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Although genetic mutations in bacteria and viruses
can lead to epidemics, some epidemics are caused by
bacteria and viruses that have undergone no significant
genetic change. In analyzing the latter, scientists have
(5) discovered the importance of social and ecological fac-
tors to epidemics. Poliomyelitis, for example, emerged
as an epidemic in the LACE>United StatesLACE> in the twentieth
century; by then, modern sanitation was able to delay
exposure to polio until adolescence or adulthood, at
(10) which time polio infection produced paralysis. Previ-
ously, infection had occurred during infancy, when it
typically provided lifelong immunity without paralysis.
Thus, the hygiene that helped prevent typhoid epidemics
indirectly fostered a paralytic polio epidemic. Another
(15) example is Lyme disease, which is caused by bacteria
that are transmitted by deer ticks. It occurred only spo-
radically during the late nineteenth century but has
recently become prevalent in parts of the LACE>United StatesLACE>,
largely due to an increase in the deer population that
(20) occurred simultaneously with the growth of the suburbs
and increased outdoor recreational activities in the
deer’s habitat. Similarly, an outbreak of dengue hemor-
rhagic fever became an epidemic in LACE>AsiaLACE> in the 1950’s
because of ecological changes that caused Aedes aegypti,
(25) the mosquito that transmits the dengue virus, to proliferate
The stage is now set in the LACE>United StatesLACE> for a
dengue epidemic because of the inadvertent introduction
and wide dissemination of another mosquito, Aedes
albopictus.
124. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen
the author’s assertion about the cause of the Lyme
disease outbreak in the LACE>United StatesLACE>?
(A) The deer population was smaller in the late
nineteenth century than in the mid-twentieth century.
(B) Interest in outdoor recreation began to grow in the
late nineteenth century.
(C) In recent years the suburbs have stopped growing.
(D) Outdoor recreation enthusiasts routinely take
measures to protect themselves against Lyme
disease.
(E) Scientists have not yet developed a vaccine that can
prevent Lyme disease.
请 问 B如 果 不 起 加 强 的 作 用 ， 那 是 不 是 起 削 弱 的 作 用 呢 ？
多 谢 | 
