单选题 8. Geographers and historians have traditionally held the view that Antarctica was first sighted around 1820, but some sixteenth-century European maps show a body that resembles the polar landmass, even though explorers of the period never saw it. Some scholars, therefore, argue that the continent must have been discovered and mapped by the ancients, whose maps are known to have served as models for the European cartographers.
Which of the following, if true, is most damaging to the inference drawn by the scholars? ______

A、 The question of who first sighted Antarctica in modern times is still much debated, and no one has been able to present conclusive evidence.
B、 Between 3,000 and 9,000 years ago, the world was warmer than it is now, and the polar landmass was presumably smaller.
C、 There are only a few sixteenth-century global maps that show a continental landmass as the South Pole.
D、 Most attributions of surprising accomplishments to ancient civilizations or even extraterrestrials are eventually discredited or rejected as preposterous.
E、 Ancient philosophers believed that there had to be a large landmass at the South Pole to balance the northern continents and make the world symmetrical.

【正确答案】 E

【答案解析】 E：该选项说明，南极地区之所以出现在了16世纪的地图上，不是因为古代人真的见到了南极大陆，而是一种猜想认为南极应该有大陆，属于“列举他因”，正确。
A：文章讨论的是古人是否发现过南极大陆，与谁是第一个发现南极大陆的现代人无关，故不选。
B：文章讨论的是极地地区是否在古代被发现过，与它的大小没有关系。
C：本选项重复原文，故不选。
D：本文没有提到“惊人的成就”，与原文无关，故不选。