求解GWD逻辑题一道

stanfordvicky

Newspaper editorial:   Assumption

In an attempt to reduce the crime rate, the governor is getting tough on criminals and making prison conditions harsher.  art of this 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 inmate’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.

为啥是C不是A啊？

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 inmates are GOOD inmates to begin with, with or without the college-level course training. In an analogy, it is like to compare the GMAT scores of college graduates with those of high school dropouts. 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.

In A there is a word ANYONE. That is too restrictive for a possible answer for assumption question. Beside, if you negate A, the argument still holds.