Practice — "Reading Comprehension"

Passage: "For centuries, a handwritten letter carried weight precisely because of the time it cost to produce — a writer had to choose words knowing that crossing them out untidily would be visible on the page, and a reader understood that days, sometimes weeks, separated the writing from the reading. Instant messaging has not simply replaced letters; it has changed what correspondence is for. A text message is expected to be read and answered within minutes, which rewards brevity and immediacy over the deliberation a letter demanded. Some historians argue that something genuinely valuable has been lost in this shift — not merely the paper artifact, but the slower, more considered mode of thought that composing a letter once required. Others counter that instant messaging has simply multiplied the sheer volume of everyday contact between people, at a cost the earlier form could never have sustained." What is the central claim of the passage? (a) Historians unanimously agree that letter-writing must be revived (b) Instant messaging has eliminated meaningful communication entirely (c) The shift from letters to instant messaging changed correspondence's underlying function, not merely its format, and observers view this shift differently (d) Handwritten letters are objectively superior to text messages