Though not closely related, the hedgehog tenrecs of Madagascar share basic ______blank true hedgehogs, including protective spines, pointed snouts, and small body size—traits the two groups of mammals independently developed in response to equivalent roles in their respective habitats.

Novelist Leon Forrest admired William Faulkner’s writing style. Forrest’s novel Divine Days contains a long passage in tribute to Faulkner that is a perfect ______blank of Faulkner’s style: anyone familiar with Faulkner’s writing would see the resemblance.

Mônica Lopes-Ferreira and others at Brazil’s Butantan Institute are studying the freshwater stingray species Potamotrygon rex to determine whether biological characteristics such as the rays’ age and sex have ______blank effect on the toxicity of their venom—that is, to see if differences in these traits are associated with considerable variations in venom potency.

Latro, the main character of Gene Wolfe’s novel Soldier of the Mist, is a man in ancient Greece. He completely loses his memory whenever he sleeps. So, before sleeping, Latro records the important experiences of each day on a scroll, carefully choosing which ones to ______blank.

The following text is adapted from Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

“The second thing is to find my way into that lovely garden. I think that will be the best plan.” It sounded like an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and simply arranged; the only difficulty was, that Alice had not the smallest idea how to set about it.

A brief book review cannot fully convey the ______blank of Olga Tokarczuk’s novel The Books of Jacob, with its enormous cast of characters, its complicated, wandering plot, and its page numbers that count backward (beginning at 965 and ending at 1).

Studying how workload affects productivity, Maryam Kouchaki and colleagues found that people who chose to do relatively easy tasks first were less ______blank compared to those who did hard tasks first. Finishing easy tasks gave participants a sense of accomplishment, but those who tackled hard tasks first actually became more skilled and productive workers over time.