Phoebe offers a natural explanation for the strange lights. She claims they are earthquake lights, a form of ball lightning caused by stresses on the ground.
Quincy disputes this, saying that earthquake lights may not be a real phenomenon. "The theory that ground stresses related to earthquakes can cause any kind of lightning is extremely speculative."
You asked about Quincy's use of "any." The ball lightning referenced by Phoebe is a type of lightning. Therefore, it is contained within the group "any kind of lightning." Quincy rejects Phoebe's theory of ball lightning, as well as any other type of lightning.
I suppose he could have just questioned the reality of ball lightning alone, which still would have countered Phoebe's explanation. However, he took it a step further by questioning the possibility of any type of lightning. It doesn't really matter, because these have the same effect of questioning Phoebe's explanation, which is why C is correct.
SamAOctober 2, 2019
Hello @Yuer-Wang,
Apologies, I attached the wrong answer. Here is what I meant to say:
Conclusion: Before the five-week period, the risks of elective surgery had been incurred unnecessarily often in the area.
Basically, this suggests that elective surgeries were performed when they didn't need to be. We need an answer choice that undermines this conclusion. This will probably be something that demonstrates that these elective surgeries truly were necessary. Remember that elective does not mean unnecessary. It only means "surgery that can be postponed."
Let's take a look at D. Elective surgery is less risky that emergency surgery. This does not undermine the conclusion. Why? Because the conclusion does not depend on a comparison of risk levels between these types of surgeries. When the hospital was performing elective surgeries, mortality was high. When the hospital stopped doing elective surgeries, mortality decreased. That's all the information the author uses to reach the conclusion. D does not demonstrate that the elective surgeries were necessary, so it is incorrect.
