求助！！XDF的GZW老师讲义中的一道题~~~在风雨中飙泪感谢解答者~~

orange09

Newspaper editorial:
In an attempt to reduce the crime rate, the governor is getting tough on criminals and making prison conditions harsher. Part of the effort has been to deny inmates the access they formerly had to college-level courses. However, this action is clearly counter to the governor's ultimate goal, since after being released from prison, inmates who had taken such courses committed far fewer crimes overall than other inmates.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. Not being able to take college-level courses while in prison is unlikely to deter anyone from a crime that he or she might otherwise have committed.
B. Former inmates are no more likely to commit crimes than are members of the general population.
C. The group of inmates who chose to take college-level courses were not already less likely than other inmates to commit crimes after being released.
D. Taking high school level courses in prison has less effect on an inmte's subsequent behavior than taking college-level courses does.
E. The governor's ultimate goal actually is to gain popularity by convincing people that something effective is being done about crime.

下面是我的一点看法。。。
我觉得这个题目是搭桥题。。。就是在政府的对策（减少他们学习大学课程的机会）和现实情况之间（学习大学课程反倒可以减少出狱后的犯罪率）。然后C选项是说，那些学习了大学课程的人在统计的时候还没有来得及犯罪，也就是说政府的策略是对的。

各位大牛。。。您们看我的分析对不？

LaurenceG

嗯，发现了。。。最根本的问题是，A讨论的是anyone，不是inmates，A是说不能在监狱里上大学课程这一法令不能起到阻止人们犯罪的目的。

sdcar2010

For negation method to work, only weakening an argument is not enough. You have to refute the arugment.

LaurenceG

我觉得A选项取非后也是削弱作者的argument啊。

作者的argument是，上课——》少犯罪。
A取非后是，不上课——》少犯罪。相反原因，相同结果，削弱了作者的argument。

sdcar2010

Necessary assumption.  Use negation.

If you negate C, you get: The group of inmates who chose to take college-level courses WERE already less likely than other inmates to commit crimes after being released. If so, these group of inmate are GOOD inmates to begin with, with or without the college-level course training. Therefore, the argument that allowing an inmate to take such courses in prison would decrease an inmate's chance of committing crimes after his or her release is false.

Thus, C is the necessary assumption.

-- by 会员 sdcar2010 (2011/2/13 22:05:07)

你的意思是不是chose to take college和conclusion里的had taken such courses应该区别理解，不该混为一个意思。
同时我想问下关于A选项。如果double negation同时去掉得正的话，不也是结论的前提吗，即being able to take college-level courses while in prison is likely to deter anyone from a crime that he or she might otherwise have committed。我的理解是既然在监禁期间上大学课程可以阻止犯罪，所以结论政府的这项措施无效成立。

-- by 会员 xiaowangwang (2011/3/29 11:28:40)

Negation ONLY negate the action verb, not all the negative words. If you negatve A, you get "Not being able to take college-level courses while in prison is LIKELY to deter SOMEONE from a crime that he or she might otherwise have committed." The argument still hold.

xiaowangwang

Necessary assumption.  Use negation.

If you negate C, you get: The group of inmates who chose to take college-level courses WERE already less likely than other inmates to commit crimes after being released. If so, these group of inmate are GOOD inmates to begin with, with or without the college-level course training. Therefore, the argument that allowing an inmate to take such courses in prison would decrease an inmate's chance of committing crimes after his or her release is false.

Thus, C is the necessary assumption.

-- by 会员 sdcar2010 (2011/2/13 22:05:07)

你的意思是不是chose to take college和conclusion里的had taken such courses应该区别理解，不该混为一个意思。
同时我想问下关于A选项。如果double negation同时去掉得正的话，不也是结论的前提吗，即being able to take college-level courses while in prison is likely to deter anyone from a crime that he or she might otherwise have committed。我的理解是既然在监禁期间上大学课程可以阻止犯罪，所以结论政府的这项措施无效成立。

orange09

谢谢！~！我明白一些了~~剩下的还需要时间去积累吧~~

sdcar2010

There is no right or wrong idea.  Rather, in logical thinking, we only care about the correct or incorrect argument.

orange09

那是说题目中governor的想法是错的咯？

orange09

谢谢您~~明白了~~