24. The interstitialadj.空隙的, 裂缝的, 形成空隙的 nucleus, a subregion of the brain’s hypothalamus, is typically smaller for male cats than for female cats. A neurobiologist performed autopsies on male cats who died from disease X, a disease affecting no more than .05 percent of male cats, and found that these male cats had interstitial nuclei that were as large as those generally found in female cats. Thus, the size of the interstitial nucleus determines whether or not male cats can contract disease X.

Which one of the following statements, if true, most seriously weakens the argument? d

(A) No female cats have been known to contract disease X, which is a subtype of disease Y.

(B) Many male cats who contract disease X also contract disease Z, the cause of which is unknown.

(C) the interstitial nuclei of female cats who contact disease X are larger than those of female cats who do not contract disease X.

(D) Of 1,000 autopsies on male cats who did not contract disease X, 5 revealed interstitial nuclei larger than those of the average male cat. 只有这项有提到interstitial nuclei

(E) The hypothalamus is known not to be causally linked to disease Y, and disease X is a subtype of disease Y.

我选d

答案是e

e中有无关的内容，我直接就排除了

NN给讲讲

我的理解：

原文是在说正常的公猫中interstitial nuclei 比正常的母猫的interstitial nuclei小，感染一种X病的概率不超过0.05％，在这些染X病的公猫中interstitial nuclei与正常的母猫的interstitial nuclei一样大（注意没有跟公猫比较）；D选项在说正常情况下，每1000只没有染病公猫中就有5只（概率大于等于原文概率）公猫的interstitial nuclei 比正常的公猫interstitial nuclei的平均值大，我认为D错在没有跟母猫比较；假如D改为“Of 1,000 autopsies on male cats who did not contract disease X, 5 revealed interstitial nuclei as larger as those of the average female cat."那么就是削弱；D选项应该不是简单的对原文的复述。