[a习作temp] =七月流火=小组第2次小组作业ARGUMENT4 by ifonlyyou [复制链接]

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发表于 2009-8-21 13:34:14 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

TOPIC: ARGUMENT4 - The following was postedon an Internet real estate discussion site.

"Of the two leading real estate firmsin our town-Adams Realty and Fitch Realty-Adams is clearly superior. Adams has40 real estate agents. In contrast, Fitch has 25, many of whom work onlypart-time. Moreover, Adams' revenue last year was twice as high as that ofFitch, and included home sales that averaged $168,000, compared to Fitch's$144,000. Homes listed with Adams sell faster as well: ten years ago, I listed myhome with Fitch and it took more than four months to sell; last year, when Isold another home, I listed it with Adams, and it took only one month. Thus, ifyou want to sell your home quickly and at a good price, you should useAdams."
WORDS: 524

TIME: 00:30:00
DATE: 2009-8-21 10:09:56

By comparing the number of estate agents aswell as the revenue last year between Adams and Fitch, cited his own experiencewith these two firms, the author concludes that Adams is superior to Fitch andsuggests that in his town one should choose Adam to sell his home. Although atfirst sight the argument seems to be appealing, it is in fact ill-stated, asdiscussed below.

To start with, the author assumes thatAdams is superior to Fitch, yet he fails to providesufficient and cogent evidence to substantiate this crucial assumption. Alarger number of estate agents does
notnecessarily lead to a better firm. Itis entirely possible Adams is a company full of mediocre employees while Fitch is one constitutedof highly efficient elites. Also, the qualification between different branchesof a firm differs a lot, which means even if Adams has a overall better reputation, there isno guarantee the employees working in the author's town are more qualified thanthose in Fitch's. Also, although average home sales of Adams is higher thanFitch's, it is entirely possible that Adams tends to deal with home sells inbig cities where the prices for houses are higher while Fitch focus on home insmall towns, like the one the author lives in, where house prices are comparably low. Likewise, an overall higher revenuemay not guarantee Adams will perform better in this small town. In sum, unlessthe author could explain why all scenarios mentioned above are not possible, hecan not reach the conclusion that Adam could help local people sell theirhouses at a better price.

Another assertion that Adams could sellone's home more quickly is also soundless. First, the author doesn't provide uswith the information concerning the specificfeatures of the two houses. It is quite possible that the latter house sellsquickly only because it is a good one with a pretty cheap price while theformer one was the opposite. Besides, without taking the overall economic atmosphere into consideration the author can not concludethan it is Adams’s good work contributes to such a big difference. Chances arethat ten years ago people did not worry much about their shelters while now,due to growing population it has become harder and harder to find a house,which give rise to a house fever across the nation and generally houses aresold more quickly than before. What’s more, even if the house was sold slow tenyears ago only because Fitch was indeed a poor firm at that time, the authoroverlooks the fact that ten years has passed and things have changed a lot,Fitch may have done a lot a job to enhance its service and it may be muchbetter than Adams now. The author can not generalize from what was true in thepast to what must be true now.

Last but not the least, even thoughevidence turns out to support Adams is superior to Fitch, the author also makestoo hastily a conclusion that there is no better choices in this town.Admittedly Fitch and Adams are the two leading real estate firms in the townand people tend to trust big firms, but this does not necessarily means thatthere are no other small but promising companies which can provide a betterservice at a cheaper price there. Without offering us information concerningother alternative firms, the author can not convince us that Adams is the bestchoice in the town.

To sum up, the argument is not soconvincing as it stands, to make it more persuasive the author should providemore specific evidence, make sound reasoning and take every possiblealternative explanations into consideration.