Question

Read the passage from Sugar Changed the World.

I wanted to know more about the beguiling Nina, and my cousin had plenty of stories to share. He told me that her grandfather was a Russian serf—a farmer who could be bought and sold by the noble who owned his land. Family legend has it that this serf, a remarkable and intelligent man, helped to change the course of the history of sugar. In the early 1800s, the British controlled most of the sugar plantations of the Caribbean and the sea routes to Europe. As a result, their rivals were desperate to find a new way to create sugar. They turned to beets.

We don't know exactly what Nina's grandfather's invention did, but as the story goes, he found a way to give raw beet sugar sparkling hues. People from Russia to the cafés of Vienna could now buy cheap and attractive sugar produced on European soil.

Serfs were much like slaves, since they had no choice about where they lived or worked. Yet Nina's grandfather made so much money from his invention that he was able to buy his freedom from his owner. He went on to become a very rich man—so rich, he not only bought a piece of land on the Volga River but married off his daughter to a noble who owned the next stretch of river lands. Together they could form a kind of mini empire, controlling a large swath of this important waterway, and they became the first family in the area to buy an automobile. . . .

Age of Science

1747 Andraeas Marggraf discovers that beet sugar is identical to cane sugar
1840s Beets become a major crop in Ukraine
1852 Indians begin to arrive in Natal to work in sugar
1861 Czar Alexander II frees Russia’s serfs
How does the timeline support the text?

It emphasizes the problem-solution structure of the passage.
It explains further the connection between the sugar industry and slavery.
It supports the central ideas of the passage with specific dates.
It provides key locations to events described in the passage.

Answer 1

The timeline supports the passage by providing historical context and supporting the central ideas with specific dates, emphasizing the evolution of sugar production and its socio-economic impacts.

Step-by-step explanation:

The timeline provided in the passage plays a crucial role in supporting the text by anchoring key developments in the history of sugar to specific dates, thus highlighting the evolution and the impact of sugar production and trade over time. It supports the central ideas of the passage by providing historical context, such as the discovery that beet sugar is identical to cane sugar, and the major milestones in the expansion of beet cultivation in Europe, which correlates with the narrative of innovation and serfdom found within the passage. The timeline also indirectly sheds light on the integral role of slavery in the sugar industry by outlining key dates in relation to serfdom and workforce transitions in global sugar production, thereby tying together the broader socio-economic effects of the sugar trade.

Answer 2

C. It supports the central ideas of the passage with specific dates.

Step-by-step explanation:

A and B are wrong because they just don't support the passage that way.

D is wrong because there really aren't any locations specifically stated.