In the following passage at certain points you are given a choice of three words, one of which fits the meaning of the passage. Choose the best word. Mark the letter, viz. (a), (b) or (c) relating to this word on your Answer Sheet.

PASSAGE

We know that the average depth of the sea is about two and a half miles, but in a few places it is very deep indeed—over six miles. The air presses upon our bodies with a weight of about fifteen pounds to the square inch at (82) sea-level. We are used to this air pressure and (83) do not notice it. In the sea this (84) pressure is doubled at a depth of thirty-five feet, and it (85) increases at this rate for greater depths. In the great deeps (86) off the Philippine Islands, a man would be squeezed and utterly crushed by a pressure of (87) several tons per square inch. The pressure near the ocean floor is (88) so great that if you were to weigh a piece of wood and (89) lower it to a great depth and then pull it (90) up again, it would no longer float, (91) for it would have become waterlogged. All the tiny wood cells and cavities (92) would have burst and become filled with water. We (93) know that animals live at a depth of three miles and more, and we wonder (94) how this can be. The bodies of animals down (95) there are almost entirely filled with water, and (96) this saves them from being crushed. However, many of (97) those animals contain some gases as well, for (98) when they are captured in nets and drawn (99) to the surface these gases expand so much that the animal (100) actually explodes. Its body is torn to shreds as it (101) bursts.

Choose the best word for blank (96).