The correct answer is (D).
(D) Inference
Step 1: Identify the Question Type
Treat a question that asks you to fill in the blank for a conclusion of an argument as an Inference question. The correct answer should act as a logical conclusion, falling neatly within the scope of what has already been stated without extrapolation.
Step 2: Untangle the Stimulus
The argument begins by analogizing a century to a life, equating how people act as the end of a century approaches with how they act near the end of their life. Then the author states that people at the end of their life start looking back at the events of their life.
Step 3: Make a Prediction
You need to complete the analogy that the author has set up, resisting any urge to extrapolate or get creative. The author equates people's actions at the end of a century with those at the end of their lives; thus, if they look back on their life events, they should also look back on the events of an ending century.
Step 4: Evaluate the Answer Choices
(D) matches the prediction that people will contemplate events of the past century.
(A) repeats what people do at the end of their lives and does not complete the analogy to the end of a century.
(B) might have made sense in 1999 when Y2K was a rampant worry, or if you are Mayan and it is 2012, but it does not logically complete the analogy. Fear is Out of Scope.
(C) is a 180. Completing the analogy requires looking back on the century just as one looks back on one's own life. This answer would only work if the stimulus said people at the end of their lives worry about what will happen after they die.
(E) is a Distortion. While the answer choice correctly incorporates reminiscing on past events, the stimulus doesn't mention anything about focusing on unfortunate events or second-guessing any events.
