[a习作temp] argument 166 限时字数只有380+ 还有5天就考了，给点建议吧！ [复制链接]

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电梯直达

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发表于 2005-7-26 23:39:00 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

166The following appeared in a local newspaper.
'People should not be misled by the advertising competition between Coldex and Cold-Away, both popular over-the-counter cold medications that anyone can purchase without a doctor's prescription. Each brand is accusing the other of causing some well-known, unwanted side effect: Coldex is known to contribute to existing high blood pressure and Cold-Away is known to cause drowsiness. But the choice should be clear for most health-conscious people: Cold-Away has been on the market for much longer and is used by more hospitals than is Coldex. Clearly, Cold-Away is more effective.'

In this statement, it is recommended that Cold-Away is more effective, compared with Coldex. To support this assertion, the speaker points out that Cold-Away has been on the market for much longer and is used by more hospitals than is Coldex, though Cold-Away and Coldex are accusing mutually for causing negative effects, high blood pressure for Coldex, drowsiness for Cold-Away. However, such conclusion is unsubstantial, in that a closed scrutiny reveals the following fallacies.

To begin with, as both brands are the competitors in the cold medications market, the accusation to each other seems to be groundless. Common sense tells us that in the commercial world, to win the competition means that it can maximize its profit. As a result, all companies exert every means to beat the competitors, such as accusing them for their negative effects on consumers. Usually, this kind of accuse is based on poor evidence, even feigned. Therefore, it is unconvincing that Coldex is accused by Cold-Away for causing drowsiness.

In addition, the author unfairly assumes that the longer existence of Cold-Away in the market means that its quality is preferable. In my opinion, the relationship between the length of its existence and the correspondent quality cannot serves as a cause-effect one. Longer existence only shows that Cold-Away is invented earlier than Coldex. It is possible that Coldex accounts for the larger portion in the Cold medications market than Cold-Away, in that Coldex have a better effect on curing cold. It is meaningless to cite this evidence that Cold -Away exist in market for longer time to support the claim.

Finally, it is unwarranted to draw the conclusion by the reason that more hospitals use Cold-Away, because such fact is not necessarily due to the higher quality of Cold-Away. There may be other factors attributed to this fact. For instance, in order to lessen the cost, the hospital likes to choose the less expensive one, while Coldex is much dearer for its relatively better quality. Therefore, based on the mere evidence that more hospitals use Cold-Away, the author should not recommend Cold-Away.

To sum up, it is dubious for the author to recommend Cold-Away for the poor evidence shown above. To get a more valuable recommendation, more investigation should be taken to clarify which medicine is better.