The correct answer is: C. were striking/have been rescuing
The sentence is in the past perfect continuous tense, which is used to talk about an action that started in the past and continued up to a point in the past. In this case, the action is “aid workers rescuing people.” The floods started one week ago, and the aid workers have been rescuing people ever since.
The other options are incorrect because they do not use the past perfect continuous tense. Option A, “are striking/rescued,” is in the present continuous tense. Option B, “strike/were rescuing,” is in the simple past tense. Option D, “struck/are rescuing,” is in the simple past tense and the present continuous tense. Option E, “have struck/rescue,” is in the present perfect tense and the simple past tense.
Here is a more detailed explanation of each option:
- Option A, “are striking/rescued,” is in the present continuous tense. This tense is used to talk about an action that is happening now. In this case, the action is “aid workers rescuing people.” However, the floods started one week ago, so the action of rescuing people is not happening now.
- Option B, “strike/were rescuing,” is in the simple past tense. This tense is used to talk about an action that happened at a specific time in the past. In this case, the action is “aid workers rescuing people.” However, the floods started one week ago, so the action of rescuing people is not happening at a specific time in the past.
- Option D, “struck/are rescuing,” is in the simple past tense and the present continuous tense. This tense combination is used to talk about an action that happened in the past and is still happening now. In this case, the action is “aid workers rescuing people.” However, the floods started one week ago, so the action of rescuing people is not happening now.
- Option E, “have struck/rescue,” is in the present perfect tense and the simple past tense. This tense combination is used to talk about an action that happened in the past and has a result in the present. In this case, the action is “aid workers rescuing people.” However, the floods started one week ago, so the action of rescuing people is not happening now.
Therefore, the correct answer is: C. were striking/have been rescuing