The Indian plate's 24 movement is not new.
答案：(C) northward
文章前段已說明印度板塊是往北推擠喜馬拉雅山（pushes northward），故此處為 northward movement（向北移動）；wayward 是「任性的」不表方向，downward（向下）、outward（向外）都與文中所述方向不符。
四個選項都以 -ward 結尾，你大概以為在比四個方向，於是回頭找文章裡的方向詞。真正的陷阱是 wayward 根本不表方向：它的意思是「任性的、難以駕馭的」。而且它不是 -ward 的例外——wayward 是 awayward 的縮寫，away + -ward，「轉開去、背過身去」，引申成「不照規矩走」。所以它照樣是「朝某方向」，只是那個方向是「離開」，不是東南西北。
本句自己沒有任何方向訊息，必須回到文章開頭：as it pushes northward against the Himalayas（印度正往北推擠喜馬拉雅山）。這是典型的跨句題——空格所在的那一句讀再多次也判不出來，答案在前段。看到 The Indian plate's ___ movement 這種舊訊息重提的寫法，就該往回找作者第一次講這件事的地方。
downward（向下）、outward（向外）本身都是正常的方向詞，只是與文中「向北」不符。-ward 家族兩兩成對，成對記比一個一個記快：northward ↔ southward、upward ↔ downward、inward ↔ outward、forward ↔ backward。一句記完：Prices move upward, then downward; the typhoon creeps northward; but a wayward gust tears the umbrella away.（價格起起落落；颱風緩緩向北推移；但一陣不聽話的強風把傘扯走了。）〔情境取材自 114 學測作文題：颱風停課〕
move northward（向北移動）、an upward／downward trend（上升／下降趨勢）、a wayward child（叛逆難管的孩子）、inward／outward（向內／向外）、a sign of（…的徵兆）。
India is shrinking. A new analysis of satellite-based data has given precisely the rate 21 which the country is losing size as it pushes northward against the Himalayas. According to the analysis, the 22 between India's southern and northern tips shrinks by 2 cm every year. As India's size decreases, the thickness of the Himalayas increases. 23 the shrinking continues, India will disappear in 200 million years. There would only be a vast mountain range along the southern coast of China.
The Indian plate's 24 movement is not new. However, this cannot be treated as a trivial finding in science. A movement of 25 a few millimeters (mm) of the earth's crust is a sign of possible earthquakes. Such dangers are now obvious in India, where the movement of the plate continues.