Answer:
B
Explanation:
both countries had powerful bureaucracies and strong military traditions
<span>The irony can be found in the fact that the officer immediately criticises the boys for their behavior.</span>
The children would be the reflexive pronoun.
From the options above the one with strongest connotation to replace one poor word would be: (C) Miserable
Speech is not innocent and words are sometimes, consciously or unconsciously, charged with an interpretation different from what is said. In this miserable case it could be taken in a derogatory way or simply as a person who is having a bad time and being very sad feels miserable. Although surely, there could have some other interpretation of the word.