请牛牛们赐教了~OG12 67

Several industries have recently switched at least partly from older technologies powered by fossil fuels to new technologies powered by electricity. It is thus evident that less fossil fuel is being used as a result of the operations of these industries than would have been used if these industries had retained their older technologies.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the arguement above?

我选B： Less fossil fuel was used to manufacture the machinery employed in the new technologies than was originally used to manufacture the machinery employed in the older technologies

但正确答案是E: The amount of fossil fuel used to generate the electricity needed to power the new technologies is less than the amount that would have been used to power the older technologies.

为什么B不对呢，总觉得B比E还要好一点...OG解释说B错是因为It does not matter how much fossil fuel was used to manufacture the older technologies originally. That has no bearing on whether more fossil fuel would have been expended as a result of the continued operation of the industries if thpartial switch to newer technologies had not occurred. OG的解释怎么都不明白，why no bearing..?

我思考问题很不灵活，诚请牛牛们指点迷津~！！

呵呵,不是NN,但也说两句,希望指正. 这里B选项中加入了和原文中无关的信息 "manufacture the machinery",但文中是指technology对several industries总的能源的影响, 有可能在 manufacture the machinery上是less fossil fuel, 但在工厂的其他方面呢?所以B不能很好的对结论加强.

B: Manufacturing the machinery is irrelevant.

E: It reveals the comparison between the fossil fuel used before and now.

Only if the fossile fuel utilized when they would have retained the old technology is more than what is used now to generate the electricity, the conclusion is truely valid.