Which verb form correctly completes the sentence?

before i read the review in the newspaper, i about it from my mom.

a.
have heard

b.
had heard

c.
hear

d.
heard

Read the passage from sugar changed the world. sugar is different from honey. it offers a stronger sweet flavor, and like steel or plastic, it had to be invented. in the age of sugar, europeans bought a product made thousands of miles away that was less expensive than the honey from down the road. that was possible only because sugar set people in motion all across the world—millions of them as slaves, in chains; a few in search of their fortunes. a perfect taste made possible by the most brutal labor: that is the dark story of sugar. how does the comparison of sugar to honey reveal the authors’ purpose? it persuades readers that sugar tastes better than honey. it informs readers that there is a connection between slavery and sugar. it informs readers that honey had a major impact on society. it persuades readers that sugar is as important an invention as steel.

If the author of the gift of the magi had made the reader aware of the gifts that jim had purchased in the beginning of the story this would be an example of

Whats the importance of gaining a general understanding of and interpretation of the work of literature. explain what the importance is to me