thereof of certain chemicals in organic fruits and vegetables (lines 71-77). “Skeptical” (B) captures this careful disbelief rooted in a lack of compelling evidence. The author is not showing strong contempt or ridiculing the claims, so “derisive” (A) is too strong a word. The author does not support the claims, especially not strongly, so “enthusiastic” (C) is inaccurate. The author is not confused about the claims, so “quizzical” (D) is also incorrect.

16. (A) — Replacing “definitive” with “conclusive” (A) in context makes sense, since the author is arguing about the evidence’s conclusiveness, or its ability to serve as real proof. “Consummate” is not a word that can be used to logically describe “evidence,” so (B) is incorrect. The author is making an argument about the quality of the evidence, not its acceptance, so (C) is incorrect. The author is arguing about what the evidence says, not whether or not it is specific, so (D) is incorrect.

17. (A) — Replacing “adverse” with “harmful” (A) in the sentence makes sense, since “health outcomes” can be harmful. “Antagonistic,” “unlucky,” and “contrary” are all words that cannot logically describe health outcomes, so (B), (C), and (D) are incorrect.

18. (C) — Immediately after the sentence in question, the author explicitly states that the vision described in lines 82-84 is false; this juxtaposition of false beliefs and harsh reality creates the stark contrast mentioned in choice (C). There are few details, and there is a sardonic tone, so (A) is incorrect. The selection in question is describing false views of the organic food industry, so it is not characterizing the real organic food industry as anything in particular; thus, (B) is incorrect. The author is not making recommendations about organic agriculture here or anywhere in the passage, so (D) is incorrect.

19. (B) — Passage 1 explicitly states that it makes sense to eat organic food (line 47); Passage 2 explicitly states that there is no definitive evidence that eating organic food is better for one’s health, but there is proof that eating a less processed diet is (lines 48-51). This is captured in answer (B). Answer (A) is incorrect, as Passage 1 never states that only organic foods should be eaten, and Passage 2 never states that organic foods should not be eaten. Passage 1 argues that organic foods are important for health, but Passage 2 does not argue that they are harmful, just that they have not been proven to be beneficial; thus, (C) is incorrect. Neither passage discusses the emphasis given to organic foods in the media, so (D) is incorrect.

20. (D) — Passage 1 argues that there is enough evidence to show that organic foods are beneficial to health; Passage 2 argues that there is enough evidence to show that a less processed diet is beneficial to health. These beliefs both support the idea that there is enough information available about the health impacts of various foods to enable informed decisions about diet, as in answer (D). The author of Passage 2 explicitly states that “we can’t draw conclusions” about the health outcomes of long-term exposure to low levels of pesticides, so (A) is incorrect. Neither passage says that scientific studies on organic food in general cannot be trusted, so (B) is incorrect. Passage 1 does not address food labels at all, so (C) is incorrect.

21. (D) — Both passages agree that the pesticides used in non-organic foods may pose health risks, and both passages agree that those health risks have not been confirmed by scientific research at this point, making (D) the best answer. Neither passage suggests that organic foods themselves carry health risks compared to nonorganic foods, so (A) and (C) are both incorrect. Neither passage states that there are specific known health risks organic foods definitely protect against, so (B) is incorrect.

22. (B) — The lines in answer (B) mention both the chemicals that might pose health risks and the fact that those health risks are not confirmed; this matches with the correct answer to the previous question. Choices (A) and (C) make no reference to a relationship between organic foods and health risks, so they are incorrect. (D) mentions health risks that organic foods might pose on the same level as nonorganic foods, which does support the answer to the previous question.

23. (B) — The first paragraph summarizes the discovery that tiger moths can jam bats’ sonar (lines 1-11); the rest of the passage describes the study that led to this discovery, making (B) the best answer. Although the fact that Eptesicus fuscus bats capture moths is relevant to the study, the passage does not describe the ways they capture moths in detail, so (A) is incorrect. The passage states that researchers are not sure how the tiger moths’ clicking defense works (lines 61-62), so (C) is incorrect. The passage does not give any detailed explanations for why tiger moths developed defenses against bats, so (D) is incorrect.

