Though sucking zinc lozenges has been promoted as a treatment for the common cold, research has revealed no consistent effect.  Recently, however, a zinc gel applied nasally has been shown to greatly reduce the duration of colds.  Since the gel contains zinc in the same form and concentration as the lozenges, the greater effectiveness of the gel must be due to the fact that cold viruses tend to concentrate in the nose, not the mouth.

In order to evaluate the argument, it would be most helpful to determine which of the following?

A.        Whether zinc is effective only against colds, or also has an effect on other virally caused diseases

B.        Whether there are remedies that do not contain zinc but that, when taken orally, can reduce the duration of colds

C.        Whether people who frequently catch colds have a zinc deficiency

D.       Whether either the zinc gel or the lozenges contain ingredients that have an impact on the activity of the zinc

E.        Whether the zinc gel has an effect on the severity of cold symptoms, as well as on their duration

老题目了,不过有争议,看了以前的贴子答案的争议在BD之间.

我本来选D,但是现在觉得B是对的.

D有一个很大缺陷即文章中并没有说明ZINC对COLD的影响,即是否是ZINC的ACTIVITY影响了COLD的时间(所以有可能是这两个都含ZINC的东西里都有另一种东西影响COLD).所以D回答YES或NO都不能起到加强或者削弱的作用.

相反B只是针对VIRUS本身的部位(重点是用的是同一种药)PLUS结论句的讨论点也在MOUTH和NOSE间,所以是最佳答案.

欢迎指正.

个人看法：已知gel和lozengen在zinc的组成量和含量都相同,gel对cold起作用，

而lozengen对cold不起作用。所以应该选能够排除zinc的选项，即D. mouth和nose似

乎是迷惑点。。。

欢迎指教!

B是典型无关选项，如果有B中说的药剂，并不能说明病毒在鼻子和胃里的含量

哪个高。如果没有B中说的药剂，同样不能说明。

而D，如果gel和lozengen对zinc杀死病毒的作用没有影响，则可以加强作者的结论。

如果gel和lozengen对zinc的催化作用不同，那么gel杀死病毒快的效果就是因为这个

催化作用不同而导致的。所以选D。