182.
The earliest Mayan pottery found at Colha, in LACE w:st="on">BelizeLACE>, is about 3,000 years old. Recently, however,
4,500-year-oold stone agricultural implements were unearthed at colha. These implements resemble Mayan stone implements of a much later period, also found at Colha. Moreover, the implements’ designs are strikingly different from the designs of stone implements produced by other cultures known to have inhabited the area in prehistoric times. Therefore, there were surely Mayan settlements in Colha 4,500 years ago.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument/
(A) Ceramic ware is not known to have been used by the Maya to make agricultural implements.
(B) Carbon dating of corn pollen in Colha indicates that agriculture began there around 4,500 years ago.
(C) Archaeological evidence indicates that some of the oldest stone implements found at Colha were used to cut away vegetation after controlled burning of trees to open areas of swampland for cultivation.
(D) Successor cultures at a given site often adopt the style of agricultural implements used by earlier inhabitants of the same site.（D）
(E) Many religious and social institutions of the Mayan people who inhabited Colha 3,000 years ago relied on a highly developed system of agricultural symbols.
182.
The passage argues that the Maya inhabited Colha 4,500 years ago from the fact that 4,500-year-old stone implements from Colha are like much later stone implements that are known to be Mayan. You are asked to identify the choice that weakens the argument.
Choice D suggests a different explanation for the similarity of the implements: the Maya copied the design from an earlier culture. Choice D therefore weakens the argument that the Maya inhabited Colha 4,500 years ago and is thus the best answer.
Since the argument in choice A is based on the similarity of stone implements of different ages, the lack of ceramic agricultural implements leaves the argument unaffected. Choice B and C provide no information about who was practicing agriculture in Colha 4,500 years ago, so they fail to weaken the argument. In choice E the fact that by 3,000 years ago Mayan culture was deeply rooted in agriculture indicates a history that goes back before that date and does nothing to weaken the argument.
在C出土的玛雅罐是3，000年前的；最近在C出土了4，500年前的农具，这些农具与史前人的农具很不同。据此推断，玛雅人在4，500年前就已经在C生存了。
问削弱。
D说在同一片土地上，后来的人所用的农具经常是模仿前人的。
因此，D提供了一种解释来说明，4，500年前居住在C的人很可能不是玛雅人，也可能是其他人；只不过后来的玛雅人模仿了前人的农具。 | 
