<p>From the start, Cirque du Soleil was hardly a conventional circus. It had outrageous costumes, original music, and clever performers but no animal. Despite the dearth of beasts, it was a rousing success. Those initial decisions were brilliant, since they essentially redefined die genre. By not featuring animals. Cirque eliminated one of the most costly and controversial parts of any circus. And by shifting the focus from an event geared to kids to one designed for adults. Cirque pulled in an audience the traditional circus had never seen: adult theatergoers accustomed to paying steeper ticket prices.</p>
<p>Why does the author consider Cirque du Soleil a success?</p>
<p>(A) It survived a series of nearly devastating challenges.
(B) It provided a new source of entertainment for parents.
(C) It was an outlet for die designers' creative impulses.
(D) It made a number of shrewd financial decisions.
(E) It rescued an obsolete genre from near oblivion.</p>
<p>I got hanged up between (B) and (D). I know that (B) is narrow but I cannot understand how the Cirque's decisions were 'financial'?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance :)</p>
<p>Wow, hate the choices.</p>
<p>(D) because “By not featuring animals. Cirque eliminated one of the most costly and controversial parts of any circus.”</p>
<p>But I wouldn’t want to go for either… It’s implicit that the reason for success is its unconventional, yet effective moves. What’s the answer?</p>
<p>Sorry, I forgot to put down the answer! The answer is actually (D). You pulled my attention to the line above. The problem is that I don’t have that much time to be very vigilant about the passage. Thanks canhazphysics for your comment! By the way this is a level (5) question. For me, (D) doesn’t sound like the best answer, but I guess that, what the Collegeboard says is correct MUST be correct :(</p>
<p>Well, CB loves the lesser evil…</p>
<p>I think the answer is definitely D
B is not correct as the passage did not say anything about “parents” ,but “adults”.
The circus was attracting adults, who would more likely pay more for tickets.</p>
<p>D is the correct answer ,as eliminating animals and shifting the focus to adults were clever ideas to reduce costs, and to make more money, therefore these are “shrewd financial decisions”</p>
<p>thanks mrcharizard for your help! :)</p>