单选题 Most discussions of the factors contributing to improvements in public health greatly underestimate the influence of the values held by individuals. This influence is indicated by the fact that the astonishing decline mortality from infectious disease during the past century was primarily due to an improvement in living conditions. To a substantial degree, these improvements depended on the emphasis by an increasing share of the population on cleanliness, prudence, and moderation.
The main point of the passage is made primarily by

A、 analyzing existing data on medical practices and health outcomes.
B、 presenting a set of related cause-and-effect assertions.
C、 applying several general principles to a specific case.
D、 presenting a general observation and supporting it with several specific examples.
E、 (E) refuting in detail a commonly accepted argument.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 本题首先提出论点，个人所具有的价值观对提高公众健康的影响被低估，然后举例证明导致公众健康状况提高的传染病死亡率的下降依赖于生活条件的改善，而生活条件的改善又依赖于人民的价值观的改变。由此本题通过一个因果相关的例子证明了它提出的论点，所以(B)为正确答案；(D)为迷惑选项，但(D)错在用几个具体的例子来证实它，很显然题中只有一个具体的例子，如果把答案(D)的后半句改为“然后用一个具体的例子来证实它，那么答案(D)也是可以接受的正确选项，但相比之下，(B)更贴切一些；(A)、(C)和(E)所描述的逻辑结构与题意明显不符，因此均为错误选项。