Question

read the passage from sugar changed the world. no one could have seen it at the time, but the invention of beet sugar was not just a challenge to cane. it was a hint—just a glimpse, like a hunch that comes about two thirds of the way through a movie—that the end of the age of sugar was in sight. for beet sugar showed that in order to create that perfect sweetness you did not need slaves, you did not need plantations, in fact you did not even need cane. beet sugar was a foreshadowing of what we have today: the age of science, in which sweetness is a product of chemistry, not whips. in 1854 only 11 percent of world sugar production came from beets. by 1899 the percentage had risen to about 65 percent. and beet sugar was just the first challenge to cane. by 1879 chemists discovered saccharine—a laboratory - created substance that is several hundred times sweeter than natural sugar. today the sweeteners which sentence best states the authors’ claim in this passage? ○ today we have many sources of sugar, but sugarcane is still the best source. ○ advances in the production of sweeteners hastened the end of involuntary servitude. ○ the age of science has made the role of modern chemists similar to the former role of slaves. ○ brazilians make ethanol from sugarcane because they cannot grow corn successfully.

Explanation:

To determine the authors' claim, we analyze each option:

• Option 1: The passage focuses on the end of the Age of Sugar due to beet sugar and other sweeteners, not that sugarcane is still the best. Eliminate.
• Option 2: The passage states beet sugar (and later saccharine) showed that sweeteners could be made without cane, plantations, or slaves, and the rise of beet sugar and other sweeteners hastened the end of involuntary servitude (slavery) in the sugar industry. This matches the passage's theme.
• Option 3: The passage is about the sugar industry and the end of slavery related to it, not about modern chemists' role compared to slaves. Eliminate.
• Option 4: The passage doesn't discuss Brazilians making ethanol from sugarcane because of corn - growing issues. Eliminate.

Answer:

B. Advances in the production of sweeteners hastened the end of involuntary servitude.