Or, they may have 11 you with the loud music from their earphones, or by taking up more than one seat on a crowded subway car.
答案：(A) offended
offended you（冒犯你）呼應前文 irritated（惹惱），表示他人可能用耳機外洩的音樂聲冒犯到你；controlled／acquired／supplied 均不符合此處語意。
offend 這個字，你的印象大概只有「冒犯」兩個字，而且多半綁在言語上——說錯話得罪人。耳機音樂外洩、在車廂裡占掉兩個位子，這些事在你的印象裡不會被歸到「冒犯」底下，所以就算認得這個字，也不見得敢把它填進來。加上空格後面接的是 you with the loud music，「動詞加人加 with 加東西」這個排法會讓 supplied 看起來形態吻合。
動手填之前先問一句：這一段在講什麼？第一句就把核心問出來了——Have you been irritated by someone standing too close in line, talking too loud or making eye contact for too long?（你是不是被那種排隊靠太近、講話太大聲、盯著你看太久的人惹惱過？）整段從頭到尾都在講「別人踩進你的空間、讓你不舒服」，irritated 就是這一段的核心用字。空格這一句用 Or 接下去，做的事情與前一句一模一樣，只是再舉兩個例子：耳機裡的音樂太大聲、在擁擠的地鐵車廂裡占了不只一個位子。既然是同一件事換個說法再講一次，空格要的就是與 irritated 同方向的那個字。這就是同義勾環：空格與前後文的某個字是同義改寫。英文的習慣是不把同一個字重複用，改寫時會換成同義字（Halliday 與 Hasan「Cohesion in English」把同義詞複現列為詞彙銜接的手段之一），所以這裡不會再出現一次 irritated，而是換成 offend，讀成 they may have offended you with the loud music，與第一句對得起來。這一招比逐個選項推敲可靠得多：先找出這一段在講什麼、核心用字是哪一個，再看空格是不是那個字的改寫。找得到這條連結才敢填，找不到就表示還沒讀懂這一段。
三個誘答選項的問題其實是同一個：方向不對。這一段從第一句起就在講別人做了讓你不舒服的事，空格要的必須是一個負面的動作。supply（提供）是把對方需要的東西給他，帶正面或中性的意思；controlled（控制）語意太重，用大聲音樂與占位子講不到控制別人；acquired（取得、習得）後面接的是東西不是人，acquired you 根本說不通。supplied 另外有一個地方要提防：它的形態與 you with 這個排法完全吻合，看起來很像 supply somebody with something（The hotel supplies its guests with towels.）。但句中那個 with 不是 supply 帶來的，它是表「用什麼手段」的 with，證據在後半句的並列——with the loud music 與 or by taking up more than one seat 對等，一個是 with 加名詞、一個是 by 加動名詞，兩個都在回答「用什麼方式」。順便記一個通則：句子裡出現一個介系詞時，不要單獨拿它去挑動詞，因為配得上同一個介系詞的動詞往往不只一個，學測 91 年第 23 題的 give birth to 正是同一招失靈的例子。
offend somebody（冒犯、惹惱某人）、be irritated by（被……惹惱）、supply somebody with something（提供某人某物）、take up（占用時間或空間）、may have 加過去分詞（推測過去可能發生過的事）、more than one 加單數名詞（不只一個）
Have you been irritated by someone standing too close in line, talking too loud or making eye contact for too long? Or, they may have 11 you with the loud music from their earphones, or by taking up more than one seat on a crowded subway car. You feel unhappy because your personal space has been violated.
According to scientists, personal space involves certain invisible forces imposed on you through all the 12. For example, people may feel their space is being invaded when they experience an unwelcome sound, smell, or stare.
In certain situations such as in crowded subway cars or elevators, it is not always possible for people to keep their 13 distance from others. They learn coping strategies to deal with their discomfort. For instance, people often avoid eye contact with someone standing 14 them, or they pretend that these people are lifeless objects in their personal space. Given the opportunity, they may 15 to a corner, putting distance between themselves and strangers. Or, they may sit or stand equidistant from one another like birds on a wire.