24. (B) — The author outlines the alternate hypotheses in lines 14 and 16-19. The author explicitly refers back to the alternate hypotheses in the context of how the study failed to support them (lines 24-32, 33-45), which matches answer (B). The author does not make a claim that researchers need more evidence before they can draw any conclusions, so (A) is incorrect. The author does not indicate any support for the alternate hypotheses, as she would if she were trying to show them as a valid side of a debate, so (C) is incorrect. The study showed that the alternate hypotheses do not present reasons the clicking defense is effective for the moths, so (D) is incorrect.

25. (C) — The moths with clicking abilities were able to defend themselves much more readily against bats than moths without the clicking ability, suggesting that clicking ultrasonically (C) makes a very effective defensive countermeasure for tiger moths. The moths do not have poisonous bodies, as indicated in lines 38-43, so (A) is incorrect. The passage makes no reference to the moths’ defensive maneuvering or hearing ability, so (B) and (D) are incorrect.

26. (A) — The line selection in answer (A) refers to Aaron Corcoran’s research, so it aligns with the content of the previous question; it refers to the effectiveness of the tiger moth’s ability to click ultrasonically, so it supports the correct answer to the previous question. (B) and (C) both refers to hypotheses disproved by Corcoran’s research, and are thus incorrect. (D) refers to a particular finding of Corcoran’s research, but not in a way that strongly corresponds to the correct answer to the previous question, so it is incorrect.

27. (A) — The passage states that when a bat was chasing a clicking moth, it acted in a way “suggesting that it lost its target.” This matches most closely with answer (A). The moths were not toxic, as indicated in lines 38-43, so (B) is incorrect. The study discussed in the passage did not compare the moths to easier prey, so (C) is incorrect. The idea that the clicks startled the bats was disproved by the study (lines 27-32), so (D) is incorrect.

28. (C) — The lines in answer (C) refer to the bats’ behavior with the clicking moths, so it aligns with the content of the previous question; it talks about the bats losing track of the moths they were hunting, so it matches the correct answer to the previous question. (A) refers to one of the disproved hypotheses about the clicking defense, not the behavior the study uncovered, so it is incorrect. (B) refers to how bats would behave if a different hypothesis were true, not to how they actually behaved, so it is incorrect. (D) refers to the general mechanism bats use to hunt moths, not to why they did not attack certain moths, so it is incorrect.

29. (B) — In context, the sentence is addressing the question of whether or not the bats would continue to want to eat the moths after tasting them; therefore, it makes sense to replace “partook” with “ate,” and it also makes sense to replace “readily” with “without hesitation” as in answer (B). Although the sentence is discussing the bats consuming the moths, in context it is not addressing whether or not the bats would have difficulty eating the moths, so (A) is incorrect. The sentence and passage do not suggest the bats share the moths with each other, so (C) is incorrect. “Participated” does not make sense in a context that is specifically about the act of eating the moths, so (D) is incorrect.

30. (B) — The sentence following the use of “intermittent” discusses the frequency of the sounds increasing, so it makes sense in context to replace “intermittent” with “sporadic,” (B) which suggests that the sounds were infrequent and irregularly paced. The bats have a purpose to their sounds, so “random” (A) does not make sense in context. The sounds are not switching between things repeatedly, so “alternating” (C) does not make sense in context. It would be highly unconventional to use “scattered” to describe “sounds” in a scientific context, so (D) is incorrect.

31. (C) — At no point does the passage describe the lessons that can be learned by engineers from the moth’s natural sonar jamming, making (C) the correct answer. The passage discusses the moths’ effectiveness in warding off attacks from their predators in lines 40-45, so (A) is incorrect. The passage discusses whether these particular species would encounter one another in nature in lines 20-24, so (B) is incorrect. The passage discusses the bats’ responses to moths that lacked the ability to click in lines 38-40, so (D) is incorrect.

