Question

read the passage and then answer the question. in the summer of 1978, a group of geologists stumbled upon a tiny, dilapidated homestead in a remote and otherwise unoccupied corner of siberia. upon further investigation, the researchers discovered that the crumbling cabin and overgrown garden were home to a family of five. karp lykov, his wife akulina, and their children had fled to this desolate region in 1936 in order to escape religious persecution. in the intervening decades, the lykovs had eked out a meager existence for themselves. they subsisted on their crops and on hunted game whenever possible, but they were often forced to forage for berries and pine nuts to stay alive. this uncertain lifestyle eventually took its toll: in 1961, after a summer snowstorm destroyed the years harvest, akulina died of starvation. wanting to help the family, the geologists made numerous gifts of seeds, clothing, utensils, and other goods. this largess was lost on karp lykov and his older children, who maintained a deep distrust of all things modern and were very timid around outsiders. his younger son and daughter, dmitry and agafia, were not nearly so diffident. they were fascinated and delighted by the technologies—like flashlights and television—that had been invented during their forty years of isolation. ultimately, however, the lykovs chose to pass up the comforts of modernity and live out the rest of their natural lives in the siberian wilderness. what is the meaning of dilapidated as used in the passage? peculiar run - down abandoned ancient

Explanation:

The context clues in the passage help determine the meaning. The homestead is described as "crumbling" (the cabin) and "overgrown" (the garden). "Run - down" means in a state of disrepair, which aligns with these descriptions. "Peculiar" means strange, which doesn't fit. "Abandoned" would imply no one was living there, but the family was. "Ancient" refers to age, not the state of disrepair.

Answer:

run - down