[求助]狒狒逻辑_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.

There should be 2 assumptions to support the hypothesis. The 1st assumption of the author is that only venereal disease will be treated by mercury in Beethoven’s time. The 2nd assumption is only some people in Beethoven's time will ingest mercury, if all people ingest mercury, the evidence is not useful. So, some people in Beethoven's time did not ingest mercury. The answer should be B.

A, E have nothing to do with the argument.

C is not necessary, 'Since mercury was commonly ingested in Beethoven’s time to treat venereal disease' is enough.

D is wrong:  according to the author, it is the venereal disease that will cause the deafness, not the mercury poison.

题目和答案之间存在什么样的逻辑呢？我的理解你：为了证明贝多芬的耳聋是venereal disease 造成的，Since mercury was commonly ingested in Beethoven’s time to treat venereal disease，只要找出它的头发里含有水银就可以得出结论了，而这个过程的前题假设是并不是所有的人都吃了水银？？为什么必须是这样才能得出结论呢？看半天也找不出它们之间的逻辑关系，请大家帮忙指点一下吧，不胜感激了~~~~~

最后几句“虽然没有令人信服的证据表明Beethoven曾经得过venereal disease，但是一些人猜想是venereal disease这种病导致Beethoven耳聋的。这是因为在Beethoven时代通常用水银治疗venereal disease这种病。因此，如果研究人员在他的头发中检测到含有水银，那么我们就可以认为那些人的猜想是正确的。”

其中关键一句是‘ 在Beethoven时代通常用水银治疗venereal disease这种病’，只有患有venereal disease病的人才会摄入水银。如果那个时代的人都摄入水银，那么那个时代的任何人的头发中都会含有水银了，这样即使在Beethoven头发中发现水银，也就不能说明什么了。

因此 B选项只有部分人（特指患有venereal disease这种病的人）才会摄入水银 是必须的假设

3X!!!~~~~~明白

我觉得有点不理解，

就算在B头发发现了水银，证明了B得了venereal disease，和文中假设还是有距离，也不能支持假设，即 venereal disease caused deafness啊？ 有gap。。。请教！！

我觉得e没有问题，文章说牛顿有psychological problems是因为有mercury poisoning，那么如果贝多芬也有同样的psychological problems，不就代表他可能原本就汞中毒，而不适因为病才注射汞的？