The fact that people who exercise vigorously are sick less often than average does not prove that vigorous exercise prevents illness, for whether one exercises vigorously or not depends in part on one’s preexisting state of health.
Question: The reasoning in which one of the following arguments is most similar to that in the argument above?
Options:
A. Having strong verbal skills encourages people to read more, so the fact that habitual readers tend to be verbally skilled does not prove that reading produces verbal skill.
B. Musical and mathematical skills are often produced by the same talent for perceiving abstract patterns, so the fact that some mathematicians are not skilled musicians does not prove that they lack the talent that can produce musical skill.
C. Since how people choose to dress often depends on how their friends dress, the fact that a person chooses a style of dress does not prove that he or she truly prefers that style to any other.
D. The fact that taller children often outperform other children at basketball does not show that height is a decisive advantage in basketball, for taller children tend to play basketball more frequently than do other children.
E. The fact that two diseases have similar symptoms does not establish that they have the same underlying cause, for dissimilar causes can have similar effects.
Answer: A