121. 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 remaining 20 pages are by three different copyists, 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 following, if true, most strongly supports the hypothesis that Codex Berinensis was produced in 1148?
(A) Other than Codex Berinensis, there are no known samples of the handwriting of the first three copyists
(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 1100s.
(E) The number of pages of Codex Berinensis produced by a single scribe becomes smaller with each successive change of copyist.
之前也想不明白,困惑我的地方在于:第一:第四个作者完全可能是在瘟疫结束很久后才写这本书的;因此,即便是1100s只有一场plague也不充分,完全可以是1148年发生了瘟疫,那个作者是1198年写的书,然后他提到1148年发生的一件大事也很正常;第二,为什么一定是plague导致了disruption?
后来觉得解答可能是这样:
(1)Its first 80 pages are by a single copyist, but the remaining 20 pages are by three different copyists, which indicates some significant disruption.
因为后20页由三个不同的人完成,完成的数量远远少于第一个人,所以暗示后三人写书的时间就是disruption发生的时间。否则,在没有disruption的时候写书,不至于一直都是broken的内容。疑问一解决;
(2)那么这个disruption是什么呢?书中提到的1148年plague是一个非常合适的理由,要注意到,问题是选择加强1148(而非加强plague就是disruption)的选项——也就是说,这里的加强是加强了年份1148发生plague的时候写了书,已经默默地假设了plague就是这场disruption。因此D:1100年期间只有这一场plague就是正确选项。
但需要注意到:此处的加强没有完全证明这个结论就是对的,只是加强了原结论而已;它还可以被削弱,比如完全可以提出其他的理由(像这一阶段还发生了其他大事可以作为disruption),而非plague就是这场disruption。但这就与本题无关了。
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