Temperature-controlled sidewalk passageways - particularly prevalent in places with (i) __________ weather that needs to be shut out — can increase the overall physical fitness of a town’s population by making a commute on foot more (ii) __________ than any alternative.a)A, Db)B, Fc)C, Dd)A, Fe)B, DCorrect answer is option 'D'. Can you explain this answer?

Question

Temperature-controlled sidewalk passageways - particularly prevalent in places with (i) __________ weather that needs to be shut out &mdash; can increase the overall physical fitness of a town&rsquo;s population by making a commute on foot more (ii) __________ than any alternative.a)A, Db)B, Fc)C, Dd)A, Fe)B, DCorrect answer is option 'D'. Can you explain this answer?

Answer

The known information that will help us fill the blanks is that the weather “needs to be shut out.” Given that information, it must be that the weather is somehow unpleasant or unfavorable.

Thus, we can immediately eliminate choice (C), temperate (mild, moderate), as the opposite of what makes sense for blank (i). After all, why would “temperate weather” need to be shut out? This choice goes in the opposite direction of what is logical in context. We have to be careful not to choose this trap answer simply because “temperate” sounds like “temperature-controlled.”

“Congenial” (pleasant, agreeable) is similarly illogical and can be eliminated as the opposite of what makes sense in the context of “weather that needs to be shut out.”

Choice (A), severe, is the only answer that fits the context of “weather that needs to be shut out.”

Moving on to blank (ii), we can see from the agreement signal “by” that blank (ii) should be in keeping with the information that precedes it. So, how would it be that temperature-controlled passageways “can increase the overall physical fitness of a town’s population?” What would bring about that result?

Well, what we know so far is that temperature-controlled sidewalk passageways shut out “severe weather” — a positive effect. Logically, then, people must choose to use the passageways, and thus the population’s physical fitness increases because people are walking instead of commuting in other ways.

Thus, choice (F), enticing (appealing, attractive), fits the context well. A commute in which “severe weather” is no longer an issue would be “more enticing than any alternative,” and so people would end up walking more — and becoming fitter — than they would if they commuted in other ways (and thus still had to deal with “severe weather”).

Choice (D), agile, is illogical. Perhaps the townspeople themselves are “agile” when moving through the passageways, but it does not make sense to call “a commute on foot” itself “more agile than any alternative.”

Choice (E), monotonous (boring and repetitive), does not make sense because we need something that directly connects to “can increase the overall physical fitness of a town’s population.” Making a commute on foot “more monotonous than any alternative” would not necessarily result in increased fitness — a commute by car or train could also be “monotonous,” and the fitness of commuters would not increase. “Monotonous” is not relevant to what is discussed in the sentence.

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