mock 1 by Manhattan GRE

[lujia.cao]

the question:
Why Bob always seemed to seek out the __________ for dates was a mystery to all his friends; it seemed obvious to them that the reason was not, as his sister suggested, that he was looking for someone like his first girlfriend, who was rather loquacious.

reticent
flagitious
insouciant
flippant
pleonastic
taciturn

The second part of the sentence says "seemed obvious to B's friends" that B didn't want to date a girl who is loquacious. But the first part of the sentence said it is a mystery to all of his friends,it must be something confusing his friends.The two parts should be a contrast with each other. In my mind, if he keep dating a girl who is loquacious(actually he didn't intended to), is a mystery to his friends. So i quite confused by the answer"reticent"&"taciturn"

[tommywallach]

Hey Lujia,

I agree with you that this question is rather confusing. I'll take a look at it and see if we can't clarify things.

(However, it is worth noting that there isn't a pair for "loquacious" that you could pick, so odds are good you'd still end up getting the right answer.)

-t