The word "edge" is closest in meaning to which of following?

　　(A) opportunity

　　(B) advantage

　　(C) purpose

　　(D) rest

351. Young that are fed by their parents become nutritionally independent at a much greater fraction of their full adult size. And in the meantime those young are shielded against the vagaries of fluctuating of difficult-to-find supplies.

　　The word "shielded" is closest in meaning to which of following?

　　(A) raised

　　(B) protected

　　(C) hatched

　　(D) valued

　　352. A second, more dense atmosphere, however, gradually enveloped Earth as gasses from molten rocks within its hot interior escaped through volcanoes and steam vents.

　　The word "enveloped" is closest in meaning to which of following?

　　(A) surrounded

　　(B) changed

　　(C) escaped

　　(D) characterized

　　353. With much of the water vapor already condensed into water and the concentration of carbon dioxide dwindling, the atmosphere gradually became rich nitrogen.

　　The word "gradually" is closest in meaning to which of following?

　　(A) accidentally

　　(B) quickly

　　(C) in the end

　　(D) by degrees

　　354. At any rate, plant growth greatly enriched our atmosphere with oxygen. The reason for this enrichment is that plants, in the presence of sunlight, process carbon dioxide and water to produce oxygen.

　　The word "At any rate" is closest in meaning to which of following?

　　(A) regardless

　　(B) in addition

　　(C) although unlikely

　　(D) fortunately

　　355. Over 25,000 islands are scattered across the surface of the Pacific, more than in all the other oceans combined, but their land area adds up to little more than 125,000 square kilometers, about the size of New York State, and their inhabitants total less than two million people, about a quarter of the number that live in New York City.

　　The word "scattered" is closest in meaning to which of following?

　　(A) widely known

　　(B) usually estimated

　　(C) rarely inhabited

　　(D) irregularly distributed

　　356. Many are uninhabitable, by virtue of their small size and particular characteristics, but even the most favored are very isolated fragments of land, strictly circumscribed by the ocean, strictly limited in terms of the numbers of people they can support.

　　The phrase "by virtue of" is closest in meaning to which of following?

　　(A) regarding

　　(B) because of

　　(C) taking advantage of

　　(D) in place of

　　The word "circumscribed" is closest in meaning to which of following?

　　(A) located

　　(B) flooded

　　(C) restricted

　　(D) pushed

　　357. Simply surviving those ocean crossings of indeterminatelength, in open canoes, to arrive on the shores of uninhabited and hitherto unknown islands, was a formidable achievement.

　　The word "indeterminate" is closest in meaning to which of following?

　　(A) undecided

　　(B) uncertain

　　(C) unacceptable

　　(D) increasing

　　358. The Rosetta stone thwarted scholars' efforts for several decades until the early nineteenth century when several key hieroglyphic phrases were decoded using the Greek inscriptions.