About 15 years ago, readers of The Independent, a daily national newspaper, were asked by its travel journalists what they missed when they were away from home, and what they looked forward to when they returned. Apart from "family", "friends" and "favorite foods", many people mentioned "the Sunday newspapers" and "the crossword puzzle". It's certainly true that among their many hobbies, the English enjoy words, above all reading them and playing with them. Reading books is one of the most popular relaxation activities, with approximately 100,000 books a year published. Over 80 per cent of the population regularly read a daily newspaper, and there are more newspapers per person than any other country except Japan. The weekend newspapers generally contain hundreds of pages, and even the most popular hobbies -- fishing, stamp collecting, train-spotting, bird-watching, walking, sports, pets, flower-arranging, knitting and pigeon-fancying -- have at least  _ , if not several specialist magazines, devoted to them. In fact, many people probably spend more time reading about their hobbies than actually doing them. It's also undoubtedly true that word games, puzzles and competitions are hugely popular in newspapers, on the radio and even on television. One of the most popular television games in the 1980s and 1990s was "Call My Bluff" where two teams of players had to guess which of three meanings of an unfamiliar word was correct. In many cases newspapers have a word games section, such as a "Words within Words" competition where the aim is to make as many words as possible with the letters of a single word. Above all, crossword puzzles are the most familiar word game, with clues ranging from words which have the same meaning as other words, to the "Cryptic" where the meaning of the word is expressed in a very indirect way, and in a variety of linguistic  and cultural references. Apparently, some people choose their newspaper not because of the quality of the news coverage but because of the crossword puzzle. You may think that you would need an excellent command of the English language to enjoy playing with words as much as the English do. But many of the word games are very simple and good fun, and in fact, the only skill you must have is to speak and listen or read and write a little. What is the author's purpose of writing the article?
To encourage readers to read newspapers. To tell readers the functions of the newspaper. To report the result of a survey by The Dependent. To entertain readers with what is written in the article.
Question: About 15 years ago, readers of The Independent, a daily national newspaper, were asked by its travel journalists what they missed when they were away from home, and what they looked forward to when they returned. Apart from "family", "friends" and "favorite foods", many people mentioned "the Sunday newspapers" and "the crossword puzzle". It's certainly true that among their many hobbies, the English enjoy words, above all reading them and playing with them. Reading books is one of the most popular relaxation activities, with approximately 100,000 books a year published. Over 80 per cent of the population regularly read a daily newspaper, and there are more newspapers per person than any other country except Japan. The weekend newspapers generally contain hundreds of pages, and even the most popular hobbies -- fishing, stamp collecting, train-spotting, bird-watching, walking, sports, pets, flower-arranging, knitting and pigeon-fancying -- have at least  _ , if not several specialist magazines, devoted to them. In fact, many people probably spend more time reading about their hobbies than actually doing them. It's also undoubtedly true that word games, puzzles and competitions are hugely popular in newspapers, on the radio and even on television. One of the most popular television games in the 1980s and 1990s was "Call My Bluff" where two teams of players had to guess which of three meanings of an unfamiliar word was correct. In many cases newspapers have a word games section, such as a "Words within Words" competition where the aim is to make as many words as possible with the letters of a single word. Above all, crossword puzzles are the most familiar word game, with clues ranging from words which have the same meaning as other words, to the "Cryptic" where the meaning of the word is expressed in a very indirect way, and in a variety of linguistic  and cultural references. Apparently, some people choose their newspaper not because of the quality of the news coverage but because of the crossword puzzle. You may think that you would need an excellent command of the English language to enjoy playing with words as much as the English do. But many of the word games are very simple and good fun, and in fact, the only skill you must have is to speak and listen or read and write a little. What is the author's purpose of writing the article?
A. To encourage readers to read newspapers.
B. To tell readers the functions of the newspaper.
C. To report the result of a survey by The Dependent.
D. To entertain readers with what is written in the article.
Answer: