单选题 The painter Peter Brandon never dated his works, and their chronology is only now beginning to take shape in the critical literature. A recent dating of a Brandon self-portrait to 1930 is surely wrong. Brandon was 63 years old in 1930, yet the painting shows a young, dark-haired man--obviously Brandon, but clearly not a man of 63.
Which of the following, if justifiably assumed, allows the con- clusion to be properly drawn?

A、 There is no securely dated self-portrait of Brandon that he painted when he was significantly younger than 63.
B、 In refraining from dating his works, Brandon intended to steer critical discussion of them away from considerations of chronology.
C、 Until recently, there was very little critical literature on the works of Brandon.
D、 Brandon at age 63 would not have portrayed himself in a painting as he had looked when he was a young man.
E、 (E) Brandon painted several self-portraits that showed him as a man past the age of 60.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 本题推理为“因为1930年Brandon已经63岁了，然而画中的年轻黑发男子显然是Brandon本人，所以将Brandon的这幅画像的时间24,-<在1930年必定错误”。(D)指出Brandon在63岁时，不可能在画中将自己画成年轻时的样子，表明上面推理的原因A确实可能且有意义，因此可以作为一个很好的假设。若将(D)取非，即Brandon在63岁时可能在画中将自己画成年轻时的样子，那么将Brandon的这幅自画像定位在1930年必定错误这一结论受到质疑。所以(D)正确。