One question of GMAT logical reasoning, help!

Last year, support for the social and behavioral sciences represented only about three percent of the government’s total budget for research funds in the United States. Thus, the particularly sharp reductions imposed on such programs this year seem dictated not by financial constraints but by social philosophy.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the conclusion of the passage above is based?

A The government funds allocated for research in the social and behavioral sciences are not sufficient for the work that needs to be done.

B The social and behavioral sciences are as valuable as the physical and biological sciences.

C The current reductions will stop research in the social and behavioral sciences.

D Government funding is the primary source of research money in the United States.

E Three percent is an insignificant portion of the government’s total budget for research funds.

XDJM, I don't know what's the relationship between last year's precnetage and this year's reduction.

What's the answer of it? And what's the reasoning process?

Thank you very much!

答案是（E）这是一个架桥型假设。

去年3%的支持，今年被大幅削减。因此这种削减不是由于财政紧缩，而是由于观念转变。

桥梁：3% Budget的大幅削减，不能代表财政紧缩，正是（E）所表达的含义

睡熊, 你好。  我想了半天， 觉得那个时间状语还是起到了很关键的作用。 去年的预算应该会决定今年的投资， 而因为去年定的量本来就不多，所以今年资金减少和制定人的社会观念有关， 而非决定于今年的financial constrants.

您觉得这样理解是否妥当？

looking forward to your comments!

楼上的MM和GG, 我想这里可能有个阅读理解的问题．我读了几遍, 觉得原题的关系是:

去年3%投资 -->　今年social and behavioral sciences 方面的项目大幅度减少了

原因可能有2个, 经济原因, 或社会的观念(social philosophy). 原题说不是经济原因而是社会的观念问题, 也就是社会不重视, 由次可以看出E是一个假设. 假如3%代表了政府很重要的投资比例, 则不能认为是社会不重视, 则原题结论不成立.

I choose D.

原文逻辑：政府的budget只有3%用于支持社会科学研究，所以今年的经费削减是因为政府的政策，而不是因为经济的困难。

D的逻辑：政府是研究的主要投资者。取非，如果政府不是主要投资者，那么就是有其他私人投资者，私人投资者的投资应该是取决于经济形势，而非政府决策。所以，取非后有削弱功能。选D.

我没看出choice E取非后如何能够削弱原文。另外，我觉得睡熊说的"3% Budget的大幅削减", 应该是指削减至3%, 而不是削减了3%.

Open to further discussion...

   作为assumption的选项，必须是原文推理的必要条件

  除了E以外，没有一个选项是原文的必要条件，选E

同意E.

看来是我的阅读理解有问题。social philosophy应该不是政府决策的意思。