Boldface 老题：九道GMAT句子作用题全总结之4

今天过BF题，看到当年的讨论，答案有些问题，不敢独享。与诸君共勉。

4. More and more computer programs that provide solutions to mathematical problems in engineering are being produced, and it is thus increasingly unnecessary for practicing engineers to have a thorough understanding of fundamental mathematical principles. Consequently, in training engineers who will work in industry, less emphasis should be placed on mathematical principles, so that space in the engineering curriculum will be available for other important subjects. 
The two portions in boldface play which of the following roles? 

(A) The first is the second-premise that the argument includes; the second is the conclusion that could be drawn from this passage. 
(B) The first is the fact that is necessary for this argument; the second is the conclusion that must be drawn from this passage. 
(C) The first is the part of premise that the argument includes; the second is the inference that could be drawn from this passage. 
(D) The first is the part of evidence that supports this argument; the second is the inference that could be drawn from this passage. 
(E) The first is the first conclusion in this argument; the second is the second conclusion in this argument. 

参考答案 : E should be C

http://www.urch.com/forums/gmat-critical-reasoning/18889-boldface-cr-old-one.html

这里有国外的讨论，OA是C

然后有解释。

我个人的认为是，BF一般不会出一道答案是The first is the first conclusion in this argument; the second is the second conclusion in this argument. 

1，2两段之间是明显的逻辑联系的。欢迎讨论。

premise: something assumed or taken for granted
evidence: that furnishes proof

More and more computer programs that provide solutions to mathematical problems in engineering are being produced, and (1) it is thus increasingly unnecessary for practicing engineers to have a thorough understanding of fundamental mathematical principles.

The first bold sentence is not evidence, it is just a premise. If you read the first 2 sentences, the 2nd sentence sounds as a conclusion as "thus" is being used but it is not. You can easily break it apart...just because solutions are being provided by computers does not mean that engineers do not need to learn principles. Engineers might be needed for the development of these computers. Also, they can use the concepts in other fields. Also...Mathematical problems and fundamental math...huh...huge gap.
So in essence, the second sentence is so weak that it qualifies just as a premise i.e. an assumption.

In choice D, it says that the 1st part is evidence. No, it is not. It is just an assumption.

Second part of your question: about first premise and second premise...I am guessing that it is first assumption and second assumption mentioned
Assuming that the second premise is the 1st bold sentence, I would not want to quality "More and more computer programs that provide solutions to mathematical problems in engineering are being produced" as the first assumption. It seems closer to a fact

一点愚见：

关键是这句话More and more computer programs that provide solutions to mathematical problems in engineering are being produced是不是Premise。

如果是，那么C绝对没有疑问了。

不过第二句话is thus increasingly unnecessary for practicing engineers to have a thorough understanding of fundamental mathematical principles

我认为确实是conclusion，当然也是下文的premise，因为虽然可能如lz所说“just because solutions are being provided by computers does not mean that engineers do not need to learn principles. ”，但是这也只是逻辑链上缺失一环"assumption"，该推理逻辑存在flaw而已，不能否认第二句不是conclusion。

2nd bold确实不像一句conclsion,而只是一个inference。conclusion必须是一个观点，综上所述得出的一个观点，而不是前面几句话的同义转换。

我是觉得E没有错，两部分的确都是conclustion(我分不出来conclusion 和inference)，但是这样的答案没有什么意义，BF题肯定是要说明2部分之间的内在联系.

题干里少了的另一半premise是大家默认的principle：不重要的领域在培训的时候可以不emphasise。

所以c说The first is the part of premise that the argument includes

好像是在OG的must be true分类题里面有一道题目，问的是conclusion，而有一个选项是因为是inference错的。

E选项已经说明了role了，不说明两个bold之间什么关系，我想也没事吧