6. Editorial: The roof of Northtown's municipal equipment-storage building collapsed under the weight of last week's heavy snowfall. The building was constructed recently and met local building-safety codes in every particular, except that the nails used for attaching roof supports to the building's columns were of a smaller size than the codes specify for this purpose. Clearly, this collapse exemplifies how even a single, apparently insignificant departure from safety standards can have severe consequences.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the editorial's argument?

A、 The only other buildings to suffer roof collapses from the weight of the snowfall were older buildings constructed according to less exacting standards than those in the codes.
B、 The amount of snow that accumulated on the roof of the equipment-storage building was greater than the predicted maximum that was used in drawing up the safety codes.
C、 Because the equipment-storage building was not intended for human occupation, some safety-code provisions that would have applied to an office building did not apply to it.
D、 The municipality of Northtown itself has the responsibility for ensuring that buildings constructed within its boundaries meet the provisions of the building-safety codes.
E、 Because the equipment-storage building was used for storing snow-removal equipment, the building was almost completely empty when the roof collapsed.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】 Argument Evaluation
Situation The roof of a recently constructed building collapsed under heavy snowfall. The only way the
building did not meet safety standards was that some nails for the roof supports were smaller than
prescribed by the building codes.
Reasoning What would make it less likely that the building's collapse resulted from a single, apparently minor
departure from safety standards? The building met safety standards except for the size of the nails.
So if the collapse exemplifies how a departure from safety standards can have severe consequences,
as the conclusion claims, then the size of the nails had to be responsible for the collapse. Thus,
evidence that a factor other than the size of the nails could fully account for the collapse would
weaken the argument.
A This suggests that the snow would not have been heavy enough to collapse the roof if the construction had completely met the safety standards, so it strengthens, rather than weakens, the argument.
B Correct. This suggests that the snow could have collapsed the roof even if the nails had met the safety standards, thus casting doubt on the assumption that the nails' inadequacy was responsible for the collapse.
C The claim that the safety requirements for this building were weaker than some others tends slightly to strengthen, rather than weaken, the hypothesis that the bad consequences resulted partly from a failure to comply. Even if safety-code provisions for an equipment-storage building differ from those for an office building, they may still be adequate to ensure the roof's stability.
D The question of who was responsible for ensuring compliance with the safety codes is irrelevant to whether a failure to comply was responsible for the roof's collapse.
E This suggests that the alleged consequences of failing to meet safety standards were less severe than they could have been, but it is irrelevant to determining the cause of the collapse.
The correct answer is B.