Choose the letter A, B, C or D A. excluding B. including C. consisting

Choose the letter A, B, C or D to complete the passage below

The Sahara is the …..(6)….. hot desert in the world, and the third largest desert behind Antarctica and the Arctic, which are ….(7)…. cold deserts. The Sahara is one …(8)…. the harshest environments on Earth, covering 3.6 million square miles (9.4 million square kilometers), nearly a third of the African continent, about the size of the United States …(9)….. Alaska and Hawaii. The name of the desert comes ……(10)…. the Arabic word ṣaḥrāʾ, which means "desert."