N1 Vocabulary · Test 42

暴露 is read ばくろ, meaning 'exposure/revelation (of secrets).' 暴 is ばく and 露 is ろ. The sentence means 'The secret I had been keeping was exposed by a friend.' Option 2 is correct.

• 1ばくろう adds an extra ろう ending, which is incorrect. The word is ばくろ, not ばくろう.
• 3ぼうろ uses ぼう for 暴, which is wrong. 暴's on'yomi here is ばく, not ぼう.
• 4ぼうろう combines both errors: wrong ぼう for 暴 and extra ろう ending.

• 暴露ばくろ — exposure, revelation (of secrets)
• 秘密ひみつ — secret

非（ひ）means 'fault' or 'blame.' 非がない is a fixed expression meaning 'to have no fault' or 'to be not at fault.' The sentence says the cause of the trouble is on the other party's side, and Ikeda is absolutely not to blame: 池田さんには決して非はないよ ('Ikeda has absolutely no fault in this').

• 1悪（あく）means 'evil' or 'badness.' 悪はない could loosely mean 'there's no evil,' but it is not the standard expression for 'not at fault.' The idiomatic phrase for 'no blame/fault' uses 非, not 悪.
• 3苦（く）means 'bitterness' or 'hardship.' 苦はない is not an established expression and doesn't convey 'not at fault.'
• 4没（ぼつ）means 'rejection' (e.g., 没になる 'to be rejected/scrapped'). 没はない is not a meaningful expression in this context.

• 非ひ — fault; blame (非がない = to be not at fault)
• 悪あく — evil; badness
• 苦く — bitterness; hardship
• 没ぼつ — rejection; scrapping

もっぱら (専ら) means 'exclusively' or 'solely.' The sentence contrasts the past ('I used to read novels in various genres') with the present ('lately I exclusively read only mystery novels'). もっぱら pairs naturally with ばかり ('only'), emphasizing that the speaker's reading is now devoted entirely to one genre.

• 1ますます (益々) means 'increasingly' or 'more and more.' It describes a change in degree over time, but the sentence is not saying the speaker reads mystery novels 'increasingly'; it says they read 'only' mystery novels, so this does not fit with ばかり.
• 2しきりに (頻りに) means 'frequently' or 'repeatedly,' used for actions done often (e.g., しきりにうなずく 'nod repeatedly'). It does not convey the meaning of 'exclusively/only,' so it is wrong here.
• 4せめて (至少) means 'at least,' used to express a minimum desirable amount/condition (e.g., せめて一度会いたい 'I want to meet at least once'). It does not fit grammatically or semantically before 推理小説ばかりだ.

• もっぱら — exclusively, solely, devoted entirely to
• ますます — increasingly, more and more
• しきりに — frequently, repeatedly, incessantly
• せめて — at least
• 推理小説すいりしょうせつ — mystery novel
• ジャンル — genre