Most scholars agree that King Alfred (A.D. 849-899) personally translated a number of Latin texts into Old English. One historia

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问题 Most scholars agree that King Alfred (A.D. 849-899) personally translated a number of Latin texts into Old English. One historian contends that Alfred also personally penned his own law code, arguing that the numerous differences between the language of the law code and Alfred’s translations of Latin texts are outweighed by the even more numerous similarities. Linguistic similarities, however, are what one expects in texts from the same language, the same time, and the same region. Apart from Alfred’s surviving translations and law code, there are only two other extant works from the same dialect and milieu, so it is risky to assume here that linguistic similarities point to common authorship.
The passage above proceeds by

选项 A、providing examples that underscore another argument’s conclusion
B、questioning the plausibility of an assumption on which another argument depends
C、showing that a principle if generally applied would have anomalous consequences
D、showing that the premises of another argument are mutually inconsistent
E、using argument by analogy to undermine a principle implicit in another argument

答案B

解析 Argument Evaluation
Situation A historian argues that King Alfred must have written his own law code, since there are more similarities than differences between the language in the law code and that in Alfred’s translations of Latin texts. Apart from Alfred’s translations and law code, there are only two other extant works in the same dialect and from the same milieu.
Reasoning How does the reasoning in the passage proceed? The first sentence presents a claim that is not disputed in the passage. The second sentence presents a historian’s argument. Implicitly citing the undisputed claim in the passage’s first sentence as evidence, the historian proposes an analogy between the law code and Alfred’s translations, arguing on the basis of this analogy that Alfred wrote the law code. The third sentence of the passage casts doubt on this analogy, pointing out that it could plausibly apply to texts that Alfred did not write. The fourth sentence suggests that too few extant texts are available as evidence to rule out the possibility raised in the third sentence. Thus, the third and fourth sentences are intended to undermine the historian’s argument.
A As explained above, the passage is intended to undermine the conclusion of the historian’s argument, not to underscore (emphasize) it.
B Correct. The passage’s third and fourth sentences question the plausibility of the historian’s assumption that no one but Alfred would have been likely to write a text whose language has more similarities to than differences from the language in Alfred’s translations.
C Although there might well be anomalous consequences from generalizing the assumption on which the historian’s argument relies, the passage does not mention or allude to any such consequences.
D The passage does not mention, or suggest the existence of, any inconsistencies among the premises of the historian’s argument.
E Although the historian argues by analogy, the passage does not itself argue by analogy; it does not suggest any specific counteranalogy to undermine the historian’s argument.
The correct answer is B.
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本试题收录于: GMAT VERBAL题库GMAT分类
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