【NINE小组】第十二次作业-by 陈懂

winterfineUID: 3141531

60. Politicians should pursue common ground and reasonable consensus rather than elusive ideals.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.

Certainly, politicians are not to overlook the common ground. Their success depends on how closely their positions are related to the public consensus. It does not, however, necessarily mean that they should abandon ideals, where most consensuses come from.


Politicians must develop their positions closely related to the public concerns. Only by satisfying the desire of the most, by making their voice heard in society, can they win their biggest personal success. As a result, they are supposed to understand the consensus: how they reacted to former political claims and what they expect in the future. Here is an example to illustrate this issue. The peasants account for the largest part of population in China, but, unfortunately, their voices are seldom heard by the policy makers. It has long been argued that their income is too low. They do not have enough money to pay for the medical treatments, social insurance, and college intuition. Now, their complaints are no longer negligible: series of incidents involving anger and violence took place. Having realized their desperate needs, both in improving living quality and in getting government’s attention, the politicians are acting wisely. On the one hand, in the purpose of increasing the earning of the peasants, policies regarding lower agricultural taxes and higher food prices were made. In addition, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao personally appears at the scenes of major catastrophes, such as arid, floods and railway accidents, appeasing the rage and sorrow of the public. Now, to some extent, the situation has ameliorated and Wen is portrayed as a Grandpa by most media.


Indeed, common ground is important for politicians’ achievement, but it does not mean that ideals contradict with their interests; instead, they help to make political claims more acceptable. Many of the politicians refer to the most illusive ideals when promoting their own positions. The educational act, No Child Left Behind, proposed by President Bush is in the name of building the mind and character of every child. The noble title of his proposal helped President Bush to persuade others to accept its controversial content. Moreover, the Chinese government describes its economic reform as a must to achieve universal and equal prosperity, a beautiful pursuit no one could deny. Consequently, the questionable reform acquired more public support than it deserves. As we see, by associating the political claims with ideals, the politicians have a greater chance to gain the consensus of the others, and thus, manage to pursue their own political purpose.

To sum up, both common ground and illusive ideals contribute to the politicians’ interest.

winterfineUID: 3141531

133. Butter has now been replaced by margarine in Happy Pancake House restaurants throughout the southwestern United States. Only about 2 percent of customers have complained, indicating that an average of 98 people out of 100 are happy with the change. Furthermore, many servers have reported that a number of customers who ask for butter do not complain when they are given margarine instead. Clearly, either these customers cannot distinguish butter from margarine or they use the term 'butter' to refer to either butter or margarine. Thus, to avoid the expense of purchasing butter and to increase profitability, the Happy Pancake House should extend this cost-saving change to its restaurants in the southeast and northeast as well.

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.


In southwestern, although only a few customers complain about the change, it does not mean that they are happy or that they cannot distinguish the butter and margarine, evidence is needed to prove that. In addition, the situation in the southeast and northeast may be different from that in the southwestern.

The author fails to convince us that the most people are happy with the change. Indeed, there have been only a few complaints, but he needs to rule out some other possibilities. To begin with, the number of complaints is not persuasive enough. It is very possible that in response to the change, many of the unhappy customers simply choose to go to other restaurants instead of making a complaint. That could be a tremendous loss for Happy Pancake House. To estimate the effect of the change, number of the customers in total is needed. What is more, the exact number of customers having butter is not given. If averagely only 2 people out of 100 order butter, then it will be obvious that most people are not satisfied.

Even if people are ok with the change from butter to margarine, whether the restaurants should keep the change in secret requires further evaluation. It is mentioned in the passage that, according to the servants, many of the customers do not complain. However, the servants may prove unreliable. They have many works to do: serving food, cleaning tables and counting the money, as a result, it is possible that many of the complaints are neglected. If a more comprehensive investigation into people’s attitude towards the change indicates different results, the argument will be weakened. Also, considering that margarine is related to some healthy risks, keeping the truth from people would probably consequence in a trust issue. The Happy Pancake House could be accused of cheating, harming customers’ health in return for profits.

Granted that this cost-saving change works well in southwestern regions, proof is to be provided to confirm that situation is the same in other areas. Perhaps people in the southeast and northeast hold a totally different view toward artificial food. The author is supposed to conduct similar studies in other states, and only if the results are same can he fairly claim that restaurants should extend this change.

To sum up, to evaluate the change proposed by the author, the possibilities mentioned above is to be taken in to account, and evidence is needed.

lovetianUID: 2899734

Certainly, politicians are not to overlook the common ground. Their success depends on how closely their positions are related to the public consensus. It does not, however, necessarily mean that they should abandon ideals, where most consensuses come from.

Politicians must develop their positions closely related to the public concerns. Only by satisfying the desire of the most, by making their voice heard in society, can they win their biggest personal success. As a result, they are supposed to understand the consensus: how they reacted to former political claims and what they expect in the future.额 这句话没看明白 对于前任领导者的决策的反应 以及对于将来的期盼就是对于 consensus的定义？然后那个 As a result 是从什么地方得出的？前面只是说了要代表最广大人民的利益 但是好像和后面的没什么因果
Here is an example to illustrate this issue. The peasants account for the largest part of population in China, but, unfortunately, their voices are seldom heard by the policy makers. It has long been argued that their income is too low. They do not have enough money to pay for the medical treatments, social insurance, and college intuition. Now, their complaints are no longer negligible: series of incidents involving anger and violence took place. Having realized their desperate needs, both in improving living quality and in getting government’s attention, the politicians are acting wisely.通过这个例子作者想要说明 推翻了前任领导的错误做法 并进行了改善 On the one hand, in the purpose of increasing the earning of the peasants, policies regarding lower agricultural taxes and higher food prices were made. In addition, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao personally appears at the scenes of major catastrophes, such as arid, floods and railway accidents, appeasing the rage and sorrow of the public这个例子好像不能说明什么吧 没有对前面的观点有什么支撑. Now, to some extent, the situation has ameliorated and Wen is portrayed as a Grandpa by most media.

Indeed, common ground is important for politicians’ achievement, but it does not mean that ideals contradict with their interests; instead, they help to make political claims more acceptable. Many of the politicians refer to the most illusive对于原题目中elusive的改写？ ideals when promoting their own positions. The educational act, No Child Left Behind, proposed by President Bush is in the name of building the mind and character of every child. The noble title of his proposal helped President Bush to persuade others to accept its controversial content. Moreover, the Chinese government describes its economic reform as a must to achieve universal and equal prosperity, a beautiful pursuit no one could deny. Consequently, the questionable reform acquired more public support than it deserves. As we see, by associating the political claims with ideals, the politicians have a greater chance to gain the consensus of the others, and thus, manage to pursue their own political purpose.
额 我觉得在这段中的两个例子好像有点奇怪 说不上什么感觉 但是不知道它们对于支持段落观点有什么作用 只是为了说明在政策中加入了Ideal会增加支持度？那么这个其实并不是真正意义上的ideal吧 只是获得支持的一种手段 而且 某种程度上 也是为了迎合更广大的一致

To sum up, both common ground and illusive ideals contribute to the politicians’ interest


其实没怎么看明白 感觉稳重的例子都是用来反驳的 和一开始所提出来的观点有点不一致
大概是因为我本身对于那些政策的不赞同 或者我没读明白吧