Rather than ________ the commuter delays, the new toll road has ________ the problems, and the traffic jams are worse than ever.
- minimize . . . extenuated
- extol . . . compounded
- abate . . . decimated
- alleviate . . . aggravated
- emend . . . increased
(D. alleviate . . . aggravated) Because the traffic jams are worse, the second word must mean something like increased, so options B, D, or E are possibilities. The first word must mean something like reduce, leaving only alleviate as a right answer.