Argument151 求拍~谢谢，有拍必回

rodgoodUID: 2619326

TOPIC: ARGUMENT151 - The following is a letter to the editor of the Atticus City newspaper.

"Former Mayor Durant owes an apology to the city of Atticus. Both the damage to the River Bridge, which connects Atticus to Hartley, and the traffic problems we have long experienced on the bridge were actually caused 20 years ago by Durant. After all, he is the one who approved the construction of the bridge. If he had approved a wider and better-designed bridge, on which approximately the same amount of public money would have been spent, none of the damage or problems would have occurred. Instead, the River Bridge has deteriorated far more rapidly over the past 20 years than has the much longer Derby Bridge up the river. Even though the winters have been severe in the past several years, this is no excuse for the negligence and wastefulness of Durant."


In the letter, the writer insists that Former Mayor Durant should make an apology for two problems about the River Bridge he approved to construct. However, after carefully reasoning, we can find that the evidences used cannot support the idea that the bridge suffers such problems really due to the design twenty years ago and the former mayor has responsibility to it. I will discuss them below.

Firstly, there is no solid evidence to proof that the problems on the bridge today are caused by a poor design twenty years ago. On one hand, the writer imputed the traffic problem to the design of the bridge. Admittedly, a narrow bridge may cause such problem; but we cannot neglect that the design might be fit for the traffic stress 20 years ago. Things may have changed for 20 years. For example, the city may develop fast that the number of cars has increased; perhaps trade between Atticus and Hartly has become more frequently than past, which places a heavy traffic stress on the bridge. All these changes will cause the problem on traffic, but it is not because of the design. On the other hand, the writer believes that the damage to the bridge is also the result of bad design, which is groundless. To begin with, the two bridges are not comparable unless more information is presented, such as their prices, the traffic stress, and preservation on each of them. If Derby Bridge cost much to construct, or it does not take a same traffic stress with the other, or it receives a better preservation, the fact that it enjoys less deterioration is out of question. In addition, the writer mentions that the bridge has weathered 7 severe winters, which may be vital to a bridge but could never be predicted 20 years ago. Therefore, with such two evidences, the writer cannot persuade me that problems the bridge faces can be ascribed to a poor design that the former mayor approved.

Secondly, even though the design was problematic, we cannot conclude that it was the former mayor's subjective fault. For starters, we must keep in mind one fact that a mayor is not a versatile person but merely one of leaders. Before he makes a decision, he always needs data and information from specialists in the field. So does the problem discussed here. If Mr. Durant, as a Mayor of a city, found it practicable to build such a bridge with reference to information offered by engineer, he would undoubtedly approve it, which was beneficial to the development of the city. Meanwhile, common sense informs us that one decision cannot be made only by the Major; instead, it is more probably made by municipal administration committee. Now that the design of the bridge has been passed, we can speculate that most of the committee members agreed on the plan, revealing that the design sounded practicable then. Furthermore, the writer does not provide any evidence to prove that a wider and better-design bridge cost approximately the same amount of money with the River Bridge. Thereby, there is no need for the Former Mayor to feel sorry to implement such a plan to construct the bridge; after all, he was well-intentioned.

In sum, since lack of information and evidence makes the writer's reasoning unreliable, we cannot draw a conclusion as the writer that the design of the River Bridge is questionable and it is the Former Mayor's fault for that. For that reason, Mr. Durant needs not to owe an apology to the city.

lynnlinxiUID: 2728787

顶下。。。

楼主怎么能写那么多的.