Fears that the recent sharp rise in oil prices is an indication that oil is running out appear to be (i)_____. The Middle East still contains vast oil supplies. Furthermore, even if new oil finds elsewhere have been (ii)_____ than in the past, substantial quantities of oil can be profitably stripped from tar and shale.

单看句本身，发现栏仿佛没有候选词合适！！于是很需要看第二个句子来判断。

第二空就很简单，even if是让步，说明从句和主句之间是“冲突”的。“取反”，从而选D，冲突于“substantial quantities”。

Twenty years ago, when the book was first published, most reviewers dismissed the author’s predictions as (i)_____. Sometimes people (ii)_____ their errors: those same reviewers today, comparingthe predictions with actual events, acknowledge how (iii)_____ the author was.

alarmist不是褒义也不是中性哟，而是贬义“杞人忧天的”。符合dismiss的评价方向：负评价。

难点在于第二个句子和个句子之间的关系：1）“today”比较于“twenty years ago”；2）“the predictions”指的就是句里的“the author’s predictions”；3）第二句的“the author”可不就是句的author。于是，可以判断两个句子应该是描述了“今昔比较”，于是意识到“errors”，通过“comparing the predictions with actual events”（把当年的预测和如今的现实放在一起一比），发现“the author”料事如神呀。