Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium transmitted to humans by deer ticks. Generally deer ticks pick up the bacterium while in the larval stage from feeding on infected white-footed mice. However, certain other species on which the larvae feed do not harbor the bacterium. Therefore, if the population of these other species were increased, the number of ticks acquiring the bacterium and hence the number of people contracting Lyme disease-would likely decline.
Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?
In 1992 outlaw fishing boats began illegally harvesting lobsters from the territorial waters of the country of Belukia. Soon after, the annual tonnage of lobster legally harvested in Belukian waters began declining; in 1996, despite there being no reduction in the level of legal lobster fishing activity, the local catch was 9,000 tons below pre-1992 levels. It is therefore highly likely that the outlaw fishing boats harvested about 9,000 tons of lobster illegally that year.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. The illegal lobster harvesting was not so extensive that the population of catchable lobsters in Belukia’s territorial waters had sharply declined by 1996. B. The average annual lobster catch, in tons, of an outlaw fishing boat has increased steadily since 1992. C. Outlaw fishing boats do not, as a group, harvest more lobsters than do licensed lobster-fishing boats. D. The annual legal lobster harvest in Belukia in 1996 was not significantly less than 9,000 tons. E. A significant proportion of Belukia’s operators of licensed lobster-fishing boats went out of business between 1992 and 1996.
还有这题,为什么不选E选C? Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium transmitted to humans by deer ticks. Generally deer ticks pick up the bacterium while in the larval stage from feeding on infected white-footed mice. However, certain other species on which the larvae feed do not harbor the bacterium. Therefore, if the population of these other species were increased, the number of ticks acquiring the bacterium―and hence the number of people contracting Lyme disease—would likely decline.
Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?
A. Ticks do not suffer any adverse consequences from carrying the bacterium that causes Lyme disease in humans. B. There are no known cases of a human’s contracting Lyme disease through contact with white-footed mice. C. A deer tick feeds only once while in the larval stage. D. A single host animal can be the source of bacteria for many tick larvae. E. None of the other species on which deer tick larvae feed harbor other bacteria that ticks transmit to humans.