111The following appeared in a memo from the vice president of marketing at Dura-Sock, Inc.
'A recent study of Dura-Sock wearers suggests that our company is wasting the money it spends on its patented 'Endure' manufacturing process, which ensures that our socks are strong enough to last for two years. Dura-Sock has always advertised its use of the 'Endure' process, but the new study shows that the average Dura-Sock customer actually purchases new Dura-Socks every three months. Furthermore, Dura-Sock customers surveyed in our largest market, northeastern United States cities, say that they most value Dura-Sock's stylish appearance and availability in many colors. These findings suggest that Dura-Sock can increase its profits by discontinuing its use of the 'Endure' manufacturing process.'
提纲：
1. 首先，平均每三个月买new Dura-Socks不能说明这种袜子不耐穿，也没有说明顾客三个月就把袜子穿破了
2. 其次，最重视式样和颜色，并不说明他们不重视endure这个特性，
3. 并且, 客户调查也存在很大问题
4. 结论很武断，即使作者所有的分析都make sense，那么discontinuing its use of the ‘Endure’ manufacturing process能increase its profits吗？
In this argument, the brief analysis of the new study is not enough to tell us the exact truth clearly and also the survey of Dura-Sock customers is open to doubt, therefore, I find it is difficult to make out whether it is wasting money on Dura-Sock’s ‘Endure’ process since the arguer bases the conclusion on several ungrounded evidence.
The first patent deficiency lies in the speaker’s short analysis of the new study. Granted that it is true that the average Dura-Sock customer purchases new Dura-Socks every three months in fact, does it mean that new Dura-Socks can be worn out in three months which the speaker apparently assumes so? In common sense, many people might purchase new socks because of the appealing style or color rather than that their socks have been worn out. Thus, the study, which the speaker used to undermine the fact that Dura-Socks are strong, provides little credible support to the conclusion.
Another vital flaw is the seemingly convincing result of the survey in northeastern United States cities, which shows that customers there most value the stylish appearance and availability in various colors. However, this survey does not reveal that how much emphasis customers are putting on Dura-Socks. It is highly possible that customers are very satisfied with the quality of Dura-Socks and have a good faith in it, so they now begin to value other respects, like styles and colors. If this is the case, the evidence might finally turn out to tell us that it is actually the ‘Endure’ process of Dura-Socks that attracts customers mostly.
Besides, the survey of Dura-Sock customers suffers from a few fallacies itself. On the one hand, little information is presented in this argument with regard to the Dura-Sock customers surveyed. Are those customers male or female? Are they the youth or the elderly people? Without answering these critical questions, it is almost impossible to access the validity of the survey. For example, the young people might put much emphasis on the style and color rather than the quality of their socks, while the elderly people, perhaps on the contrary, most value the quality and comfortableness of the socks. On the other hand, this survey is conducted in northeastern American cities, which is rarely sufficient to establish a general conclusion in all the United States cities. In other words, the result of this survey is highly suspected in other cities, and perhaps people think more of the quality and endurance of socks, which is patented in Dura-Socks.
In addition, the arguer commits a fallacy of hasty generalization. Supposed that all the evidence and analysis in this argument makes much sense, it is still unwarranted to draw the conclusion that Dura-Sock can increase its profits by discontinuing the ‘Endure’ manufacturing process. The stylish appearance or availability in many colors are reluctant to make Dura-Socks top class and good sell in all the socks from other companies, for these factors are easily imitative. Nonetheless, the ‘Endure’ process the Dura-Sock uses in the manufacturing process might be the right key to make socks higher quality than other socks, and appeal customers in deed. So simply stopping the ‘Endure’ process before a thorough investigation, might lead to a decreasing profits rather than increasing.
On balance, from the speaker’s analysis in this argument, it is unlikely to reach the conclusion that the company is waisting money on its patentd ‘Endure’ manufacturing process and can increase its profits by stopping this process. More information concerning Dura-Sock customers’ views about the ‘Endurance’ needs to be found out before any actions are taken.