The speaker's attempt to ______ the tense atmosphere with humor was poorly judged, as it seemed to ______ the seriousness of the issue, thereby ______ the audience and making any resolution more ______.

The tortoise was known for his ….…… habits.

While feedback is intended to ______ performance, when delivered insensitively it can ______ confidence, thereby ______ motivation and leaving the recipient feeling unfairly ______.

Visually strong, _______ films of the 1920s are ______ preserved and suffer from censorship cuts, leading to the _______ that they were primitive and barely watchable.

The company's attempt to ______ costs by reducing staff initially seemed effective, but it soon began to ______ productivity, eventually ______ employee morale and creating long-term ______.

The sentences below have words that are missing. Choose the best option from those given below to complete the sentence.

The beauty of _________________ is that it poses thought-provoking questions and inspires us to think deeply about _________________ and life in general. Further, _________________ about the ideas and perspectives outlined by different thinkers can help us to gain a better _________________ of the world we live in.

Achieving spaceflight enabled humans to begin to explore the solar system and the rest of the _______, to understand the many objects and _______ that are better observed from a space perspective, and to use for human benefit the resources and attributes of the space environment. All of these activities - discovery, scientific understanding, and the _______ of that understanding to serve human purposes — are elements of space _______.