Many people take spirituality very seriously and _______ about those who do…

This is a sentence-completion (fill-in-the-blanks) item that tests word choice and collocation. Read the full sentence first: people who take spirituality seriously feel something about those who do not, and they care about (“worrying about”) such people while encouraging them.

Blank 1 needs a verb that fits the pattern “_____ about those who do not.” “Wonder about” is the natural collocation — it conveys curiosity or concern about non-believers. “Think about” would also work grammatically, but the verb chosen here is paired with a second blank that must also fit.

Blank 2 needs a verb in the form “_____ them to believe” (verb + object + to-infinitive). “Prodding” means to gently urge or nudge someone into action, so “prodding them to believe” means gently encouraging them to believe — a perfect match for the caring tone of “worrying about them.”

Testing the options: “criticizing/appraising them to believe” and “criticize/appraise” do not take a “to-believe” complement; “pride about” is not valid (pride is a noun); and “rationalize about” is awkward because rationalize takes a direct object. Only “wonder” (blank 1) and “prodding” (blank 2) are both grammatical and tonally consistent.

Hence the correct pair is “wonder, prodding” (option 4).