Fill in the blank (_) in the following sentence from the following choices.
Sentence: I was able to read more articles than stories because the _ were longer in length.

Choice 1: I was able to read more articles than stories because the articles were longer in length.
Choice 2: I was able to read more articles than stories because the stories were longer in length.
Which of the choices is correct? Respond with only "1" or "2" and no additional text.
2
1.