单选题 20.Premature babies who receive regular massages are more active than premature babies who do not. Even when all the babies drink the same amount of milk, the massaged babies gain more weight than do the unmassaged babies. This is puzzling because a more active person generally requires a greater food intake to maintain or gain weight.
Which of the following, if true, best reconciles the apparent discrepancy described above?

A、 Increased activity leads to increased levels of hunger, especially when food intake is not also increased.
B、 Massage increases premature babies' curiosity about their environment, and curiosity leads to increased activity.
C、 Increased activity causes the intestines of premature babies to mature more quickly, enabling the babies to digest and absorb more of the nutrients in the milk they drink.
D、 Massage does not increase the growth rate of babies over one year old, if the babies had not been previously massaged.
E、 Premature babies require a daily intake of nutrients that is significantly higher than that required by babies who were not born prematurely.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】Argument Construction
Situation Premature babies who receive regular massages are more active and gain more weight than unmassaged premature babies do, even when they drink the same amount of milk.
Reasoning What would help to explain how the massaged babies could be more active than the unmassaged babies and yet still gain more weight without consuming more milk? If the massaged babies are burning more calories than unmassaged babies through their extra activity, but are not consuming more calories in the form of milk, then how are they gaining more weight than the unmassaged babies? Possible explanations could cite factors suggesting how the massaged babies might not actually burn more calories despite their greater activity; how they might consume or absorb more calories even without consuming more milk; or how they might gain more weight without extra calorie intake.
A Increased hunger without increased food intake would not help to explain why the massaged babies are gaining more weight.
B This only helps to explain why the massaged babies are more active, not why they are gaining more weight without consuming more milk.
C Correct. This suggests that the increased activity of the massaged babies could increase their calorie and nutrient intake from a given amount of milk, thereby explaining how they could gain extra weight without drinking more milk.
D This suggests that the apparent discrepancy is only present in premature babies under one year old, but it does not explain why that discrepancy exists.
E The passage does not compare premature babies to babies that were not born prematurely, but rather only compares premature babies that are massaged to premature babies that are not massaged.
The correct answer is C.