大家可尽管拍~ kj~~不怕丢脸~~KJ 的 argument 53 基础再差也得坚持

kejanUID: 2606891

TOPIC: ARGUMENT53 - Thirteen years ago,researchers studied a group of 25 infants who showed signs of mild distresswhen exposed to unfamiliar stimuli such as an unusual odor or a tape recordingof an unknown voice. They discovered that these infants were more likely thanother infants to have been conceived in early autumn, a time when theirmothers' production of melatonin-a hormone known to affect some brainfunctions-would naturally increase in response to decreased daylight. In afollow-up study conducted earlier this year, more than half of thesechildren-now teenagers-who had shown signs of distress identified themselves asshy. Clearly, increased levels of melatonin before birth cause shyness duringinfancy and this shyness continues into later life.
这篇我又大概用了3个小时改的。成效如何，我心里一点都没底。
我的思路：研究的样本太小没有代表性

Melatonin 和distress 没有关系

Distress 也不是 shyness 的表现


婴儿时期的shyness 不能推测出以后就也会shyness

This plausible argument quotes two studiesto make a conclusion that increased levels of melatonin before birth leads toshyness during infancy and shyness continues into later life. However, after scrutinizingthe two studies and the reasoning of the author, the argument suffers from severalcritical flaws as follows.

In the first place, the author’s conclusiondepends on the assumption that the twenty-five infants in the study canrepresent overall infants who show signs of mild distress when exposed tounfamiliar stimuli such as an unusual odor or a tape recording of an unknownvoice. Yet, the author offers no information to substantiate the assumption. Itis most likely that the researchers have just found the twenty-five infants ina very small region. In addition, the region might be different from others.Obviously, the region is not able to represent the overall regions, as well as theresults of the study in this region are not able to extend to the entirety. So,unless the author indicates that the twenty-five infants can represent the entirety.

In the second place, theauthor relies on an unproven cause-and-effect relationship between themild distress of infants and melatonin. Perhaps baby has something special self-protectionability that protects the baby from the influence of the melatonin, which isthe same as our immunities to some disease. As we know, the majority of mother-to-bewill eat some nutrition. Perhaps these mothers of the children who were in thestudy have eaten a same brand of nutrition, which contains some chemicalmaterial that contributed to the mild distress of infants. In short, without ruling out these possibilities the authorcould not hastily create a causal relationship between the melatonin andthe distress.

Even if the melatonin is the reason of thedistress, the author could not assume that the distress is the expression of shyness.And it is entirely possible that the distress is just a physical response. Theinfants were scared by the new things, because they have not seen such things.Without taken into account the true meaning under the distress, the authorcould not link the distress with the shyness. (这一段，我还是加上了，我总觉得没有这个，好像distress 和 shyness 不好串起来)

Even assuming that the distress is theresult of the shyness, the author unfairly infers that thisshyness would continue into later life based on aflawed study. Commence tells me that a person’s character can beaffected by various factors. Consider, for instance, a person who often takespart in some activities will likely become extroversion. However, the author offersno information about the life conditions or living environment of these children.Perhaps the environment leads to their shyness. Perhaps these children liveunder an environment where no peers around them and talk with them, and thenthey become shyness. So, without compelling evidence tosupport, the author’s conclusion is not worthy of consideration.（这里有个疑问，我想把“孩子可能对shyness定义的不明确造成研究数据的不真实”这一点也加上个，可是想了许久，也不知道该把这一点放哪个地方阐述，最后就省去了）

To sum up, the recommendation is unconvincing as it stands. Tostrengthen it the author should offer more information about the relationship between distress of the infants and the melatonin.Moreover, the author must also inform more detailed information about theliving environment of these children.

kejanUID: 2606891

自己顶！

hmwstanleyUID: 2617486

我作文也很烂，但是我顶你楼主，加油加油！！！