Q.Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.

Use context clues for every vocabulary item — definition, contrast and tone clues pin down the exact word the passage uses. For the inference questions, point to the lines that force the conclusion rather than guessing from outside knowledge, and justify each inferred answer with a 'because the passage says...'. …

Model answers, with the strategy for each:

(a) 'providers'. (Synonym-in-context: paragraph 1 says rivers 'were not mere water but providers' — a word present in the text, meaning those who supply needs.)

(b) 'torrent'. (Antonym-in-context: paragraph 2 contrasts a 'gentle stream' turned into a 'torrent'; the contrast clue 'turn... into' signals the opposite.)

(c) It can be inferred that early cities were built on riverbanks because a river met all a settlement's essential needs at once — drinking water, fertile soil from yearly floods, a trade route and natural defence — so the location was practical, not accidental. (Inference grounded in paragraph 1, which explicitly lists these advantages; the conclusion is forced by the text, not brought from outside.)

(d) It implies that modern use has been excessive and careless — by damming, straightening, polluting and over-drawing rivers, we have treated their resources as limitless when they are in fact exhaustible, and have damaged them. (Inference from paragraphs 3 and 4; the word 'fragile' set against 'limitless' drives the conclusion.)

(e) 'replenished'. (Vocabulary-in-context: paragraph 3, 'drawn off their waters faster than they can be replenished'; the surrounding sense of water being used up confirms the meaning 'refilled'.) …