求教曼哈顿CR 5th p164 第八题

sylingyifan

8. Ethanol
Ethanol, a fuel derived from corn, can be used alone to power cars or along with
gasoline to reduce the reduce the amount of gas consumed. Unlike gasoline,
ethanol is easily renewable since it is primarily converted from the sun's energy.
Moreover, compared with conventional gasoline, pure ethanol is a cleanerburning
fuel. To save energy and reduce pollution, many individuals advocate the
increased usage of ethanol as a primary fuel source in conjunction with or in place
of gasoline.
In evaluating the recommendation to increase the use of ethanol, it would be
important to research all of the following EXCEPT:
(A) Whether the energy required to grow and process corn used as fuel is
greater than the amount of energy ultimately produced
(B) Whether more energy is saved when using ethanol in conjunction with or in
place of gasoline
(C) Whether ethanol is as efficient a fuel as gasoline
(D) Whether it is possible to produce more ethanol than is currently produced
(E) Whether the process of growing corn for fuel would result in as much pollution
as does the production of conventional gasoline

求教文章中的To save energy 中的energy 是指太阳能还是conventional gasoline？假如是gasoline的话B选项我觉得就应该是对evaluate argument有用的啊？？想不明白~

alzn2765

B 的意思是when using ethanol in conjunction with gasoline和when using ethanol in place of gasoline相比，前一种情况是不是比后一种情况saved more energy. 这两种方法都是我们要评估的方法，他们之间的相互比较不是我们要关心的问题，他们与using conventional gasoline的比较才是我们要关心的问题。

当然，我们也可以理解为（我相信很多人也是这么理解的）：Whether more energy is saved （后面是A和B两种情况作为一个整体when using ethanol in conjunction with or in place of gasoline）跟using conventional gasoline相比。因为题干中的问题就是To save energy and reduce pollution, many individuals advocate the increased usage of ethanol as a primary fuel source in conjunction with or in place of gasoline.

这题根本不是一个逻辑题，这就是一个语法题，看你如何理解B选项的比较对象。
看了这题我只能说出这题是曼哈顿的悲哀，或者是英文逻辑系统的悲哀：他们太喜欢玩字面游戏了。我们中国人很讨厌这种类似于“做手脚”，“出阴招”，“走偏门”的小聪明，但真的外国人对此乐此不疲，他们觉得是大智慧。

89年以来的中美对弈中，充满了这种小聪明与大智慧的对决（99年大使馆，81192,），最后的结果是中国一步步和平崛起，美国越来越完犊子。究竟哪种是智慧，让未来告诉我们。

sylingyifan

alzn2765 发表于 2015-9-5 09:14
B 的意思是when using ethanol in conjunction with gasoline和when using ethanol in place of gasoline相 ...

谢谢你的答复！
求问B为什么意思是分开比较AB?我当初就是理解成AB作为整体是不是更省能量。。不过看曼哈顿的解释好像也是说此选项比较AB所以无关。你的解释应该是正确的，可是我反复看也翻译不出这个意思。。

alzn2765

sylingyifan 发表于 2015-9-5 13:45
谢谢你的答复！
求问B为什么意思是分开比较AB?我当初就是理解成AB作为整体是不是更省能量。。不过看曼哈 ...

这种例子中文有很多：

越南人看不上世界杯

1.越南没有电视，越南人看不到世界杯直播

2.越南人不屑于看世界杯

两个解释都可以，哪个也没有完全一定错误。我说1正确，你说2也正确，我说我是曼哈顿官方解释，你说啥？

不然为啥我说这是“字面游戏”很无聊呢？