Re: Oncologists struggle to determine the long-term carcinogenic effects o
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04 Oct 2025, 11:32
Let's reason through this.
The sentence says oncologists struggle to determine the long-term carcinogenic effects of basic household products.
Why? Because these effects (from household products) are $\_\_\_\_$ those resulting from the "miasma of toxins" outside our homes.
If they are hard to separate or distinguish from the outdoor toxins, then the effects are mixed up or hidden by the outdoor effects.
- A. exacerbated by - means made worse; that doesn't explain why it's hard to determine the household product effects specifically.
- B. confounded with - means mixed up with, so they can't be distinguished - this fits the struggle to determine cause.
- C. attenuated by - means weakened; possible, but not the main point - weakening doesn't necessarily make them hard to determine, just smaller.
- D. obscured by - means hidden by; also fits the idea that outdoor toxins hide/mask the household product effects.
- E. displaced by - means replaced by; not quite, because both are present, not one replacing the other.
- F. subjected to - doesn't fit logically here.
The best pair is B. confounded with and D. obscured by - both capture the idea that the effects are mixed up with or hidden by outdoor toxins, making them hard to isolate.
Answers: B, D