Which statement is true regarding the cause of the cold war? the u. s. and the u. s.s. r. were involved in a conflict between communism and capitalism. the japanese wanted to get back at the u. s. for dropping the atomic bombs in japan. the united states wanted to limit the spread of democracy to other countries. the u. s.s. r. was angry it had to pay for all the war damages of world war ii.

The Cold War was a period of tension between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. after World War II (and was mainly ideological -- a cold war is one without physical fighting). Thus, the answer can't be "The Japanese wanted to get back at the U.S. for dropping the atomic bombs in Japan." because the Cold War didn't involve Japan.
The answer isn't "The United States wanted to limit the spread of democracy to other countries." because that's the exact opposite of the U.S.'s goals/ideologies. The U.S. wanted to limit the spread of communism (which was the U.S.S.R.'s ideology/policies.)
Lastly, "The U.S.S.R. was angry it had to pay for all the war damages of World War II." is not correct. The U.S.S.R. was actually part of the Allies (namely: Britain, France, the U.S., and the U.S.S.R.). They're probably trying to trick you here -- this was the reason that Germany started World War II (their economy was in shambles due to the reparation payments extracted from them for WW I).
Thus, by process of elimination, the best answer is "The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. were involved in a conflict between communism and capitalism." (Note: the U.S.S.R. was communist while the U.S. promoted capitalism) This is also true because a cold war doesn't involve physical fighting - rather, it was a clash of ideology. The U.S. wanted to prevent the spread of communism and the U.S.S.R. probably wanted to prevent what they saw as American imperialism. Also note that the development of the atomic (and later nuclear?) bomb lead to neither country really wanting to physically go to war because they could end up destroying the world if they both decided to nuke each other (everyone knew the effects from the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which kinda ended World War II).