[习作点评] 7月23日同主题练习 argument 62 [复制链接]

tesolchina
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发表于 2015-7-21 22:40:56 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-7-23 06:14 编辑

Argument 62 示范

argument 121 122 124

这道题也是天然高频，所以练一下。建议大家发练习时写一下自己的感想心得。

The following appeared in a memo from the director of a large group of hospitals.

"In a laboratory study of liquid antibacterial hand soaps, a concentrated solution of UltraClean produced a 40 percent greater reduction in the bacteria population than did the liquid hand soaps currently used in our hospitals. During a subsequent test of UltraClean at our hospital in Workby, that hospital reported significantly fewer cases of patient infection than did any of the other hospitals in our group. Therefore, to prevent serious patient infections, we should supply UltraClean at all hand-washing stations throughout our hospital system.”

Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.

According to the director of the hospital group, the hand soap UltraClean should be supplied in order to reduce cases of serious patient infections.  Citing the lab report and the test results in some hospitals, the director argues that doing so can produce the desired results.  A number of assumptions have been made in the argument about the lab results, the hospital and the patient infection. These assumptions need to be scrutinized critically to assess the strength of the argument.

注意题目交代了memo是director写的所以要回应一下。
还是要提醒大家不要说argument是flawed，这是老G的思维。

To begin with, it is assumed that the lab results of the UltraClean solution accurately reflects the performance of the hand soap in bacteria reduction in the hospitals.  While the UltraClean solution was superior in reducing bacteria in the lab, it does not follow that the UltraClean hand soap would necessarily outperform the hand soap currently used in the hospitals.  Maybe the concentration of the active ingredient in higher in the lab samples but the UltraClean hand soap may become less effective when being used when washing hands. If the UltraClean is not effective in reducing the bacteria population, the recommendation may not be helpful.

要注意假设不是将题目里的结论或例证同意转化一下，而是要找到在推理过程中例证和结论之间的关系。

In addition, we also need to check the assumption that the reduction of infection cases in the hospital in Workby was really a result of using UltraClean.  Maybe the hospital has recently launched a campaign to teach hospital staff and patients to wash hands thoroughly which has helped reduce infection.  Or perhaps the hospital has admitted fewer patients who are vulnerable to infection.  If other factors have contributed to the reduction of infection cases, it may not matter which brands of hand soap would be used to wash hands.

Another important assumption is that further reduction in bacteria via hand washing will necessarily reduce the number of serious infection cases.  As we all know, there are a great amount of bacteria in our hands and it is not possible to wash away all of them.  Whether or not the extra 40% bacteria reduction would actually make a difference in infection control remains an open question.  Since the director is specifically concerned with serious infection cases, we need to know the real causes of the serious infection cases in the past.  We cannot simply assume that these cases were due to bacteria in hands.  Maybe the hand soap currently used has already kept the amount of bacteria at a level for which infection is unlikely.

In conclusion, it is difficult to confirm that UltraClean would effectively reduce the cases of serious infection in the hospitals.  The assumptions discussed above have to be critically examined by taking into account more relevant information on issues such as the importance of washing hand to infection control, the similarity between UltraClean sample in the lab and the hand soap and the situation of Workby relative to other members of the hospital group.