32. (D) — The graph demonstrates the percentage of moths successfully attacked by bats; the lines corresponding to silent moths are all higher than the lines corresponding to clicking moths, so the percentage of silent moths captured was consistently higher than the percentage of clicking moths captured. This means silent moths were more likely to be captured than clicking moths, leading to answer choice (D). The graph shows so consistent change in the bats’ effectiveness at hunting silent moths from the start of the study to the end, so (A) is incorrect. The graph does not indicate the number of moths available for the bats in either group, so there is no way to evaluate the relative amounts of clicking moths and silent moths eaten; therefore, (B) is incorrect. The graph indicates that bats did not become more effective at hunting clicking moths across the nights of the study, so (C) is incorrect.

33. (D) — Lines 41-42 indicate that Amanda, Susan, and Chris are arriving at their godmother’s house. The word “heirs” in line 1 indicates that someone has died and an inheritance needs to be sorted out, leading to answer (D). They are the godchildren of the same woman, not the children of the same man, so (A) is incorrect. Lines 4-8 indicate that they are only meeting since they would all be going to the house at the same time, not because they wanted a reunion, so (B) is incorrect. The neighborhood is not portrayed as desirable, nor is the occasion of their meeting an open house, so (D) is incorrect.

34. (D) — The passage indicates that Chris is startled by the contrast of both Amanda (lines 14-17) and Susan (65-68) with the memories he has of them, which is captured by answer choice (D). This furthermore indicates that his memories of them do not perfectly match his impressions of them later on, so (A) is incorrect. The passage states that the three “had not met since they were sixteen or seventeen” (lines 3-4), so there are no subsequent interactions to color his earlier memories; therefore, (B) is incorrect. Although Chris does have trouble remembering much about Susan (lines 30-34), his memories of Amanda have “an ominous intensity,” so (C) is incorrect.

35. (A) — The position of line 9 indicates that what the godchildren regretting having agreed to was Amanda’s suggestion to meet up with each other, making answer choice (A) correct. In lines 28-29, Chris wishes he hadn’t come right after recognizing Amanda. Susan wishes she weren’t going because she is “obsessing over jagged old irritations,” presumably ones caused by the other godchildren (lines 51-53). Amanda worried in the cab about experiencing “disappointment” (line 76) about seeing the others. Nothing in the passage indicates the house is potentially unsafe, so (B) is incorrect. Nothing in the passage suggests they are thinking about their dead godparent, so (C) is incorrect. Nothing in the passage suggests they are concerned about fairness in the inheritance, so (D) is incorrect.

36. (B) — The lines in answer (B) refer to the sense of foreboding all three godchildren feel, so it aligns with the content of the previous question; it also links that foreboding to seeing each other, as what they are regretting is their decision to meet up. (A) refers to the fact that they have not seen each other in a long time, but it does not give any information about their feelings about their upcoming meeting, so it is incorrect. (C) refers to Chris’s feelings about the house, not the feelings of all the godchildren about seeing each other, so it is incorrect. (D) suggests something about Amanda’s and perhaps the other godchildren’s attitude about the house, but it is not connected to the godchildren’s feelings about each other, so it is incorrect.

37. (A) — Seeing Amanda makes Chris feel like “his anguished seventeen-year-old self” (lines 24-26) and his memories of her have an “ominous intensity” (line 28); he is also grateful not to be alone with her (line 30-31). This all points to an unresolved history between the two of them (A). Trying to recall Susan, Chris finds in his memories “only a neatly labeled vacancy”; this makes it highly unlikely that he once had strong feelings for her, so (B) is incorrect. Nothing in the passage suggests Chris has a rebellious past, so (C) is incorrect. Nothing in the passage suggests Chris was their godparent’s favorite, so (D) is incorrect.

