Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions based on the passage:
Jack Finney's fascinating story, The Third Level, follows Charley, an ordinary thirty-one-year-old clerk who unexpectedly discovers a portal to the past within Grand Central Station. Hurrying home to his wife, Louisa, on a hot summer evening, Charley takes a wrong turn down an unfamiliar, sloping subterranean corridor. Instead of returning to the standard platforms, he emerges onto a mysterious third level. Here, the room is visibly smaller, dim open-flame gaslights flicker, and commuters are dressed in late-nineteenth-century attire. Factual verification occurs when he notices an 1894 edition of The World newspaper that reports on President Cleveland. Seeking a peaceful escape from the intense insecurities, anxieties, and stresses of modern life, Charley attempts to buy two railway tickets to Galesburg, Illinois. However, the ticket clerk rejects his modern currency, warning him that it is not legal tender. Although Charley escapes arrest and later buys vintage bills, he can never locate the entrance to the elusive third level again.
In the first paragraph, the word "subterranean" is used. Which of the following words best defines "subterranean" as used in the context of the story?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
Correct Answer: Underground or subsurface
Explanation:
• The word subterranean is formed from the Latin prefix sub- (meaning 'under' or 'below') and terra (meaning 'earth' or 'ground'). It describes something situated, operating, or existing beneath the surface of the earth.
• In the context of the passage, Charley enters a sloping corridor inside a train station that leads downwards into the lower levels beneath the ground, making underground or subsurface the precise definition.
Example: The city's subterranean metro network keeps vehicular traffic off the crowded surface roads.