Big Book Sentence Completion #5

[Psyoutlaw]

In spite of the ______ nature of Scotland's terrain, its main roads are suprisingly free from severe _____.


A) rocky...weather
B) mountainous...grades
C) uncharted...flooding
D) unpredictable...damage
E) landlocked...slipperiness

[wood]

(B)?

[pamrs]

Originally posted by wood

(B)?

I second that.

[Psyoutlaw]

Correct....please elaborate

[pamrs]

Originally posted by Psyoutlaw

Correct....please elaborate

In spite of something about the land, the roads are *suprisingly* not like the land. You'd expect a place with a lot of mountains to have roads with steep grades.

[Vinay]

I dont have any idea abt this :-(

pls elaborate more...

[pamrs]

Originally posted by Vinay

I dont have any idea abt this :-(

pls elaborate more...

Terrain is X but roads are, surpisingly, not X. Suprisingly is the key to knowing that the roads are not X.

Scotland's terrain is X, so you'd expect the roads, which are on the terrain, to be X, too, but, suprisingly, they are not. Which words describe the same type thng? Mountainous, and graded (with steep grades). It's surprising that a mountainous terrain X has level roads not X.

[wood]

Vinay, for us more acquainted with Quant terms, grades mean slope (steep slope). So it is surprising that a mountainous terrain, which is supposed to have severe slopes, grades, do not have any!

[Psyoutlaw]

Very good explanation. I went with D) unpredictable...damage.

Thanks