In the following question, a short passage is given with one of the lines in the passage missing and represented by a blank. Select the best out of the five answer choices given, to make the passage complete and coherent.

Rafe Pomerance awoke at sunlight and stole out of his hotel, making for the flagpoles. It was nearly freezing on the coast of the North Sea in the Dutch resort town of Noordwijk — but the wind had yet to rise and the photographer was waiting. More than 60 flags lined the strand between the hotel and the beach, one for each nation in attendance at the first major diplomatic meeting on global warming. _______________. There was a general sense among the delegates that they would, at a minimum, agree to the target proposed by the host.

The activists booked their own travel and doubled up in rooms at a beat up motel down the beach.

The delegations would review the progress made by the I.P.C.C. and decide whether to endorse a framework for a global treaty.

The first took place at the flagpoles, where they met a photographer from Agence France-Presse at dawn.

The censoring of Hansen’s testimony and the inexplicably strident opposition from John Sununu were ominous signs.

Now, at the end of the decade, senior diplomats from all over the world were debating the merits of a binding climate treaty.