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  3. A two-year study beginning in 1977 found that, among 85-year-old people, those w

A two-year study beginning in 1977 found that, among 85-year-old people, those w

游客2024-01-12  30
问题 A two-year study beginning in 1977 found that, among 85-year-old people, those whose immune systems were weakest were twice as likely to die within two years as others in the study. The cause of their deaths, however, was more often heart disease, against which the immune system does not protect, than cancer or infections, which are attacked by the immune system.
Which of the following, if true, would offer the best prospects for explaining deaths in which weakness of the immune system, though present, played no causal role?
选项 A、There were twice as many infections among those in the study with the weakest immune systems as among those with the strongest immune systems.
B、The majority of those in the study with the strongest immune systems died from infection or cancer by 1987.
C、Some of the drugs that had been used to treat the symptoms of heart disease had a side effect of weakening the immune system.
D、Most of those in the study who survived beyond the two-year period had recovered from a serious infection somet me prior to 1978.
E、Those in the study who survived into the 1980s had, in 1976, strengthened their immune systems through drug therapy.
答案 C
解析 Argument Construction
Situation This question presents a puzzling scenario and asks us to find a possible fact that could make the situation less puzzling. The scenario involves a study that was conducted a few decades ago on a certain group of older adults. Those with the weakest immune systems were much more likely to die within two years than were the other individuals in the study. However, among the individuals with the weakest immune systems, death was more often by heart disease, from which the immune system does not protect, than from cancer or infections, for which a strong immur e system is protective.
Reasoning For the participants in the study with the weakest immune systems, what might best explain the deatr s that were not due to weakness of the immune system?’We might expect that the people with the weakest immune systems would be more likely to die from diseases that a strong immune system would protect them from than from other diseases. An explanation of the deaths that were not due to weakness of the immune system would explain why this is not the case.
A This point is irrelevant. The hypothesis that the participants in the study with the weakest immune systems had more infections than did the other participants does not explain why those participants died from conditions that were not infections.
B Our question involves identifying a possible explanation for the deaths of the participants in the study with the weakest immune systems. This option, about the deaths of those with strong immune systems, is thus irrelevant.
C Correct. This option suggests that those with heart disease—which would not have been due to weakness of the immune system—would have nevertheless had a weaker immune system due to the administration of certain drugs. Those with heart disease may for this reason have been among those with the weakest immune systems. If the individuals with weak immune systems due to treatment for heart disease formed a large-enough portion of the patients with the weakest immune systems, then we would have an explanation for why those with the weakest immune systems were more likely to die from heart disease than from infections or cancer.
D This option is not specific enough for us to use in the explanation we are looking for. For example, the "serious" infections in question may have occurred well before the 1977 study. Furthermore, there may appear to be no significant relationship between having had a serious infection and death from a condition that was not an infection.
E This option is also not specific enough to be a factor that might reasonably offer the explanation we are looking for. For example, given the information in this option, it could have been the case that all of the participants had the drug therapy.
The correct answer is C.
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