Directions: Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow by choosing the correct/most appropriate options: 

One of the great controversies surrounding the Last Supper is whether or not it was a Passover meal. John seems to suggest that the meal was eaten the day before Passover, which has led some scholars to date the Last Supper to the 13th of Nisan (a month on the Jewish calendar), while others say that the crucifixion itself was on the 13th of Nisan.

According to historian Vincent Foster Hopper, one of the people who really pushed 13 as being unlucky was 16th-century numerologist Petrus Bungus. Among his reasons? Hopper says that Bungus "records that the Jews murmured 13 times against God in the exodus from Egypt, that the thirteenth psalm concerns wickedness and corruption, that the circumcision of Israel occurred in the thirteenth year." The Knights Templar, who were widely believed to be protecting the Holy Grail (the cup Jesus drank from at the Last Supper) as well as other holy objects, also acted as a bank of sorts to European kings. But after French King Philip IV lost a war with England and became heavily indebted to the Knights, he conspired with Pope Clement V to have all members of the Knights Templar arrested, charged with Satanism and other crimes, and massacred. The roundup of the Knights Templar began in earnest on Friday, October 13, 1307.

There’s an old superstition that says if you have 13 letters in your name, you’re bound to be cursed. Silly, yes, but slightly more convincing when you consider that a number of notorious murderers' names (Charles Manson, Jack the Ripper, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy, and Albert De Salvo) all contain 13 letters. And, in case you were wondering: Adolf Hitler's baptismal name was Adolf Hitler. Friday the 13th is an expensive day for businesses. One analyst claims that around a billion dollars a year are lost as people choose not to do business of any kind on Friday the 13th. In some schools of numerology, the number 12 is considered to be the representation of perfection and completion. It stands to reason, then, that trying to improve upon perfection by adding a digit is a very bad idea indeed—your greed will be rewarded with bad luck. The ancient Persians divided history into four chunks of 3000 years. And although the exact timeframes can vary, some scholars feel that at the beginning of the 13,000th year there will be chaos as evil mounts a great battle against good (although good will eventually triumph).

Dan Marino is a constant fixture at or near the top of any "best quarterbacks to never win a Super Bowl" list. Perhaps his failure to grab the biggest prize in football comes down to his jersey number—13. And he's not the only example: Basketball star Steve Nash was a two-time NBA MVP and is considered one of the alltime great point guards, but he and his #13 jersey never won a championship. And keeping with sports, 1979's Super Bowl XIII was a particularly bad one for bookies. Called "Black Sunday," it pitted the Dallas Cowboys, the defending champions, against the Pittsburgh Steelers. But as the money kept pouring in from Texas and Pennsylvania, the spread kept changing until settling precisely at the game’s actual spread. The losses were legendary.