Step 1 : Introduction to the question "8. If a situation or a task is particularly unpleasant, it might be described as a "bed of ..." Complete the idiomatic phrase."
...1. Fire 2. Nails 3. Glass shards 4. Nuts and bolts I somehow don't think that a "bed of nails" would be the nicest place to lay down, hence the idiomatic phrase "bed of nails" describes something that would be fairly unpleasant. However, according to physics, someone lying down on a bed of nails might not be harmed at all, provided that their weight was distributed evenly, meaning that the force exerted on the nail would not be strong enough to pierce through the person and harm them. In magician's shows, a typical trick might be to get a volunteer to lie on a bed of nails, while wooden blocks are laid on top of them, and then smashed with a sledge hammer. Sometimes, a bed of nails is even used for meditation purposes in certain parts of Asia.