44) The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a journal on environmental issues.
Over the past year, the Crust Copper Company (CCC) has purchased over 10,000 square miles of land in the tropical nation of West Fredonia. Mining copper on this land will inevitably result in pollution and, since West Fredonia is the home of several endangered animal species, in environmental disaster. But such disasters can be prevented if consumers simply refuse to purchase products that are made with CCC's copper unless the company abandons its mining plans.
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
结论:But such disasters can be prevented if consumers simply refuse to purchase products that are made with CCC's copper unless the company abandons its mining plans.
证据1:Over the past year, the Crust Copper Company (CCC) has purchased over 10,000 square miles of land in the tropical nation of West Fredonia. Mining copper on this land will inevitably result in pollution.
证据2:Since West Fredonia is the home of several endangered animal species, in environmental disaster.
(TS1)To begin with, the assumption that the company will mine copper in a range covering most of the land it purchased may not hold true. 公司购买的土地面积非常大,这么大的土地不可能全部用于采矿。很可能该公司只选用合适的地区进行采矿,而合适的地区只有很少的面积,而濒危动物不在这些区域中。少量面积的环境影响并不足矣引发联合抵制行为。
(TS2) In addition, it is assumed that the mining plan will inevitably result in pollution and, considering endangered animal species living there, in environmental disaster. In other words, the assumption is that the CCC would not take actions to relieve or avoid the damage of the local environment.很可能公司有相应的办法,科学开采,尽量减少污染。产生的污染后先过滤再排放等等。对于动物,该公司可能制定方案在其他地方为濒危动物创造栖息地条件,并对它们进行迁移。如果是这样的话,联合抵制是没有必要的,相反居民应该支持该公司在当地开矿,可以提供就业机会,发展当地经济。
(TS3)Another assumption being made is that the boycott is feasible.In fact, it's highly possible that people can not distinct products that are made with CCC's copper from what made with other company's. 铜制品属于基础材料,很可能最后的产品只会贴制造商的商标,而并不标明铜来自哪家公司。这样的话联合抵制行为就并不可行。
In this letter, the author argues that pollution and environmental disaster result from the CCC's mining plans can be prevented by boycotting the products that are made with the company's copper.A number of assumptions have been made about the usage of all the land that company purchased, the inevitablity of the pollution and environmental disruption, and the feasibility of boycotting. We need to examine the assumptions carefully in order to assess the argument.
To begin with, the assumption that the company will mine copper in a range covering most of the land it purchased may not hold true.After all, 10,000 square miles of land is too enormous for a mining plan. It's quite possible that CCC will choose a little piece of land to carry out the mining program. And perhaps the proper land for mining takes only a little percentage of the overall land. In this case, those endangered animals may inhabit outside the mining areas, and the environmental influence of this plan would not be so intolerable to implement a boycott.