It is true of both men and women that those who marry as young adults live longer than those who never marry. This dos not show that marriage causes people to live longer, since, as compared with other people of the same age, young adults who are about to get married have fewer of the unhealthy habits that can cause a person to have a shorter life, most notably smoking and immoderate drinking of alcohol.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument above?

A. Marriage tends to cause people to engage less regularly in sports that involve risk of bodily harm.
B. A married person who has an unhealthy habit is more likely to give up that habit than a person with the same habit who is unmarried.
C. A person who smokes is much more likely than a nonsmoker to marry a person who smokes at the time of marriage, and the same is true for people who drink alcohol immoderately.
D. Among people who marry as young adults, most of those who give up an unhealthy habit after marriage do not resume the habit later in life.
E. Among people who as young adults neither drink alcohol immoderately nor smoke, those who never marry live as long as those who marry.

CR specifically indicates that people give up unhealthy behaviour due to the fact that they are getting married.

A. Marriage tends to cause people to engage less regularly in sports that involve risk of bodily harm.

This talks about post-marriage behaviour about sports... and risk ...irrelevant.

B. A married person who has an unhealthy habit is more likely to give up that habit than a person with the same habit who is unmarried.

Says the tendency of married person to be more healthy, which would relate to pre-marriage behaviour.

C. A person who smokes is much more likely than a nonsmoker to marry a person who smokes at the time of marriage, and the same is true for people who drink alcohol immoderately.

Says smoker/drinker marries another smoker/drinker.. irrelevant.

D. Among people who marry as young adults, most of those who give up an unhealthy habit after marriage do not resume the habit later in life.

Talks about post-marriage behaviour...tendency to revert to unhealthy lifestyle... close but not relevant.

E. Among people who as young adults neither drink alcohol immoderately nor smoke, those who never marry live as long as those who marry.

Discusses Unmarried healthy lifestyle lifespan... irrelevant.

Answer :I would go for B.

The stem says This dos not show that marriage causes people to live longer. Hence B does not strengthen the argument, instead weakens it.
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I believe its yogurt!

I agree this is a tricky one... subtle and tricky.

Tend to go with E.

'B' for me too.

This is a tricky one..

Let us analys the argument...the story goes like this..

There are 2 families - married when young & married when relatively old

and the truth is family red lives longer thant family green.
the 2nd truth is it is not that marrying young prolongs life but the fewer unhealthy habits which doesn't grow further prolongs their life span


'A' - out of context
'C' - couples interest. no clue about this analysis or statistics in the argument . out of context.


'D' - it is a fact. red family, if they have fewer unhealthy habits, then its number reduces (doesn't grow) and therefore adds more days to their life. Strenghtens the first truth and second as well

'B' - red family is more likely (how likely ???) to give up when compared to an unknown entity (unmarried people..)

'E' - it is a fact. unknown people who tend have either similar or better healthy habits when compared to red family tend to live almost same as the red family...
Strengthens

'E' is the clear winner...

Will go with E.

The point here is that marriage does not increase longevity, but habits do. The only choice that supports this is E.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEE .
Will explain later. Already good explaination for E.

Friends,

Thanks for your participation and the great discussion. It is amazing

My answer for this question is also ^ E ^ .


We need to pay attention to:

"It is true of both men and women that those who marry as young adults live longer than those who never marry. This dos not show that marriage causes people to live longer..."

The bold part is the main point the authour tries to make. So, we should try to find an idea that supports and strengthens it. And E does that.