From Francis Bacon's essay *Of Studies* (1625). Select the word that fits the blank. "Crafty men ______ studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation."

The three clauses contrast three attitudes — crafty / simple / wise — toward studies. Simple men admire; wise men use. The crafty must take the third position: they *scorn* or *disdain* studies (preferring shortcuts and shrewdness to disciplined learning). "Contemn" (verb: to view with contempt, despise; not to be confused with *condemn*) is exactly the early-modern word for this. Bacon uses it elsewhere too. - "Extol" means to praise highly — that is what *simple men* do (admire), so it duplicates the second clause. - "Endure" implies passive tolerance, not the active disdain the crafty would feel. - "Imitate" doesn't fit the contrast at all.