Multiple choice: select the best answer and click "submit."
read the passage below and answer the following question. which of the following best describes a major cause for the conditions described in the passage?
"fog everywhere . . fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city . . fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. . chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round them, as if they were up in a balloon and hanging in the misty clouds."
charles dickens, bleak house1
a. the increase in urban social stratification
b. the growth of economic inequality
c. the spread of steam-powered factories and mills
d. the increase of women in the workforce

relations between the soviet union and the united states were driven by a complex interplay of ideological, political, and economic factors, which led to shifts between cautious cooperation and often bitter superpower rivalry over the years. the distinct differences in the political systems of the two countries often prevented them from reaching a mutual understanding on key policy issues and even, as in the case of the cuban missile crisis, brought them to the brink of war.

the united states government was initially hostile to the soviet leaders for taking russia out of world war i and was opposed to a state ideologically based on communism. although the united states embarked on a famine relief program in the soviet union in the early 1920s and american businessmen established commercial ties there during the period of the new economic policy (1921–29), the two countries did not establish diplomatic relations until 1933. by that time, the totalitarian nature of joseph stalin's regime presented an insurmountable obstacle to friendly relations with the west. although world war ii brought the two countries into alliance, based on the common aim of defeating nazi germany, the soviet union's aggressive, antidemocratic policy toward eastern europe had created tensions even before the war ended.

b. the 200th birthday of the united states