21. Historian: We can learn about the medical history of individuals through chemical analysis of their hair. It is likely, for example, that Isaac Newton’s psychological problems were due to mercury poisoning; traces of mercury were found in his hair. Analysis is now being done on a lock of Beethoven’s hair. Although no convincing argument has shown that Beethoven ever had a venereal disease, some people hypothesize that venereal disease caused his deafness. Since mercury was commonly ingested in Beethoven’s time to treat venereal disease, if researchers find a trace of mercury in his hair, we can conclude that this hypothesis is correct.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the historian’s argument depends?
A. None of the mercury introduced into the body can be eliminated.
B. Some people in Beethoven’s time did not ingest mercury.
C. Mercury is an effective treatment for venereal disease.
D. Mercury poisoning can cause deafness in people with venereal disease.
E. Beethoven suffered from psychological problems of the same severity as Newton’s.
原解释There should be 2 assumptions to support the hypothesis. The 1st assumption of the author is that only venereal disease will be treated by mercury in Beethoven’s time. The 2nd assumption is only some people in Beethoven's time will ingest mercury, if all people ingest mercury, the evidence is not useful. So, some people in Beethoven's time did not ingest mercury. The answer should be B.
A, E have nothing to do with the argument.
C is not necessary, 'Since mercury was commonly ingested in Beethoven’s time to treat venereal disease' is enough.
D is wrong: according to the author, it is the venereal disease that will cause the deafness, not the mercury poison.
但我觉得应选D,应建立起Deafness和Mercury的关系,B怎么看怎么不能理解
这是一道assumption题
b耳聋,venereal disease会导致耳聋,mercury用来治疗venereal diseases, 所以,如果b头发里面有mercury--->b有venereal diseased
由于文中没有missing conditional chain,是属于defender assumption而不是support assumption
对于这类题目可以用negation technique来double check,但是个人认为也可以用这种方法来选择看起来比较正确的
a)none of 太绝对了,文中没有说全都不会eliminate
b)negated assumption shall be "All people...ingested mercury"这样一来如果b头发里面有mercury也是推不出conclusion了
c)在b的时代是一种治疗方法,但是没有说是现在有效的方法
d)文章没有说到是水银中毒导致耳聋的,只是hypothesize venereal disease导致耳聋的,negated“水银中毒不会导致得了venereal disease得人耳聋”,也不会影响conclusion
所以这类defender题目还是用negation technique
btw.小菜鸟一个,和大家分享,等待高人进一步指点
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