A major chemical spill occurred five years ago at Baker's Beach, the world's sole nesting ground for Merrick sea turtles, and prevented nearly all the eggs laid that year from hatching. Yet the number of adult female Merricks returning to lay their eggs at Baker's Beach has actually increased somewhat since five years ago. Clearly, environmentalists' prediction that the world's Merrick population would decline as a result of the spill has proven unfounded.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the argument offered in refutation of the environmentalists' prediction?
The chemical spill five years ago occurred at a time when there were neither Merrick sea turtles nor Merrick sea turtle eggs on Baker's Beach.
Female Merrick sea turtles begin returning to Baker's Beach to lay their eggs when they are ten years old.
Under normal conditions, only a small proportion of hatchling female Merrick sea turtles survive in the ocean until adulthood and return to lay their eggs at Baker's Beach.
Environmental pressures unrelated to the chemical spill have caused a significant decline in the population of one of the several species of sea birds that prey on Merrick sea turtle eggs.
After the chemical spill, an environmental group rejected a proposal to increase the Merrick sea turtle population by transferring eggs from Baker's Beach to nearby beaches that had not been affected by the spill.
D选项:结论说,环境学家关于spill会导致海龟数量减少的论断是错误的。
题目要求反驳结论,所以要找出的是可以support spill会导致海龟数量减少的选项,而不是解释当前海龟数量增加的原因
果因推理:
P: the number of female adults sea turtles coming back to lay eggs has increased since five years ago.
C: the chemical spill five years ago wouldn't decrease the population of sea turtles.
B选项说海龟10岁才回来产卵,所以这五年过来产卵的海龟至少都是chemical spill之前一年出生的海龟,提供了它因:这五年回来产卵的海龟数量增加是因为chemical spill前五年出生的海龟数量增加,而不是因为chemical spill对海龟数量没影响
假设现在是2010年。
Premise 1:2005年B海滩发生了化学泄露,造成了M海龟的蛋无法孵化。
Premise 2:然而,2005-2010年间,回来B海滩下单的M海龟反而增多了。
结论:因此,环境学家认为M海龟的数量因为2005年的化学泄露而减少的结论是错的。
题目要求推翻上述结论,也就是认为环境学家的结论是对的,即需要证明Premise 2的事实与化学泄露无关。B选项,M海龟10岁才回来下蛋,因此2005-2010间回来下单的海龟是在1995-2000年之间孵化出来的,的确与化学泄露无关。但是化学泄露影响会从泄露发生日开始的10年后产生,即2015年开始,会看到没有M海龟回来下单了(因为他们在2005年的泄露实践中被kill了),所以最后M海龟的数量还是会因为化学泄露事件而减少。
A说发生泄漏那年既没有M龟也没有龟蛋 这不能说明population可能会减少 要能的话也是说明population会增加(因为蛋的孵化没受到影响)
C有迷惑性 它是说在正常情况下会怎么怎么样跟现在的非正常情况扯不上关系 就算你觉得能扯上关系它也只说明海龟的数量一直很少 而不能体现出专家认为的5年内逐渐减少
D说明其他因素会导致猎食者数量减少 反而有可能会增加M龟的population 与专家观点相反
E选项沾边了 但它只能说明M龟的减少罪魁祸首是那些无聊的 environmental group 而专家的观点是M龟减少由于泄漏导致 E不能很好的支持专家
B项说M龟10岁时下蛋 为何正确呢?美国人的思维是这样的:5年前不是有个泄漏事故么 当年的蛋大部分都玩完了 导致当年M龟的population急剧下降 如果刚孵出来的小龟十年后才能产蛋 那么在近五年内都不可能会由population的增长(因为不能下蛋)因此M龟的population可能会下滑 支持了专家的观点
我们的思维是:它何时下蛋跟这次事故扯不上关系 一定得是跟泄漏事故沾边的才正确 这个想法太偏执了
题干要求 undermines the argument offered in refutation of,由于原文的后半段说专家的观点是站不住脚的(unfounded),也就是说后半段是refutation 那么题目就要WEAKEN后半段 说明专家的观点是可行的
专家认为化学泄漏导致了海龟population的减少(注意不是eggs的减少)所以正确的答案应当增大population减少的可能性(又变成support了)
本题答案有误。正确答案应当是B,而非A。
答案已更新,感谢指正。
登录 或 注册 后可以参加讨论