The two political parties live today in … after four years of hostility.

Analyze the question The question asks for a word that fits the gap and is most nearly opposite in meaning to the underlined word. The underlined word isn't marked in the text you sent, but from the sentence it is clearly hostility. So we need the antonym of "hostility" that also makes sense in the sentence.

Concept

• Hostility means unfriendliness, enmity, opposition.
• Amity means friendship, peaceful and friendly relations, especially between groups or nations.

Step-by-step solution

1. Meaning of the sentence: after four years of hostility, the two political parties now live in a state of peaceful, friendly relations.
2. Test each option: • A. happiness: A positive word, but it is not the direct opposite of hostility. Hostility describes relationships, not feelings of joy. • B. amity: The direct antonym of hostility. "Live in amity" is also a standard collocation, so it fits the gap. • C. agreement: This is the opposite of disagreement, not hostility. People can be hostile and still reach an agreement, and "live in agreement" is awkward. • D. freedom: Unrelated to hostility.
3. The best option is B. amity, which is the opposite in meaning and also fits grammatically and logically.

Answer: B. amity

Exam tip Learn the pairs of "relationship words": amity ↔ enmity/hostility, concord ↔ discord, harmony ↔ conflict. When a gap follows "live in…", think of states like peace, harmony, amity, unity.