Question

The lawyer was also officially known as the legal adviser, but everybody referred to him as the opposite. An extremely talented actress, who was also extremely temperamental, once blew over on the sets. While everyone stood stunned, the lawyer quietly switched on the recording equipment. When the actress paused for breath, the lawyer said to her, ''one minute, please", and played back the recording. There was nothing incriminating or unmentionably foul about the actress's tirade against the producer. But when she heard her voice again through the sound equipment, she was struck dumb. A girl from the countryside, she hadn't gone through all the stages of worldly experience that generally precede a position of importance and sophistication that she had found herself catapulted into. She never quite recovered from the terror she felt that day. That was the end of a brief and brilliant acting career — the legal adviser, who was also a member of the Story Department, had unwittingly brought about that sad end.

In the line: 'While everyone stood stunned, the lawyer quietly .....' what is the meaning of 'stunned'?

Options

• Staggered

• Astonished

• Startled

• Distressed

Answer 1

Astonished