Explanation

The passage describes a disagreement about when Notre-Dame cathedral was supported by flying buttresses, with Viollet-le-Duc arguing that buttresses were present from the cathedral’s construction in the late twelfth century and others claiming the buttresses were built later. The author of the passage goes on to present evidence that suggests that Viollet-le-Duc’s argument is correct.

Question 22

As the description above indicates, Choice C is correct: the passage supports one side in a controversy. Choice A is incorrect because while the passage describes a controversy, it makes no mention of how that controversy developed. The passage also does not discuss any obstacles to resolving the controversy, any assumptions underlying the claims in the controversy, or any reasons why pertinent evidence may have been overlooked, so Choice B, Choice D, and Choice E are all incorrect.

Question 23

The passage states that the “other commentators” claim that Notre-Dame first received flying buttresses when it was updated for aesthetic and structural reasons in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. This claim thus suggests that the aesthetics of Notre- Dame were then seen as out of date, making Choice E correct.

Choice A is incorrect because the passage does not include any information about other cathedrals, let alone attribute a view of them to the other commentators. While the other commentators do suggest that the design of Notre-Dame was seen as flawed in the thirteenth or fourteenth century, they say that flying buttresses were added to correct these flaws, not that the flaws became apparent after the addition of the flying buttresses, which makes

Choice B incorrect. Choice C is incorrect because the passage does not attribute any views of the embellishments on the flying buttresses to the other commentators; similarly, Choice D is incorrect because the passage does not describe the other commentators as discussing any modifications prior to the thirteenth or fourteenth century.

Question 24

The author supports the claim that flying buttresses were present on Notre-Dame from the twelfth century by noting that the choir’s lower flyers feature a chevron decoration that was characteristic of the twelfth century. But since all flyers constructed prior to the fifteenth century have been replaced, the chevron decorations can indicate only that flyers were present in the twelfth century if those decorations accurately reproduce
the decorations that existed on the original flyers. Thus, Choice A is the correct answer.

Choice B is incorrect: whether chevron decorations are used only on the exterior is not a point of dispute in the passage.

Choices C, D, and E are all incorrect: no part of the argument turns on any claim about the choir’s upper flyers, the nave’s lower flyers, or the sequence in which the choir’s and the nave’s flyers were constructed.