Pls try these and explain answers

[rschunti]

1. Though dealers insist that professional art dealers can make money in the art market, even an ____ knowledge is not enough: the art world is so fickle that stock-market prices are ____ by comparison.
(A) amateur's. .sensible
(B) expert's.. erratic
(C) investor's.. booming
(D) insider's.. predictable .
(E) artist's.. irrational
2. Salazar's presence in the group was so _____ the others that they lost most of their earlier ______; failure, for them, became all but unthinkable.
(A) reassuring to .. trepidation
(B) unnoticed by.. curiosity
(C) unusual to.. harmony
(D) endearing to.. confidence
(E) unexpected by.. exhilaration

[sruthi07]

Originally Posted by rschunti

1. Though dealers insist that professional art dealers can make money in the art market, even an ____ knowledge is not enough: the art world is so fickle that stock-market prices are ____ by comparison.
(A) amateur's. .sensible
(B) expert's.. erratic
(C) investor's.. booming
(D) insider's.. predictable .
(E) artist's.. irrational


2. Salazar's presence in the group was so _____ the others that they lost most of their earlier ______; failure, for them, became all but unthinkable.
(A) reassuring to .. trepidation
(B) unnoticed by.. curiosity
(C) unusual to.. harmony
(D) endearing to.. confidence
(E) unexpected by.. exhilaration

whts the OA?

[StevenC]

Originally Posted by rschunti

1. Though dealers insist that professional art dealers can make money in the art market, even an ____ knowledge is not enough: the art world is so fickle that stock-market prices are ____ by comparison.
(A) amateur's. .sensible
(B) expert's.. erratic
(C) investor's.. booming
(D) insider's.. predictable .
(E) artist's.. irrational
2. Salazar's presence in the group was so _____ the others that they lost most of their earlier ______; failure, for them, became all but unthinkable.
(A) reassuring to .. trepidation
(B) unnoticed by.. curiosity
(C) unusual to.. harmony
(D) endearing to.. confidence
(E) unexpected by.. exhilaration

I choose D and A. Are those correct?

[rschunti]

Thanks Sruthi and Stevenc. The answers as mentioned by you are correct.

[XMizer]

failure, for them, became all but unthinkable.

Doesn't this mean that failure is thinkable. If they lost all of their trepidation, why is failure still thinabkle?

[XMizer]

failure, for them, became all but unthinkable.

Doesn't this mean that failure is thinkable. If they lost all of their trepidation, why is failure still thinabkle?

[aliciasheng]

Originally Posted by XMizer

failure, for them, became all but unthinkable.

Doesn't this mean that failure is thinkable. If they lost all of their trepidation, why is failure still thinabkle?

all but = nearly, almost. So failure is nearly unthinkable.

Can anyone explain the first SC.

How can the prices are predictable if the art world is so fickle?

fickle= changing, not constant

[Goldust]

Stock-market prices are usually quite volatile. The statement says that art prices are far more volatile than stock market prices. In other words, art prices are so fickle that stock-market prices seem predictable.

[aliciasheng]

Originally Posted by Goldust

Stock-market prices are usually quite volatile. The statement says that art prices are far more volatile than stock market prices. In other words, art prices are so fickle that stock-market prices seem predictable.

Thank you for the explanation, Goldust. Now I can understand why "by comparison" is used here. Previously I did not quite understand what the second part of the sentence was talking about. :-)