In this task, you're given a question, a context passage, and four options which are terms from the passage. After reading a passage, you will get a brief understanding of the terms. Your job is to determine by searching and reading further information of which term you can answer the question. Indicate your choice as 'a', 'b', 'c', or 'd'. If you think more than one option is plausible, choose the more probable option to help you answer the question.

[Q]: Question: Which group ruled the area for a longer period of time, the Arabs or the Byzantines? Passage:The first permanent Arab settlement on Sicily occurred in 827, but it was not until Taormina fell in 902 that the entire island fell under their sway, though Rometta held out until 965. In that year the Kalbids established the independence of their emirate from the Fatimid Caliphate. In 1061 the first Norman liberators took Messina, and by 1071 Palermo and its citadel (1072) were captured. In 1091 Noto fell to the Normans, and the conquest was complete. Malta fell later that year, though the Arab administration was kept in place, marking the final chapter of this period. The conquests of the Normans established Roman Catholicism firmly in the region, where Eastern Christianity had been prominent during the time of Byzantine rule and even remained significant during Islamic period. Widespread conversion ensued, leading to the disappearance of Islam in Sicily by the 1280s. In 1245, Muslim Sicilians were deported to the settlement of Lucera, by order of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. In 1300, Giovanni Pipino da Barletta, count of Altamura, seized Lucera and exiled or sold into slavery its population, bringing an end to the medieval Muslim presence in Italy.
Links: a. Messina b. Taormina c. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor d. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
[A]: b

[Q]: Question: Do fewer than 1000 people inhabit the town where Howells was born in 1962? Passage:Howells was born in 1962 in his grandmother's house in Bapchild, Kent in the South of England. He was raised in nearby Sittingbourne, and attended Minterne County Junior School and Borden Grammar School. In the 1970s, he participated in youth theatre companies including Kent County Youth Theatre and Sittingbourne Youth Theatre. From 1981-84 he attended Bretton Hall College in West Yorkshire, graduating with a bachelor's degree in Drama and English. After working as a jobbing actor and director in provincial productions of plays and pantomimes, in 1990 Howells joined the Citizens Theatre Company in Glasgow, Scotland as an assistant director to Giles Havergal (one of the company's three pioneering directors, alongside Philip Prowse and the late Robert David MacDonald). While working at the Citizens Theatre, Howells met Stewart Laing, and Laing cast Howells alongside the drag performers Leigh Bowery and Ivan Cartwright in a production of Copi's scatological play The Homosexual or the Difficulty of Sexpressing Oneself (1971) -- Laing's first directorial production (co-directed with Gerrard McArthur). The play toured to Glasgow, London and Manchester in 1993-94. Howells recalled that Time Out described it as a hymn to tastelessness. I blacked up and was an Asian transsexual with a Carry on up the Khyber accent.' Bowery was a profound influence on Howells and the two were close friends until Bowery's premature death in late 1994.
Links: a. Bapchild b. England c. Robert David MacDonald d. Leigh Bowery
[A]: a

[Q]: Question: In what modern-day country is the mountain where Pilate violently suppressed an armed Samaritan movement? Passage:Although Pilate is the best-attested governor of Judaea, few sources on his rule have survived. He appears to have belonged to the well-attested Pontii family, but nothing is known for certain about his life before he became governor of Judaea, nor of the circumstances that led to his appointment to the governorship. A single inscription from Pilate's governorship has survived, the so-called Pilate stone, as have coins that he minted. The Jewish historian Josephus and philosopher Philo of Alexandria both mention incidents of tension and violence between the Jewish population and Pilate's administration. Many of these involve Pilate acting in ways that offended the religious sensibilities of the Jews. The Christian Gospels record that Pilate ordered the crucifixion of Jesus at some point during his time in office; Josephus and the Roman historian Tacitus also appear to have recorded this information. According to Josephus, Pilate's removal from office occurred because he violently suppressed an armed Samaritan movement at Mount Gerizim. He was sent back to Rome by the legate of Syria to answer for this before Tiberius, who, however, had died before he arrived. Nothing is known for certain about what happened to him after this. On the basis of a mention in the second-century pagan philosopher Celsus and Christian apologist Origen, most modern historians believe that Pilate simply retired after his dismissal. Modern historians have differing assessments of Pilate as an effective ruler; while some believe he was a particularly brutal and ineffective governor, others argue that his long time in office means he must have been reasonably competent. According to one prominent post-war theory, Pilate was motivated by antisemitism in his treatment of the Jews, but this theory has been mostly abandoned.
Links: a. Celsus b. Antisemitism c. Origen d. Mount Gerizim
[A]:
d