¡¡¡¡Example£º
¡¡¡¡Whether the world is Euclidean or non-Euclidean is still an open question.
¡¡¡¡However£¬ if a star's position is predicted based on non-Euclidean geometry£¬
¡¡¡¡then when a telescope is pointed toswheresthe star should be it will be ther
¡¡¡¡e. Whereas£¬ if the star's position is predicted based on Euclidean geometry£¬
¡¡¡¡then when a telescope is pointed toswheresthe star should be it won't be th
¡¡¡¡ere. This strongly indicates that the world is non-Euclidean.
¡¡¡¡Which one of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage£¿
¡¡¡¡£¨A£© The world may or may not be Euclidean.
¡¡¡¡£¨B£© The world is probably non-Euclidean.
¡¡¡¡£¨C£© The world is non-Euclidean.
¡¡¡¡£¨D£© The world is Euclidean.
¡¡¡¡£¨E£© The world is neither Euclidean nor non-Euclidean.
¡¡¡¡Choice £¨A£© understates the main idea. Although the opening to the passage st
¡¡¡¡ates that we don't know whether the world is non-Euclidean£¬ the author goes
¡¡¡¡on to give evidence that it is non-Euclidean. Choice £¨C£© overstates the main
¡¡¡¡idea. The author doesn't say that the world is non-Euclidean£¬ just that evi
¡¡¡¡dence strongly indicates that it is. In choice £¨B£©£¬ the word ¡°probably¡± prop
¡¡¡¡erly limits the scope of the main idea£¬ namely£¬ that the world is probably n
¡¡¡¡on-Euclidean£¬ but we can't yet state so definitively. The answer is £¨B£©¡£
¡¡¡¡Premises
¡¡¡¡Once you've found the conclusion£¬ most often everything else in the argument
¡¡¡¡will be either premises or ¡°noise.¡± The premises provide evidence for the c
¡¡¡¡onclusion£» they form the foundation or infrastructure upon which the conclus
¡¡¡¡ion depends. To determine whether a statement is a premise£¬ ask yourself whe
¡¡¡¡ther it supports the conclusion. If so£¬ it's a premise. Earlier we saw that
¡¡¡¡writers use certain words to flag conclusions£» likewise writers use certain
¡¡¡¡words to flag premises. Following is a partial list of the most common premi
¡¡¡¡se indicators£º
