费费宝典T119

119. For a television program about astrology, investigators went into the street and found twenty volunteers born under the sign of Gemini who were willing to be interviewed on the program and to take a personality test. The test confirmed the investigators’ personal impressions that each of the volunteers was more sociable and extroverted than people are on average. This modest investigation thus supports the claim that one’s astrological birth sign influences one’s personality.

Which one of the following, if true, indicates the most serious flaw in the method used by the investigators?

(A) The personality test was not administered or scored personally by the investigators.

(B) People born under astrological signs other than Gemini have been judged by astrologers to be much less sociable than those born under Gemini.

(C) The personal impressions the investigators first formed of other people have tended to be confirmed by the investigators’ late experience of those people.

(D) There is not likely to be a greater proportion of people born under the sign of Gemini on the street than in the population as a whole.

(E) People who are not sociable and extroverted are not likely to agree to participate ininvestigation.

还没有完全理解这个题目的思路或者说对这个题目感到困惑。答案e说不外向的人不可能参加这个调查。但是双子座的人却参加了，这是一个事实。既然双子座的人参加了而其他不外向的人没有参加这个调查，这说明了双子座的人外向。这正是investigators 的impressions。从而也支持了This modest investigation thus supports the claim that one’s astrological birth sign influences one’s personality这样一个结论。
所以答案e会不会本身有问题呢？

一般这种从取样调查中得出结论的题，如要weaken,通常时指出他的调查方法有问题，或指出取样对象有问题。前者如一道题说总统选举前电话调查，说A会赢，结果是B赢了，WEAKEN是说电话当时是奢侈品，即有电话的人只是一个很小的阶层。

这道题，调查者found twenty  volunteers born under the sign of Gemini who were willing to be interviewed on the program and to take a personality test，是调查者找的这些人，有可能100个volunteers，20个双子，80个金牛，有可能金牛比双子还外向，但调查只要了20个双子，所以得出的结论是不可信的。

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