It has been suggested that the Dinomatron shortage was a conspiracy to drive up prices, but I disagree. First of all, no one could have
predicted the immense popularity of this toy. Just last year, a very
similar dinosaur-building kit was ignored by shoppers. Second, severe
winter weather all along the East Coast led to shipping delays,
contributing to the shortage. Could someone have conspired to create
bad weather? I don't think so. The Dinomatron price increase was the
natural result of supply and demand economics. During the busy
holiday shopping season, weather prevented toy stores from receiving
enough toys to fill demand. Therefore, they became more valuable.
Which of these is the author's claim?
A. Could someone have conspired to create bad weather?
B. Similar dinosaur-building kit was ignored by shoppers
N
C. The Dinomatron shortage was a conspiracy to drive up prices.
O O
D. Price increase was the natural result of supply and demand
economics

Reread paragraph 1 of “welcome to ‘rise of the knights.’” which word from the paragraph does not create a tone of enthusiasm?

Read this excerpt from leah missbach day's foreword to wheels of change. bicycles have long played a role in my life. as a young woman, i rode one year-round before i had a car. but it was later in adulthood that the bicycle became more than a source of transportation for me. the bicycle actually began to truly shape the way i saw the world. what is the author's purpose for including this in the foreword?

Read the passage, then answer the question that follows. 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 twist 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 used in the foods you eat may come from corn (high-fructose corn syrup), from fruit (fructose), or directly from the lab (for example, aspartame, invented in 1965, or sucralose—splenda—created in 1976). brazil is the land that imported more africans than any other to work on sugar plantations, and in brazil the soil is still perfect for sugar. cane grows in brazil today, but not always for sugar. instead, cane is often used to create ethanol, much as corn farmers in america now convert their harvest into fuel. –sugar changed the world, marc aronson and marina budhos how does this passage support the claim that sugar was tied to the struggle for freedom? it shows that the invention of beet sugar created competition for cane sugar. it shows that technology had a role in changing how we sweeten our foods. it shows that the beet sugar trade provided jobs for formerly enslaved workers. it shows that sweeteners did not need to be the product of sugar plantations and slavery.