The fact that people who run marathons are ill less often than other people does not prove that running marathons prevents illness, for whether one runs marathons or not depends in part on one' s preexisting state of health. The reasoning in which one of the following arguments is most similar to that in the argument above?
A: 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.
B: Since what music people tend to listen to often depends on what music their friends listen to, the fact that a person listens to a style of music does not prove that he or she truly prefers that style to any other.
C: 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.
D: 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.
Choose A, B, C or D as your solution.
C