It is (i)____________ that the short story, regardless of its acclaim amongst certain members of the literati, has (ii)____________ amongst the public. All the more so, because the novel, in some ways an inherently more demanding form, continues to be popular amongst lay readers who apparently subscribe to the trite credo that bigger is better. A. unsurprising B. languished C. encouraging D. burgeoned E. telling F. imploded