T-9-Q18. confused, help

T-9-Q18.
    

The growing popularity of
computer-based activities was widely expected to result in a decline in
television viewing, since it had been assumed that people lack sufficient free
time to maintain current television-viewing levels while spending increasing
amounts of free time on the computer. That assumption, however, is evidently
false: in a recent mail survey concerning media use, a very large majority of
respondents who report increasing time spent per week using computer report no
change in time spent watching television.

Which of the following would
be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the argument?

1. Whether a large majority of the survey
        respondents reported watching television regularly
2. Whether the amount of time spent watching
        television is declining among people who report that they rarely or never
        use computers
3. Whether the type of television programs a person
        watches tends to changes as the amount of time spent per week using
        computer increases
4. Whether a large majority of the computer owners
        in the survey reported spending increasing amounts of time per week using
        computers
5. Whether the survey respondents’ reports of time
        spent using computers included time spent using computers at work.

提干:电脑的流行导致看电视时间减少,因为时间都花在电脑上,就没时间看电视了. 但是调查显示,大部分回答用电脑时间增加的respondents花在看电视上的时间并没变化

问如何评价此argument

把B E翻译成中文,楼主再思考下

b 是否在那些很少或不使用电脑的respondents中,看电视的时间减少了

e.是否respondents报告的使用电脑时间包括工作中使用的时间

请楼主注意,此题是让你评价这个survey对结论"因为时间都花在电脑上,就没时间看电视了"是否起了作用(不管是加强还是削弱)

那B中只限定在了很少或不使用电脑的respondents中(只是survey的一部分人),这些人本来就不用电脑,怎么谈得上用电脑是不是影响了看电视,又怎么能对结论起作用呢?

e如果使用电脑时间包括了工作中的时间,那么有可能是工作中的用电脑时间增加了,不影响下班后看电视的时间---削弱结论

反之,不包括工作中用电脑时间 -- 加强了结论

同意选E。原推理中的两个关系是free time to maintain current television-viewing levels 和amounts of free time on the computer之间的相互影响。注意这两个都被限制在了free time里。

E如果肯定回答included time spent using computers at work。那么increasing time spent using computer 就没有挤占free time，与amounts of free time on the computer无关。也就是说与原推论无关，不能作为有效证据影响原推论。

如果否定回答的话，time spent using computer就挤占了free time，就会和看电视的时间相冲突。可以作为有效证据影响原推论。