The query 'SELECT NOW()' shows the current . . . . . . . .

Answer: Option D

This question is about understanding what the MySQL command `SELECT NOW()` does.
Let's break it down:
* SELECT: This is the keyword that tells MySQL to retrieve information.
* NOW(): This is a function that tells MySQL to get the current date and time.

Therefore, the answer is Option D: date and time.
The `SELECT NOW()` command will display both the current date and time in a format that looks something like this:
``` 2023-10-27 15:30:00 ```
It shows the year, month, day, hour, minute, and second.