[a习作temp] argument45——欢迎各种拍砖 [复制链接]

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发表于 2010-7-13 15:54:15 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

"Arctic deer live on islands in Canada's arctic region. They search for food by moving over ice from island to island during the course of a year. Their habitat is limited to areas warm enough to sustain the plants on which they feed, and cold enough, at least some of the year, for the ice to cover the sea separating the islands, allowing the deer to travel over it. Unfortunately, according to reports from local hunters, the deer populations are declining. Since these reports coincide with recent global warming trends that have caused the sea ice to melt, we can conclude that the decline in arctic deer populations is the result of deer being unable to follow their age-old migration patterns across the frozen sea."
WORDS: 405

In this editorial, the author claims that the decline of the deer living on islands in Canada's arctic region is attributable to the global warming trends. To support this claim, the author deduces that the global warming trends have caused the Canada's arctic region sea ice to melt, and thereby impedes the deer's migration patterns across the frozen sea separating the islands, which finally leads to many deer' death. Close scrutiny of the supporting evidence, however, reveals that it lends little credible support to the author's claim.

First and foremost, to support the argument, the author unfairly assumes that the global warming causes the sea ice in the Canada's arctic region to melt, thus the deer cannot move cross the sea ice covering the sea separating the islands. Admittedly, the global warming results in the average temperature increase a little. However, whether it is warm enough to melt the sea ice in the Canada's arctic region is not informed in the argument. Perhaps increase of the temperature in this area merely causes the sea ice to slightly melt, and the deer can still move cross it from islands to islands. Without eliminating these possibilities, the claim that the global warming makes the region's sec ice melt is unfounded.

Moreover, the author claims that the deer living in Canada's arctic region declined, according to reports from local hunters. However, how did the local hunters make such a conclusion is not mentioned in the argument. It is entirely possible that the hunters' statistic is not accurate.

Finally, even if the deer populations has indeed decreased in the past years, the author fails to consider that it is maybe attributable to other factors, such as the local environment pollution, the excessive hunting to the deer. Or perhaps the plants on which the deer feed was largely damaged by other animals or human beings. Without ruling out these possibilities, the author cannot convincingly claim that the deer population's decline is caused by the global warming.

In conclusion, the argument is unpersuasive. To strengthen it, the author should provide direct evidence that the deer populations are indeed declining. To better evaluate the argument, the author must provide clearer evidence that the global warming actually causes the sea ice in Canada's arctic region melting and thus influences the deer's migration patterns across the frozen sea. I should also know that the decrease of the deer is not caused by other factors.