Still wrapped in my blanket, I pulled the heavy curtains aside to judge the circumstances outside our apartment. The city below was a ghost town. Normally, buses, cars, and taxis whizzed down the avenue. People usually crowded the sidewalks, hurrying off to work. Even at this early hour, honks and shouts would drift up from the streets below. You grow accustomed to the commotion after you reside in the city for a while. The city was eerily silent today, paralyzed by the storm. The only distinct noise was the vigorous whipping of the wind. The glittering snowflakes hypnotized me—it was as if someone had changed the city into a picturesque winter wonderland overnight. What literary technique does the author use in the second paragraph to describe his city once it has been snowed in? A) hyperbole B) metaphor C) alliteration D) simile