ISSUE36 ARGUE35这个能得多少分~明天考~帮忙看看

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TOPIC: ISSUE36 - "The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries."
WORDS: 670          TIME: 00:43:00          DATE: 2010/9/14 16:15:29

Whether the greatness of individuals could be judged by their contemporaries depends on many complex factors. Since the works, the deeds, and achievements of individuals may exceed the understanding of general people, which makes it not being recognized by the people who live in the sames with them, it has some merit in this statement. Along the history, we could find numerous examples in different realms, which could explicitly illustrate that the contemporaries often fail to appreciate the great individuals who lived with them.

One of the most important reasons why the contemporaries often doesn't acknowledge the greatness is that the works are often impenetrable to the majority. The works had exceeded the understanding and knowledge of the general public. In the biological science, the discovery of Mendel Inherit Law had opened a new page for modern biology science, but when it first was introduced by Mendel, it met with criticism from a great number of people at his times. Since the idea behind the law is so new, nothing has been more abstract. But later on people gradually felt the application of the law in the cultivation of agricultural plants and horticulture, and appreciated the great discovery of the inherit law. Therefore, the contemporaries fail to recognize the great individuals of this time because of the limitation of knowledge and comprehension.

And due to the political influence, the general public could also be mislead by the political elites and blindly refused the great works. One example is related to a famous economic scholar named Ma Yanchu, who in the 1960s had argued that China was facing with population problems, since economic development had fallen behind of the increasing number of people. His words had seriously contradicted with the idea of Chairman Mao, who claimed that the more people, the more labor, and thus the better. In this case, politics suppressed the truth. The public condemned Ma greatly. But later on peope felt that the goods the country supplied cannot meet the demands. The principle of Ma was finally appreciated. Thus, the politics would mislead the public and the greatness of scholars may not be recognized.

The general public often did not have critical thinking and analysis spirit, so they relied on the critic of their times to make comments. Artistic works are subject to the comments of the critic, who may possibly make judgments based on his inclination, experience, will and thoughts, as a result of which the comments were hardly objective. Consider the complete  replusion of Emily Bronte and his book Wuthering Height in the 1870s. When the book was firstly published, it received criticism from the critic who regarded the book as unmoral, ill-minded and inhuman. However, 1900s the general began to perceive the book as the breakthrough in literature. The critic admitted that they had misjudged the book. The greatness of artistic works was not recognized, because of the judgment of the critic.

But I take the exception of business world. Along the history, there were few cases in which the great businesmen were acknowledged, for the reason that it is easy to recognize the success of business world. The possession of wealth is not hard to be found by the public. People could soon know who made made a big difference to the economy. For example, Bill Gates have made a great contribution to the world economy by making modern computer available to every offices around the global. The oil company of Rockfeller had made a great profit. Steven Jobs has lead Apple onto a new stage in providing hi-tech electronic devices. The business world has presented its great individuals to the public by offering great wealth and by showing the contributions the individuals to the general.

As a conclusion, because of the limitation of knowledge and critical thinking and the influence of politicis and critic, the great individuals and the great works were often not recognized by the masses. But in the realm of business, the contemporaries could easily know the greatness of individuals.


TOPIC: ARGUMENT35 - The following appeared in the summary of a study on headaches suffered by the residents of Mentia.

"Salicylates are members of the same chemical family as aspirin, a medicine used to treat headaches. Although many foods are naturally rich in salicylates, for the past several decades food-processing companies have also been adding salicylates to foods as preservatives. This rise in the commercial use of salicylates has been found to correlate with a steady decline in the average number of headaches reported by participants in our twenty-year study. Recently, food-processing companies have found that salicylates can also be used as flavor additives for foods. With this new use for salicylates, we can expect a continued steady decline in the number of headaches suffered by the average citizen of Mentia."
WORDS: 462          TIME: 00:28:00          DATE: 2010/9/14 16:15:29

The author of this study concludes that a continues steady decline in the number of headaches suffered by the average citizen of Mentia. Based on dubious evidence and problematic reasoning, the conclusion is groundless as it stands.

The first problem with the study is the assumption that Salicylates (SALI) could be used to cure headaches, based on the fact that aspirin could treat headaches and SALI and aspirin belong to the same chemical family. However, this single evidence is hardly sufficient to prove the SALI could cure headaches. Common sense informs me that the fact that they are in the same chemical family does not necessarily mean that they have the same properties- in this case cure headaches. Without concrete evidence to substantiate that SALI have the properties to be used as medications for headaches, the author cannot make any sound conclusions.

Granted SALI could be used to cure headaches, which  is not founded, the author confuses correlation with causal relationship. Firstly, the reliability of the study should be cast doubt on. Since there is a lack of information about the participants in the 20 years study, the study cannot be reliable to make judgments. It is highly possible that the participants are not representative of general people in Mentia, in terms of age, heath condition, immune system, work load, and other factor which may affect their vulnerability to have headaches. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that all the cases of headaches had been reported by the participants.

Secondly, the author fails to indicate whether the participant had actually used the food products to which had been added SALI. With any information about the consumption of these food products, it is impossible to draw any conclusions based on the study results.

Thirdly, the correlation between the commercial use of SALI and the decline in the average number of headaches does not indicate that the former had resulted in the latter. The author overlooks the possibility that the participants had taken some measures to lower their likelihood to have headaches. For example, participants could take some professional medications, or exercise to improve their health. Anyway the author fails to prove the SALI in food products had helped reduced the number of headaches.

The final problem with the study is related to the prediction that there will be a continued steady decline in the number of headaches. Even though food products with SALI had been effective in reducing the headaches, the author unfairly assumes that flavor additives with SALI would also lead to dropping headache cases. On the contrary, it is highly possible that flavor additives with SALI will be detrimental to health, due to its usage-cooked in high temperature. The author fails to take into account that SALI will turn into bad chemicals.