Critical Reading > Sentence Completions
Choose the word or set of words that, when inserted in the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.
Laboratories have been warned that provisions for animal protection that in the past were merely ------- will now be mandatory;------- of this policy will lose their federal research grants
(A) comprehensive . . adversaries
(B) nominal . . advocates
(C) disregarded . . proponents
(D) recommended . . violators
(E) compulsory . . resisters
正确答案：D
Explanation
The word “merely” indicates that the past provisions were not as strict as the “mandatory” provisions and “recommended” is the only first term that conveys a lesser degree of strictness. Only “violators” could logically be penalized by losing their federal research grants.