T-9-Q25.

Scientists typically do their most creative work before the age of forty. It is commonly thought that this happens because aging by itself brings about a loss of creative capacity. However, a study has found that almost all scientists who produce highly creative work beyond the age of forty entered their fields late and less than a dozen years before their creative breakthroughs. Since creative breakthroughs by scientists under forty also generally occur within a dozen years of the scientists’ entry into the field, the study’s finding strongly suggests that the real reason why scientists over forty rarely produce highly creative work is not due to age but rather because most have spent too long in their fields.

In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

1. The first is the position that the argument as a whole depends; the second is evidence that is advanced as part of that evidence.

2. The first and second are both claims that have been advanced in support of a position that the argument as a whole opposes.

3. The first is an explanation that the argument challenges; the second provides evidence in support of a competing explanation that the argument defends.

4. The first is an explanation that the argument challenges; the second is evidence that has been used against an alternative explanation that the argument defends.

5. The first is an explanation that the argument defends; the second is evidence that has been used to challenge that explanation.

这题是选C吗？记得再别处见过，可是一时搜不到，劳烦大家啦。。。

T-9-Q32.

Ecologists: the Scottish Highlands were once the site of extensive forests, but these forests have mostly disappeared and been replaced by peat bogs. The common view is that the Highland’s deforestation was caused by human activity, especially agriculture. However, agriculture began in the Highlands less than 2,000 years ago. Peat bogs, which consist of compressed decayed vegetable matter, build up by only about one foot per 1000 years, and, throughout the Highlands, remains of trees in peat bogs are almost all at depth great than four feet. Since climate changes that occurred between 7,000 years and 4,000 years ago favored the development of peat bogs rather than the survival of forests, the deforestation was more likely the result of natural processes than of human activity.

In the ecologist’s argument, the two portions in boldfaces play which of the following roles?

1. The first is evidence that has been used in support of a position that the argument rejects; the second is a finding that the ecologist uses to counter the evidence.

2. The first is evidence that, in light of the evidence provided in the second, serves as grounds for the ecologist’s rejection of a certain position

3. The first is a position that the ecologist rejects; the second is evidence that has been used in support of that position.

4. The first is a position that the ecologist rejects; the second provides evidence in support of that rejection.

5. The first is a position for which the ecologist argues; the second provides evidence to support that position.

这题我选B