1. Building Societies currently find themselves in a ......... situation because they try to please the savers and also the borrowers and yet one group is always going to lose.

perfect

precarious

pretentious

pertinent

2. Whenever there is a meeting between the finance minister and the governor of the bank, people start asking questions and rumours ..........

abut

about

abound

abide

3. Invariably if interest rates go up, the building societies pay more to their savers and borrowers complain at the increase they have to pay and maintain the societies are ......... their affairs.

mistaking

misplacing

misfiring

mishandling

4. Chief executives then start making pleasant speeches and smile a lot because they want to ......... the concerns of their borrowers.

assuage

assert

assemble

assent

5. Months go by and most people forget their problems and get used to the idea of paying more and then talks ......... and the whole process starts all over again.

retake

resume

repeat

return

6. The government then has to show that it is involved in the whole business of saving and lending and tries to convince everyone that it is ......... of both savers and lenders.

supporting

supporter

supportive

supported

7. The government next announces that measures are due to come into ......... that will change the whole process.

forces

forced

force

forcing

8. They say this but then the difficulty is trying to find out when the measures are coming into effect and when they will be ..........

rated

ratified

rates

rating

9. This is all very disappointing for the ......... house buyer who doesn't really know what's going to happen next and how much the interest rate will be.

would-go

would-try

would-see

would-be

10. Our poor potential buyer reads the papers, watches the television news and gets excited at the prospect of another meeting of the financiers but in the end nothing of ......... comes of it all.

note

notice

noting

noted

11. Imagine an ......... public figure attacked by press and public, who is facing an inquiry into allegations of having obtained money by deception.

empowered

endangered

embattled

engrossed

12. Any arguments he put up in his defence were regarded as a ......... by people who were determined to see him convicted.

cloud

smokescreen

confusion

fog

13. People tended not to believe a word he said and maintained that his protestations of innocence were wearing a bit ..........

scarce

bare

scant

thin

14. There was very strong support for the police who were determined to ......... this kind of crime.

restrain

manage

curb

kill

15. The press had been ......... by an unknown source to make as much publicity about him as they could.

prompted

picked

promoted

proposed

16. His agent spent a lot of time ......... the press on his background in the hope that they would present a balanced view.

training

briefing

showing

clearing

17. Views as to his guilt or innocence even before the trial started ......... from utter conviction that he was guilty to wild support for his innocence.

started

began

ranged

swept

18. Gradually however as the days went by even his greatest supporters were beginning to ......... him.

destroy

desert

despair

destruct

19. Then two days before the trial was due to start, new evidence came to ......... proving he was totally innocent.

light

see

show

indicate

20. By then of course it was too late because the damage had already been done to his career, which ......... everything else he did for the rest of his life.

overtook

overcame

overran

overshadowed