38. (B) — The lines in answer choice (B) point to the strong and unpleasant character of Chris’s memories about Amanda; it thus supports the correct answer to the previous question. (A) refers to the moment when he recognized Amanda, but it does not give information about his feelings about her or their history, so it is incorrect. (C) talks about Chris’s memories of Susan, not Amanda, so it is unrelated to the correct answer to the previous question and is incorrect. (D) talks about Amanda’s feelings on seeing Chris in the present day, but does not refer to their history or to Chris’s perspective on her, so it is incorrect.

39. (C) — In context, the word “officious” is being used to describe a long-held trait of Amanda’s that led her to initiate today’s meeting; “pushy” (C) works as a replacement that still conveys an explanation for why she would do such a thing. Since the other two did agree to the meeting, it would not make sense to call Amanda “presumptuous” (A) in this instance, because that would imply she had overstepped a boundary. It would not make sense to bring up Amanda’s busyness in the context of her taking time to set up a meeting, so (B) is incorrect. There is nothing particularly informal about Amanda’s email, so (D) is incorrect.

40. (C) — “A neatly labeled vacancy” is how the passage describes the space Susan takes up in Chris’s memory. It is reasonable to infer that that means he has no strong memories of Susan, who is one of his fellow godchildren, leading to answer (C). Nothing in the passage suggests his memories of her are painful and being suppressed, so (A) is incorrect. Nothing in the passage suggests Chris generally has trouble remembering aspects of his childhood unrelated to Susan, so (B) is incorrect. Nothing in the passage suggests that people other than Chris would have trouble remembering Susan in her childhood, so (D) is incorrect.

41. (A) — In context, “roused” describes how the “jagged old irritations” came back into Susan’s head. Replacing it with “provoked” (A) makes sense, as it has the same negative connotations as the original word and fits well in a sentence about unpleasant feelings. “Stimulated,” “excited,” and “galvanized” do not make sense in context as they all have more positive connotations, so (B), (C), and (D) are incorrect.

42. (B) — Chris’s surprise at the changes in his acquaintances is referenced in lines 14-20, regarding Amanda, and lines 63-68 regarding Susan. Amanda’s disappointment at the changes in both of her acquaintances is explicitly named in line 76, just after the passage says that to her they seemed “broken-down” and “appalling.” This directly matches answer choice (B). Chris is nervous to see the other two, not delighted, and the passage does not indicate that Amanda was annoyed, so (A) is incorrect. The passage does not indicate that Chris thought negatively of the two women’s manners of dress; it does suggest that Amanda thinks Chris should be more deliberate about his appearance (lines 82-85), but she approves of Susan’s hair (lines 85-87). Thus, (C) is incorrect. The passage does not indicate that Chris thought the women looked old, and it does indicate that Amanda was disappointed in how old they looked, so (D) is incorrect.

43. (B) — Nixon spends the entirety of lines 1-46, or more than half the speech, explaining the thought process that led him to resign. The announcement in lines 45-46 indicates that this is new information for the public, and supports answer (B). Nixon does not ask for forgiveness for his mistakes, instead only saying that they were done in what he believed to be the best interest of the Nation (lines 53-57), so (A) is incorrect. He does not address the press at all in the speech, so (C) is incorrect. He does express his confidence Vice President Ford (lines 62-66), but only once, and briefly, so (D) is incorrect.

44. (B) — The selection in answer (B) is the most succinct summary of the rationale Nixon claims led him to make his decision to resign; it thus supports the correct answer to the precious question. (A) explains what his rationale was for not resigning before he changed his mind, not what his rationale was for resigning, so it is incorrect. (C) describes what the consequences would be if he did not resign, which is not necessarily the same as an explanation of why he decided to resign, so it is incorrect. (D) explains the logistics of the presidency after he resigns, which is not closely related to his decision to resign, so it is incorrect.

