对于OG的解释很不理解
120. The earliest Mayan pottery found at Colha, in Belize,is about 3,000 years old. Recently, however,4,500-year-old stone agricultural implements wereunearthed at Colha. These implements resembleMayan stone implements of a much later period,also found at Colha. Moreover, the implements'designs are strikingly different from the designs ofstone implements produced by other cultures knownto have inhabited the area in prehistoric times.Therefore, there were surely Mayan settlements inColha 4,500 years ago.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakensthe argument?
(A)Ceramic ware is not known to have been usedby the Mayan people to make agriculturalimplements.
(B)Carbon-dating of corn pollen in Colha indicatesthat agriculture began there around 4,500 yearsago.
(C)Archaeological evidence indicates that some ofthe oldest stone implements found at Colhawere used to cut away vegetation after
controlled burning of trees to open areas ofswampland for cultivation.
(D)Successor cultures at a given site often adoptthe style of agricultural implements used byearlier inhabitants of the same site.
(E)Many religious and social institutions of theMayan people who inhabited Colha 3,000 yearsago relied on a highly developed system of
agricultural symbols.
Argument Evaluation
SituationRecently, 4,500-year-old stone agricultural implements have been found in Colha,a location where 3,000-year-old Mayan pottery had previously been found. Theimplements resemble other Mayan implements of a much later time that were alsofound in Colha, and they are unlike the implements used by other local cultures inprehistoric times. These recently discovered implements thus prove that Mayan culturewas established in Colha 4,500 years ago.
ReasoningWhich point weakens the argument? First, identify a crucial underlying assumption. Theargument assumes the distinctive 4,500-year-old implements must be Mayan becausethey are similar to implements the Mayans are known to have used there much later.What if there is another reason for the similarity? What if a culture that comes to analready inhabited site tends to adapt its implements to the style of the residentculture'simplements? In that case, the Mayans could have come to the alreadyestablishedcommunity of Colha at some later point, and the later Mayan agricultural tools could becopies of the earlier culture's tools.
文中的黄色字体部分不是已经否定了这种情况了吗？
AThe argument does not suggest that the Mayans used ceramics forimplements, so this point doesnot weaken the argument; it is irrelevant to it.
BSince the point of the argument is who, specifically, established a settlement in Colha 4,500 yearsago, the evidence that some unidentified people were practicing agriculture there at that timeneither strengthens nor weakens the argument.
CDiscovering how the implements were used does not explain who was using them, so thisinformation is not relevant to the conclusion.
DCorrect. This statement properly identifies the weakness in the argument that the similaritybetween the 4,500-year-old implements and the later Mayan implements may be attributed tothe Mayans' adopting the style of implements used earlier by another culture.
EThat the Mayans relied on agricultural symbols at that time is nearly irrelevant to the issue ofwhether the earlier implements belonged to their culture. To the extent that this is relevant, itvery slightly supports, rather than weakens, the argument; highly developed'suggests that Mayanshad been practicing agriculture for a long time. |
