question: private Alignment readCharactersBlock ( TaxonList taxonList ) throws ImportException , IOException { siteCount = 0 ; dataType = null ; readDataBlockHeader ( "MATRIX" , CHARACTERS_BLOCK ) ; SimpleAlignment alignment = new SimpleAlignment ( ) ; readSequenceData ( alignment , taxonList ) ; alignment . updateSiteCount ( ) ; findEndBlock ( ) ; return alignment ; }
target:  Reads a 'CHARACTERS' block.