Answer: B)
Explanation:
I could not find the paragraph five that is missing in our question but I assume that the right answer is B) because of the word ''navigable'' meaning.
- ''Navigable'' word is mostly used when writer or speaker are describing ability or allowance of ships, boats and other water vessels to move and sail trough sea or waterway. Similar meaning of it is the word ''passable''.
- Because of its meaning I assume that the answer B) is the most appropriate because it describes that the waterway is deep and wide for ships so we can also say that is passable.
Question 1:
Humorous passage 1: "It (the umbrella) was made to be carried on the arm like an enormous ornamental bat and to allow one the opportunity to put on British airs as the atmospheric conditions demanded."
Humorous passage 2: "(The umbrella is) An item to be carried in the street, to be used to startle friends and—in the worst of cases—to fend off one’s creditors."
Question 2:
Passage 1 is funny because it compares the umbrella to an ornamental bat, which sounds weird in the first place. Plus, the umbrellas is said to be used by people who want to seem British, which is even more outrageously funny.
Passage 2 is funny because it treats the umbrella as a scary object which can be used even to fend off people you owe money to, which is absurd.
In both passages, the author uses tone and voice in a very witty way: he speaks seriously about absurdity, about unimaginable stuff. It is like an encyclopedia of weird and fun facts. That is what makes it funny: the contrast between a serious tone and larger than life images.
