feifei-21

21. Historian: We can learn about the medical history of individuals through chemical analysis of their hair. It is likely, for example, that Isaac Newton’s psychological problems were due to mercury poisoning; traces of mercury were found in his hair. Analysis is now being done on a lock of Beethoven’s hair. Although no convincing argument has shown that Beethoven ever had a venereal disease, some people hypothesize that venereal disease caused his deafness. Since mercury was commonly ingested in Beethoven’s time to treat venereal disease, if researchers find a trace of mercury in his hair, we can conclude that this hypothesis is correct.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the historian’s argument depends?

(A) None of the mercury introduced into the body can be eliminated.

(B) Some people in Beethoven’s time did not ingest mercury.

(C) Mercury is an effective treatment for venereal disease.

(D) Mercury poisoning can cause deafness in people with venereal disease.

(E) Beethoven suffered from psychological problems of the same severity as Newton’s.

feifei的21题，搜索过没有好的解释

应该选哪个？

我选D，feifei答案是B，希望各位NN告诉我是feifei答案错了！

如果这题是我错了，那这几个月算白学了！！！

BiteGmat:

Option D undermines the conclusion that venereal diseases caused Benthoveen's deafness.

The structure of the stimulus:

Premise 1: Mercury has been found in the lock of Benthoveen's hair;

Premise 2: In Benthoveen's time, mercury is commonly used to treat venereal diseases;

Conclusion: Venereal diseases caused Benthoveen's deafness.

The argument, in my opinion, makes at least three assumptions: (1) Mercury trace found in B's hair must caused by treatment of venereal disease; (2) If someone ingests mercury, they must be used to treat venereal disease; (3) Except venereal disease, the other diseases cannot caused deafness.

Option B is a transformation of the second assumption mentioned above.

dphxmg：

太精彩了！

看来我是真的白学了，要努力啊！

现在明白D是有问题的，但不明白B，我觉得答案就应该是“(2) If someone ingests mercury, they must be used to treat venereal disease”，这与B的含义也差的太远了，只能说由（2）可以推出B。

For all the people in Beethoven's time, some people did not ingest mercury, some people ingest mercury to treat venereal disease,some people ingest mercury to treat XXX disease……

所以说B作为假设是不严密的，有问题吗？

Option B假定it is impossible that all people in bethoveen's time had got venereal disease. 但是这种可能太极端了，而且，lsat 指示要你从5options 选出最好的一项。所以，这体只能选B.

谢谢！