I am struggling with applying the math strategy to this question.
I started from the first blank: “if” suggests support. to the left of the blank is negative because it says “people should not be praised for their virtue”, so the right of the blank “lack the energy to be___” should also be negative. because of “lack of”, the blank should be something good - lack of something bad will be something good. However, none of the blanks are good.
For the second blank, “in such cases, goodness is merely the effect of___”. as there is a semicolon before this sentence, the two “bigger” ideas are supporting. the first idea is something bad “people should not be praised for their virtue if they lack something good”, therefore the second idea will also be something bad.
The second blank makes sense - it is something bad, and since we are talking about energy, the blank will be laziness. but I can’t figure out how to do the first blank – also please let know if I’m doing this right.