45. (A) — Nixon states that he feels “a great sadness” (lines 59-60) to be leaving before his term has ended, and also explicitly says he “shall leave this office with regret” (line 70), making (A) the best answer. The essay focuses on the troubles that have led him to resign and, to a lesser degree, the challenges the country still has to face, so “hopeful” (B) would not be an accurate characterization of the tone and is incorrect. Nixon does not display great anger at any person or circumstance in the speech, making “livid”(C) incorrect. Nixon does not suggest he has any lingering doubt about whether his decision is the right one, so it would be inaccurate to call his tone “uncertain”; thus, (D) is incorrect.

46. (C) — Nixon makes no reference to anything that Vice President Ford has said about taking on the duties of the presidency, making (C) the correct answer. Nixon discusses his lack of congressional support in lines 9-21, so (A) is incorrect. He discusses the fact that fighting for his vindication would make him unable to be an effective president in lines 40-45, so (B) is incorrect. He discusses the great challenges the United States face and the need for a cooperative government to face them in lines 78-82, so (D) is incorrect.

47. (A) — Nixon says that he “would have preferred to carry through to the finish (lines 22-23), but he “must put the interests of America first” (lines 36-37); this indicates that he wanted to stay in office, but felt his obligation as President was to resign (A). He says he will be leaving “with regret,” which suggests he was not relieved to resign; thus, (B) is incorrect. Nixon does not mention spending more time with his family, so (C) is incorrect. He does not accuse Congress of blackmail, so (D) is incorrect.

48. (B) — The lines in answer choice (B) refer to both the “personal considerations” that led him to want to stay in office and the obligation to the “interests of the nation” that led him to decide to resign. (A) refers to his history of speaking to the Nation, not to his decision to resign, so it is incorrect. (C) refers to his opinion of Vice President Ford, not to his decision to resign, so it is incorrect. (D) refers to his feelings about his presidency and resignation overall, not to his decision to resign, so it is incorrect.

49. (C) — The phrase in question is used while he is explaining his initial reluctance to resign “as long as there was such a base” (lines 12-13) of political support; the resignation he was planning to avoid is the precedent he characterizes as dangerous, leading to answer (C). He does not refer in this speech to the initiation of impeachment proceedings, so (A) is incorrect. He does not explicitly refer in this speech to crimes committed by the president’s party, so (B) is incorrect. In context, the phrase is used to refer to the prospect of resignation, not the prospect of finishing out his term, so (D) is incorrect.

50. (D) — Nixon states that “peace abroad” is one of the “great issues” to which the Nation must give its “entire focus” in the coming years (lines 43-45), making (D) the correct answer. He does not make any reference to a potential economic collapse, an overly powerful Congress, or a trial of those involved in Watergate, so (A), (B), and (C) are incorrect.

51. (D) — In context, Nixon is using the word “abhorrent” to describe the strong moral repulsion he feels at the idea of quitting; “repugnant” (D) closely carries that sense of repulsion, so it makes sense as a replacement. “Pitiful” and “shocking” do not carry that same sense of repulsion, so (A) and (B) are incorrect. “Disgusting” (C) does carry a sense of repulsion, but does not match Nixon’s tone. Nixon is also using “abhorrent” is an abstract way, while “disgusting” is often used for more literal descriptions, making (C) incorrect.

52. (C) — Nixon is talking about “affirming” a “commitment” to help the new President succeed; it makes sense to say that people should be “upholding” (C) a commitment to help the new President succeed. “Stating” is too neutral to carry the sense of encouragement of the original phrase, so (A) is incorrect. “Defending” implies that there is an outside threat to the commitment, which is not the case here, so (B) is incorrect. “Let us all now join together in swearing that common commitment” violates the conventions of English; you might swear to a commitment, but you can’t swear a commitment as the word is used in formal writing, so (D) is incorrect.