Codex Berinensis, a Florentine copy of an ancient Roman medical treatise, is undated but contains clues to when it was produced. Its first 80 pages are by a single copyist, but the remainting 20 pages are by three different copyist, which indicates some significant disruption. Since a letter in handwriting identified as that of the fourth copyist. mentions a plague that killed many people in Florence in 1148, Codex Berinensis was probably produced in that year.

Which of the folloing, if true, most strongly supports the hypothsis that Codex Berinensis was produced in 1148?

(A)Other than Codex Berinensis, there are no known samples of the handwriting of the first three copyist.

(B)According to the account by the fourth copyist, the plague went on for 10 months.

(C)A scribe would be able to copy a page of text the size and style of Codex Berinensis in a day.

(D)There was only one outbreak of plague in Florence in the 1100's.

(E)The number of pages of Codex Berinensis produced by a single scribe becomes smaller with each successive change of copyist.

正确答案D

搞不懂，拜托高人指点一下！！

看不懂解释中的这一句话

The fact that the last 20 pages are the work of a succession of three different copyist is an indication of serious turmoil at the time the copying was done.

Since a letter in the fourth copyist's handwriting reveals that a plauge killed many people there in 1148,Codex Berinenis was probably produced in that year.

为什么说骚乱就是说明 CB 产生于那一年呢？

仔细看一看TURMOIL的含义，不是骚乱的意思。

题目中说前80页是由1个人copy的，但后20页却是由3个人一个接一个来copy的，文中也说这暗示了某一场浩劫（discruption）注意，文中说的是some discruption，discruption在这里是单数，所以翻译成某一场劫难。

再看到下面说1148年瘟疫爆发死了很多人，那我们基本可以猜测所暗示的那场劫难应该就是它了（如果那段时间只有一场大劫难发生的话）。那20页的copy工作估计就是因为copyist相继得了瘟疫，所以传了换了3个copyist才完成这一工作。

D选项正是我在括号里写的那句话

Cb’s remaining 20 pages were copied by three different people,which indicates a disruption（the frequent change of the copyist means disruption，such as the plague ）.A evidence revealed that the forth(or said the last people) mentions that the plague happpend in 1148.So the CB was produced in 1148.

题目问加强（cb是在1148年产生出来的），注意加强只是使成立的概率增加，而不是说一定是1148年产生的。如果真的如d所说的就只有一场瘟疫，而且是发生在1148年的话，说明最后三个人的写作真的有可能就是在1148年写的，也有可能（但不一定，也许第四个人写完后到了1849年呢，anyway，提供了这种可能性）是在1148年出版的。所以这种题最好用排除法，因为不是那么明确了。

 (A)Other than Codex Berinensis, there are no known samples of the handwriting of the first three copyist.除了CB，没有别的已知的最初三个人的书法样本，无关，文章问的主要关系到是否1148年，应该和1148挂钩啊

(B)According to the account by the fourth copyist, the plague went on for 10 months.第四个人说瘟疫持续了10个月，hoho，这只是说明瘟疫的严重程度，和时间不挂钩吧。

(C)A scribe would be able to copy a page of text the size and style of Codex Berinensis in a day.一个抄写员能在某天按照CB的样本风格和尺寸复制。无关或者削弱啊，也许这几个人都是这样的scribe呢，还不知道原本是那年生产的

(D)There was only one outbreak of plague in Florence in the 1100's.

(E)The number of pages of Codex Berinensis produced by a single scribe becomes smaller with each successive change of copyist.由单个抄写员抄写的CB的页数随着抄写员的变化越来越少。呵呵，刚开始，差点选了他，因为越来越少，说明发生了瘟疫啦。可是对结论没有任何影响，如果在1148年还有一场瘟疫的话，如1140年，呵呵，怎么推是1148年生产的呢，所以无关