To the untutored eye the tightly forested Ardennes hills around Sedan look quite (i)_____, (ii)_____place through which to advance a modem army, even with today's more numerous and better roads and bridges, the woods and the river Meuse form a significant (iii) _______.
The phrase "
even with today's more numerous and better roads and bridges" has the same effect as "
in spite of today's more..." and we can therefore complete the third blank as "the woods and the river Meuse form a significant
barrier". Therefore, the word from the choice list will be
impediment, which means obstacle or barrier.
Since we know that the woods present an
impediment, it is a difficult place to advance a modern army, thus
unpropitious is the right word from the choice list. The word
unpropitious means unfavorable,not giving or indicating a good chance of success.
Now clearly, the only option for the first blank that will be compatible with the meaning of the rest of the sentence is going to be
impenetrable.
Thus, the correct choices are A, E and H.
_________________