The Decline of Perfumery

Answer choices

1. A

   Too Specific2% picked this

   The alteration makes the perfume more closely resemble

   The author supplied Joy Parfum as one example of a great perfume that can be appreciated like a work of art. But the author doesn't want all perfumes to smell like Joy Parfum. I could mention the Mona Lisa as a great painting, but that doesn't mean that I think paintings should be changed to look more like the Mona Lisa.

   2%
2. B

   Opposite3% picked this

   The alteration is done to replace an ingredient that is currently

   This sounds like the status quo, like the current reason that classic perfumes have their formulas altered. The author was against this practice of altering a formula to save money by using cheaper ingredients.

   3%
3. C

   Unsupported Distinction13% picked this

   The alteration replaces a synthetic chemical compound with a natural

   This answer is tempting, because it's the closest thing to offering a "flipped" version of substituting a cheap chemical compound for a rarer, better ingredient. But we don't know that the rarer, better ingredient was a natural chemical compound. It seems plausible, but the passage didn't distinguish between different types of chemical compounds. It just expressed anger that perfume companies alter the classic formulas by substituting cheap chemical compounds for rarer, better ingredients. If anything, the distinction we'd care about is cheap vs. rare/better, not synthetic vs. natural. We might have had to pick this answer if there weren't something better available, but this answer loses to (E) since what the author cares about most of all is staying faithful to the perfumer's artistic vision. The whole reason we'd speculate that the author would prefer a natural compound is that we're thinking, "Yes ... that will be more like the perfumer's original recipe". But just because you go from synthetic to natural doesn't mean you're doing so in a way that stays faithful to the original recipe. (E) locks in more tightly the idea that the author doesn't like alterations. He wants the classic formulas to be preserved and appreciated.

   13%
4. D

   Unsupported: popularity1% picked this

   The alteration is done to make the perfume popular with a wider

   This author has never demonstrated that she cares about perfumes being popular with a wider variety of customers. She cares about perfumes more as an artistic creation worthy of appreciation. This answer would sound better if the alteration were done "to make a wider variety of people appreciate perfumes as art".

   1%
5. E

   Correct80% picked this

   The alteration takes a previously altered perfume closer to its creator's

   Why this is right

   This answer doesn't seem to tie in to any one sentence in the last paragraph, but it reflects a common sense understanding of the author's priorities. She thinks that perfumes can be masterful creations that should be appreciated for the works of art they are. She is mad when alterations are done just to save a buck, degrading the old formula that the perfumer slaved over. If a classic perfume had its original formula previously altered, that alteration would make the author unhappy. So this answer is flipping the complaint and saying the author would be happy if an alteration took us back to where we started (or at least closer to where we started) with the original formula. The more that a perfume retains the artistic vision of its creator, the happier the author will be.

   Skill tested: Application · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

   80%