Scientists have made genetic modifications to cotton to increase its resistance to insect pests. According to farmers' report, the amount of insecticide needed per acre to control insect pests was only slightly lower for those who tried the modified seed than for those who did not. Therefore, since the modified seed costs more than ordinary seed without producing yields of higher market value, switching to the modified seed would be unlikely to benefit most cotton farmers economically.
Which of the following would it be most useful to know in order to evaluate the argument?
Whether farmers who tried the modified cotton seed had ever tried growing other crops from genetically modified seed.
Whether the insecticides typically used on ordinary cotton tend to be more expensive than insecticides typically used on other crops.
Whether for most farmers who grow cotton it is their primary crop.
Whether the farmers who have tried the modified seed planted as many acres of cotton, on average, as farmers using the ordinary seed did.
Whether most of the farmers who tried the modified seed did so because they had previously had to use exceptionally large quantities of insecticide.
说一说最新的理解。
根据原文信息:
revenue: Modified = ordinary
costs 1: seeds: Modified 更高,ordinary 更低
costs 2: insecticide: 单价*用量。单价一样,用量上Modified略低,ordinary略高。就看那细微的差异了。如果单价巨高,用量的细微差异也能累积成巨量并大于seed costs。
原本选了E。首先它是个基于比较逻辑得出的因果逻辑。看原文,应该要找比较逻辑的答案。E似乎沾边了,但其核心逻辑还是因果逻辑,应该是要排除的。再来看E的内嵌比较逻辑,比较对象是前年(had had to use,过去的过去) vs.去年(tried modified seed,过去)。insecticide用量巨大才选modified seed这个因被原文的信息给否定了,farmer report说实际用下来insecticide用量跟传统的种子相比没少多少(only slightly lower,用了这么多形容词,可见有多嫌弃)。也就是说insecticide的量其实不是今后用什么种子要考虑的核心因素。
insecticide的单价在原文还没有给到,选项B弥补了这个空缺。它是个比较逻辑没争议了,比较的内容是单价也确定无疑,有争议的点是比较对象cotton杀虫剂 vs. other crop杀虫剂。一开始我也是当作无关选项排除掉的。在其它所有选项都不对且B为正确答案的情况下,B勉强可以接受。other crop就当作是参照物来理解,核心内容还是想说cotton杀虫剂的单价高/低(这里有点牵强,比如other crops的杀虫剂本身就很便宜,比它贵也不会贵到哪里去,这个选项就不成立了,还得靠走量,所以E有它合理的地方)。
再来说说D,这个是真的无关。去年的总种植面积是否一样不重要,因为原文已经用per acre进行平均了。所有要考虑的因素都在per arce的前提下来考虑,算profits也是同理,要么per arce,要么总acre数量一样。这是潜在的assumption。
最后的最后,B选项真的很牵强,单纯说cotton insecticide单价高/低就完美了。这题从OG删了,可以无视之。
登录 或 注册 后可以参加讨论