【Flyer杀G作文组】1月24日作业Argument45by Martinmiao

MartinmiaoUID: 2993447

ARGUMENT NO.45
The following appeared as an editorial in a wildlife journal.
"Arctic deer live on islands in Canada's arctic region. They search for food by moving over ice from island to island during the course of a year. Their habitat is limited to areas warm enough to sustain the plants on which they feed, and cold enough, at least some of the year, for the ice to cover the sea separating the islands, allowing the deer to travel over it. Unfortunately, according to reports from local hunters, the deer populations are declining. Since these reports coincide with recent global warming trends that have caused the sea ice to melt, we can conclude that the decline in arctic deer populations is the result of deer being unable to follow their age-old migration patterns across the frozen sea."


This argument is well-presented, but not thoroughly well-reasoned. By the statement in this argument, we can’t clearly conclude that the decline in arctic deer populations is the result of the warning trend or they can’t follow their age-old migration patterns across the frozen sea. The evidences in the argument are not strong enough to support the argument’s conclusion.

To begin with, there is no doubt that the warming trend will melt the ice above the sea, which may raise the sea level. But in this argument there is no evidence showing that the warming trend have raised the sea level of the islands in Canada's arctic region where the Arctic deer live on. As a result, we couldn’t make sure the effect of warming trend to the islands in Canada's arctic region and the decline in arctic deer populations. So the connection between the decline in arctic deer populations and warming trend isn’t clear enough to support the conclusion in this argument.

Besides, does the warming trend really affect the arctic deer follow their age-old migration patterns across the frozen sea? This argument doesn’t show this either. The arctic deer follow their age-old migration patterns across the frozen sea searching for areas warm enough to sustain the plants on which they feed, and cold enough. The habitat of the arctic deer is so important that the change of the habitat will decrease the number of arctic deer. However, we don’t know the effect of warming trend to the habitat of arctic deer in the argument. Whether the decline in arctic deer populations is because of deer being unable to follow their age-old migration patterns across the frozen sea is also not clear.

What’s more, the deer populations are declining is according to reports from local hunters. The reliability of the reports of local hunters is doubtful. The statistics of the number a species in the habitat requires a lot of work and special method. But the decline in arctic deer populations is reported by the hunters. The number of the arctic deer is doubtful, for the hunters aren’t specialized in the statistics.

Finally，even though the decline of the arctic deer is true, the cause of the decline is not clear. The decline of the arctic deer may be caused by overhunting or environment pollution. Without knowing the reason of the decline of the arctic deer, we couldn’t clearly conclude the decline in arctic deer populations is the result of deer being unable to follow their age-old migration patterns across the frozen sea.

To sum up, in this argument many situations, which may cause the decline of the arctic deer populations, are not clear enough. Besides, the statements in the argument can’t prove the conclusion of the argument. If we want to know what causes the decline of the arctic deer populations, we have to look deep into it and take many aspects into consideration.