By the beginning of the 21st century, however, the custom had deteriorated to a point whereby the groom and his family had become very 18.
答案：(A) greedy
greedy（貪婪的）呼應後文 demands for dowry are not met（嫁妝要求未被滿足）及 bride is subject to torture（新娘遭受虐待），表示新郎與其家人變得貪得無厭；pleasant／regretful／sympathetic 均不符合此處語境。
四個選項都是形容詞，都能擺在 very 後面，你會憑中文挑一個讀起來順的。
答對率四成四，鑑別度高達 64，是本批最會分人的一題，分開的是有沒有先讀懂 deteriorated 這個字。同一句的動詞是 had deteriorated to a point（惡化到某個程度），deteriorate 就是「變壞、惡化」，它已經把方向定了：後面那個形容詞必須落在壞的那一邊。pleasant（愉快的）與 sympathetic（有同情心的）都在好的那一邊，一步刷掉。剩下 greedy（貪心的）與 regretful（後悔的），再看主詞是誰——the groom and his family（新郎與他的家人），惡化的是他們索討嫁妝的態度，不是他們感到後悔，所以是 greedy。填進去讀成 had become very greedy（變得非常貪心）。往下一句也能驗算：嫁妝的要求沒被滿足，新娘就會受到虐待，要求越來越多，正是貪得無厭的表現。
pleasant 與 sympathetic 方向相反，被 deteriorated 直接排除；regretful 雖然也是負面的情緒，但它講的是對已經做過的事感到後悔，與「制度一路惡化」的因果對不上。三個都是形容詞，形態吻合，容易被順手選走。
greedy（貪心的、貪得無厭的）、deteriorate（惡化、變壞）、to a point whereby ＋ 子句（到了……的程度）、meet a demand（滿足要求）、sympathetic（有同情心的）、regretful（後悔的）。
In spite of modernization and the increasing role of women in all walks of life, the practice of the dowry in India is still widespread. The dowry system, money or property brought by a bride to her husband at marriage, was started centuries ago with the intention of providing security for a girl 16 difficulties and unexpected circumstances after marriage.
For this purpose, the parents gave 17 they could to their daughter, which consequently went to the groom's family. By the beginning of the 21st century, however, the custom had deteriorated to a point whereby the groom and his family had become very 18.
When demands for dowry are not met, the bride is 19 torture, and often even killed. The more educated a man is, the 20 is the expectation for dowry at the time of marriage. Girls who are highly educated are required to have larger dowries because they usually marry more educated men.