What is the BEST definition of the word ventured as it is used in the final sentence of paragraph 1? A) desired B) helped C) justified D) risked

Let's paraphrase a bit and then substitute in the choices.

"The last time I won the Presidency, I gave a long speech so you could know what I intended to do. This time you all know what I'm going to do. Things are progressing nicely."

So now let's move to that last sentence:

"With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is..."

Now to our choices:

• "With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is desired."

• "With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is helped."

• "With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is justified."

• "With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is risked."

We can safely eliminate choice 2 - it just doesn't make any sense.

Choice 1 - I think we can eliminate this choice as well. People like hearing predictions as to how things are going to go (especially if they are going to go their way).

So now it's a choice between 3 and 4 and I'm having trouble picking.

Justified is a good choice because, in the President's view, things are going well, everyone knows they are going well, and we can expect more of the same. It's as if the future is already written and everyone can see it so why extend the speech to tell everyone what is already known?

Risked is also a good choice because things can be uncertain, predictions can be wrong, so why risk making a prediction.

All that said, I'll go with justified.