'refers to' and 'dampen one's passion'

Question

In the first sentence I translated "refers to" as "se réfère à" and was marked wrong. I also used 'atténuer' to translate 'dampen', and that was marked wrong, too. Are those corrections really correct?

Céline Pickard · Accepted Answer

Bonjour Stephanie,
‘Faire référance à’ and ‘se référer à’ have a difference in meaning :

‘faire référence à’ = se rapporter à [sth/sb] → to mention [sth/sb]
‘se référer à’ = invoquer [sth/sb]→ use [sb/sth] as a reference

‘Atténuer’ = adoucir -- to soften → very mild
‘Refroidir / freiner’ = décourager -- to dampen (= saper )→ stronger feeling

I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !