In the following passage, some of the words have been left out. Read the passage carefully and select the correct answer for the given blank out of the four alternatives._x005F_x000D_ Â _x005F_x000D_ Starting late-2014, scientists of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) working _______ satellite data tracking the rift found that the defect in the Larsen C was growing _________. By 2016 the crack became 70 miles long and 300 feet ________. By January 2017 it measured 109 miles in length and 1,500metres in breadth. On July 12, it broke. The broken shelf, now __________ official iceberg, was massive, indeed the ____________-ever such iceberg, weighing 1.1trillion tons and measuring 2,200 square miles._x005F_x000D_ Â _x005F_x000D_ was growing _________. By 2016 the_x005F_x000D_

• A. steadily_x005F_x000D_
• B. steady
• C. instead
• D. instead of