instruction:
In this task, you're given an article, a question which often contains a blank and four options (associated with "A", "B", "C", "D"). Your task is to find the correct answer (from the given options) for the question from the given article and return one of the options from "A", "B", "C", and "D". Do not generate anything else apart from one of the following characters: "A", "B", "C", "D". There is only one correct answer for each question.
question:
Article: Shoppers who have cut back on purchases in the worrying U.S. economy are likely to continue their conservative shopping habits even if the economy improves, according to a new study. That signals continued bad news for retailers , who have been struggling to respond to a great cutback in spending as consumers have opened their wallets only for basic items, while cutting back on unimportant purchases. The report, which estimates retail sales growth to be flat this year, found that three-quarters of respondents to a monthly survey of 4,000 consumers said they had shifted their shopping behaviors because of the economy. Most said they were making do with less or going without some favorite items. "The habits learned during this economic crisis have the potential to permanently change the mind-set of consumers," the report said. "The vast majority of shoppers who are changing their near-term shopping behavior say they plan to continue them as the economy improves." To ease the consumer discomfort, smart retailers will focus on downsizing, the report said, as adding stores to an already crowded retail landscape is out of fashion. It came up with smaller initiatives to build shopping buzz, such as limited editions of products or having existing stores target local markets. The report also forecast that retailers will increasingly focus on private brands to attract cost-conscious shoppers, while adding complementary categories of goods to their stores to make one-stop shops for consumers. While warehouse clubs and super centers are expected to fare the best in the weak environment in 2009, discount department stores and supermarkets will be the weakest, the report warned. Sales of clothes, though expected to rebound in 2010, will be the hardest hit and slowest to recover.
Question: The current shopping behavior in the US is becoming _ .
Options: (A) arbitrary (B) protective (C) conservative (D) aggressive
answer:
C

question:
Article: A young man approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked for a job. "That depends," replied the foreman. "Let's see you fell this tree." The young man stepped forward and skillfully felled a great tree. Impressed, the foreman said, "You can start Monday." Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday went by -- and on Thursday afternoon the foreman approached the young man and said, "You can pick up your wages on the way out today." Shocked, the young man replied, "I thought you would pay me on Friday." "Normally we do," said the foreman. "But we're letting you go today because you've fallen behind. Our daily felling charts show that you've dropped from first place on Monday to the last place today." "But I'm quite hardworking," the young man disagreed. "I am the first to arrive and the last to leave and even have worked through my coffee breaks!" The foreman thought for a minute and then asked "Have you sharpened your axe?" The young man replied, "No, sir. I've been working too hard to take time for that!" Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take time to "sharpen" the axe. In today's world it seems that everyone is busier than ever, but less happy than ever. Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay sharp? There's nothing wrong with hard work. But we shouldn't get so busy that we ignore the truly important things in life. We all need time to relax, to think, to learn and to grow. If we don't take time to sharpen the axe, we will become dull and lose our effectiveness.
Question: By telling the story, the writer wanted to tell us _ .
Options: (A) where there is a will, there is a way (B) all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy (C) hard work can make up for lack of intelligence (D) health is over wealth
answer:
B

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Article: Davey wanted to play baseball. But fifty years ago, in his small town, he couldn't find enough players for two full teams or an empty lot big enough for a field. And when he played ball in his back yard, he just broke windows and got into trouble. So Davey began playing with a plastic golf ball and a broom handle for a bat. When his dad, David Mullaney, a former semi-pro baseball pitcher , realized his son was hurting his arm trying to throw curves with the little plastic ball, he decided to find a better solution. Mullaney got a bunch of hollow plastic _ from a local factory, sat down at his kitchen table and began cutting different size holes in the balls with a razor knife. He thought maybe the holes would alter the ball's flight and help his son throw curves and sliders without hurting his arm. All the balls failed--except the one with the eight oblong holes cut into one of the hemispheres. This ball curved naturally and sharply without a violent snap of the wrist. In fact, Davey was now striking out so many batters; he called his new ball a "wiffle ball". A year later, Mullaney borrowed $20,000 from family and friends and started producing Wiffle Balls in his little suburban town of Shelton, Connecticut. "I didn't want investors." He said, "I wanted to control my own company." This was the beginning of one of the hottest fads of the fifties and a perennial best seller well known all around the world. Since then millions of boys and girls have enjoyed countless hours of safe, wholesome fun playing with a Wiffle ball and bat. Esquire Magazine has even called the Wiffle Ball "a national treasure". By producing a high quality product at an affordable price, three generations of Mullany's have enjoyed the satisfaction and benefits of running a successful and profitable family business. Over the years, they've had plenty of offers to buy them out, but they're still working out of a small factory in Shelton, making a new Wiffle Ball every couple of seconds. Creativity and persistence are two of the important sources for wealth. If he gave up his attempts at trying new things, Mullany would not have invented the wiffle ball, nor would he have made such a big fortune.
Question: From the passage we can know that _ .
Options: (A) Mullaney made the invention of Wiffle ball with the help of his son (B) fifty years ago people didn't like playing baseball very much (C) Mullaney's attempts to help Davey better enjoy ball-playing led to the invention of Wiffle ball (D) playing balls would hurt one's arm before the Wiffle ball's appearance
answer:
C