If you are _______, you tend to respond to stressful situations, in a calm…

Answer: Option 1 - "resilient, rational".

The sentence describes a person who responds to stress in a "calm, secure, steady and ____ way." Both blanks must reflect a level-headed, self-controlled temperament. The two words also have to fit grammatically as adjectives describing a person and the manner of their response.

Blank 1 needs a trait that lets someone stay composed under stress. "Resilient" means able to withstand or recover quickly from difficulty - exactly the quality that keeps a person calm when situations turn stressful.

Blank 2 must continue the list "calm, secure, steady and ____." "Rational" (based on reason and clear thinking, rather than panic or impulse) completes that list naturally: a calm, steady, rational response.

Reading it together: "If you are resilient, you tend to respond to stressful situations in a calm, secure, steady and rational way." Both halves are coherent and positive, so Option 1 is correct.

The other pairs fail on at least one word: "obdurate" (stubborn), "propitious" (of favourable circumstances - not a personal temperament) and "delectable" (delicious) do not describe a calm response to stress, even though their partner words may sound acceptable.