一个削弱题目！

1stzhang

8. During the 1980s the homicide rate in Britain rose by 50 percent. The weapon used usually was a knife. Potentially lethal knives arc sold openly and legally in many shops. Most homicide deaths occur as a result of unpremeditated assaults within the family. Even if these are increasing, they would probably not result in deaths if it were not for the prevalence of such knives. Thus the blame lies with the permissiveness of the government that allows such lethal weapons to be sold.

Which one of the following is the strongest criticism of the argument above?

(A) There are other means besides knives, such as guns or poison ,that can be used to accomplish homicide by a person who intends to cause the death of another.

(B) It is impossible to know how many unpremeditated assaults occur within the family, since many are not reported to the authorities.

(C) Knives are used in other homicides besides those that result from unpremeditated assaults within the family.

(D) The argument assumes without justification that the knives used to commit homicide are generally purchased as part of a deliberate plan to commit murder or to inflict grievous harm on a family member.

(E) If the potentially lethal knives referred to are ordinary household knives, such knives were common before the rise in the homicide rate; but if they are weaponry, such knives are not generally available in households.

shany

E is right. The first part of the option confirms that ordinary household knives have nothing to do with the hoicide rate, and the later one argues against the title claim of " Potential" availability.

1stzhang

这个题目有些晕，shany可以用中文讲解一下吗？（1）你从原文获得了哪些信息？（2）你是如何选出答案的？

shany

原文大意：犯罪率增加与小刀有关， 而Potentially,致命小刀可以轻易获得，所以应质疑政府的政策。

注意potentially，这是一种揣测，通常的削弱法就是否定这种无根据的假设。
另外，lethal knives 偷换了前文的knives,答案E 的首句否定了这种关联。