ShmoopTube

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Who ordered the Shmoop a l'orange? Anyone for Shmoop a l'orange?

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As if you didn't know this passage was coming back

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to haunt you... hit pause, take another look...you know you gotta.

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It can be inferred from lines 40 through 43 that... what?

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And here are the potential answers...

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All right, it looks like we're going to

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have to go back and take a look at lines 40 through 43 to answer this one.

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So, basically, Muir was great at hobnobbing with the stars, and that skill boosted his

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career in a major way.

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Now we just have to go through and find the answer choice that comes the closest to saying

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the same thing as the lines referenced in the question.

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Choice (A) is not what we're looking for at all. If this one were true, then Muir would've

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been a wallflower, writing in the corner at all the cool parties.

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We just found out how skilled he was at socializing,

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so this answer choice isn't getting invited

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to any of our parties. (D) also gets a big no. While being a social

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butterfly definitely contributed to Muir's rise to fame, he probably wouldn't have

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gotten so far if he didn't actually know what he was talking about.

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Could it be true that Muir had all these connections from earlier in his life? Was he born into

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wealthy and influential circles?

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No way. The rest of the passage makes it clear that Muir was an immigrant born into a working

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class family.

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He worked at factories, a sawmill, and ranches, so it seems highly likely that he was already

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hobnobbing with the elite. (E) is a sneaky one. It's the only answer

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choice so far that is actually true. The passage does tell us that Muir's writing got high-profile

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people to check out Yosemite.

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However...and this is a big however...lines 40 through 43 are zeroed in on how Muir's

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schmoozing skills "enhanced his reputation"...

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...not on how he got stars to check out Yosemite in person. Therefore, we can give (E) the boot.

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Well, well...looks like we've come down

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to one final answer. We hope it's the right one.

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Yup. (C) makes the makes the most sense because it recognizes that Muir's social skills

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and his writing skills were key to making him the star he was.

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What a blogger he'd be today.

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Next week, tune in to get the dirt on his affairs and battles with addiction.

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Yes...that's you Charlie Sheen.

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