I'm not sure what your options are, but here's what I've come up with:
The reason for our tardiness was because we got stuck in traffic.
Answer:
Rural Virgina in the mid-1970
Since the word these and the word jeans are plural, the answer is are.
Mumble is an emperor penguin (i believe) that has a disorder that affects the shedding of his Down (the soft feathers that the young usually have)
It is C. there is no mention of their conflict and it is all based on years of fighting.
( a bit like an England vs Scotland football match)
