求教狒狒逻辑２１

volcanobird

谢谢！
Historian: We can learn about the medicalhistory of individuals through chemical analysis of their hair. It is likely, forexample, that Isaac Newton’s psychological problems were due to mercurypoisoning; traces of mercury were found in his hair. Analysis is now being doneon a lock of Beethoven’s hair. Although no convincing argument has shown thatBeethoven ever had a venereal disease, some people hypothesize that venerealdisease caused his deafness. Since mercury was commonly ingested in Beethoven’stime to treat venereal disease, if researchers find a trace of mercury in hishair, we can conclude that this hypothesis is correct.
Which one of the following is an assumptionon which the historian’s argument depends?
(A) None of the mercury introduced into thebody can be eliminated.
(B) Some people in Beethoven’s time did notingest mercury.
(C) Mercury is an effective treatment forvenereal disease.
(D) Mercury poisoning can cause deafness inpeople with venereal disease.
(E) Beethoven suffered from psychologicalproblems of the same severity as Newton
’s.

sdcar2010

A is too strong. Some elimination of mercury is OK as long as the rest remains. B, on the other hand, has to be right.

Use the negation method on B. If some people in Beethoven’s time DID ingest mercury, then it is not an air-tight case to prove the Beethoven ingested mercury to cure his disease.  Then the whole argument falls apart.

lmf0801

狒狒答案解释：There should be 2 assumptions to support the hypothesis. The 1st assumption of the author is that only venereal disease will be treated by mercury in Beethoven’s time. The 2nd assumption is only some people in Beethoven's time will ingest mercury, if all people ingest mercury, the evidence is not useful. So, some people in Beethoven's time did not ingest mercury. The answer should be B.

A, E have nothing to do with the argument.
C is not necessary, 'Since mercury was commonly ingested in Beethoven’s time to treat venereal disease' is enough.
D is wrong:  according to the author, it is the venereal disease that will cause the deafness, not the mercury poison.

volcanobird

答案是B.    但我选的是A. 我想的是如果这个mercury会消失的话，就没有证据可以显示贝多芬死于此了，这也是一个必要条件.