Question

explosion of the space shuttle challenger speech by ronald reagan on january 28, 1986, just 73 seconds after liftoff, the space shuttle orbiter challenger exploded in the sky. all seven astronauts on board the spacecraft were killed. that evening, president ronald reagan was scheduled to give his state of the union speech. but out of respect, reagan decided to postpone that speech and instead talk to the nation about the tragedy. (1) ladies and gentlemen, id planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. today is a day for mourning and remembering. (2) nancy and i are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle challenger. we know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. this is truly a national loss. (3) nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. but weve never lost an astronaut in flight; weve never had a tragedy like this. and perhaps weve forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle; but they, the challenger seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. we mourn seven heroes: michael smith, dick scobee, judith resnik, ronald mcnair, ellison onizuka, gregory jarvis, and christa mcauliffe. read the opening statement from reagans speech. select the correct answer. (1) what inference can be made from this statement? ladies and gentlemen, id planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. today is a day for mourning and remembering. a. reagan believes that the state of the union speech is unimportant. b. reagan has just become aware of the events of the day. c. reagan is emotionally overwhelmed by the challenger disaster. d. reagan believes that the challenger disaster is an urgent matter.

Explanation:

The statement "Ladies and gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering" shows that the State - of - the - Union speech was important but the Challenger disaster made Reagan change his plans. This implies that the State - of - the - Union speech is important, but the disaster was a more pressing matter that required attention.

Answer:

C. Reagan has just become aware of the events of the day.