[a习作temp] Argument4 第一篇，恳请大家拍砖 [复制链接]

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发表于 2005-2-6 20:29:02 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

Argument4
------题目------
The following was posted on an Internet real estate discussion site.
'Of the two leading real estate firms in our town—Adams Realty and Fitch Realty—Adams is clearly superior. Adams has 40 real estate agents. In contrast, Fitch has 25, many of whom work only part-time. Moreover, Adams' revenue last year was twice as high as that of Fitch, and included home sales that averaged $168,000, compared to Fitch's $144,000. Homes listed with Adams sell faster as well: ten years ago, I listed my home with Fitch and it took more than four months to sell; last year, when I sold another home, I listed it with Adams, and it took only one month. Thus, if you want to sell your home quickly and at a good price, you should use Adams.'
------正文------
In this argument, the arguer draws the conclusion that Adams Reality is superior to Fitch Realty. To substantiate the conclusion, the argument provides evidence that Adams has more estate agents and more revenue last year than Fitch. The arguer also cites his personal experience involving these two firms. However, the argument is problematic in several aspects.

First, the arguer points out that the average home sales price of Adams is higher than that of Fitch. Nevertheless, the arguer fails to take into account other factors that may affect the price such as the location, transportation and facilities available to residents. Suppose that a home located in downtown actually has a value of $500,000 at least, so $168,000 would not be a good price for Adams to sell it. On the contrary, Fitch may be able to sell a home in the suburb area, which worth no more than $50,000, at the price of $144,000. In this case, it is obvious that Fitch is the better than Adams in selling homes thus should be a better choice for customers.

Second, the mere fact that Adams has more estate agents and revenue last year than Fitch accomplishes nothing toward bolstering the conclusion. Given the Adams' revenue and the numbers of agents of two firms, it is very likely that each Adams agent actually sells fewer homes than each Fitch agent. Perhaps Fitch agents, though part-time, work more effectively and corporately.

Finally, the arguer cites his personal experience that it took Fitch considerably longer time to sell one of his homes than it took Adams to sell another. An assumption underlying the argument is that the property market has changed little during last decade. Unfortunately, it is often not the case. The demand of houses and apartment may have been increasing greatly for ten years and therefore selling a home last year might be much easier than ten years ago.

As it stands, the evidence in this argument lends little support to the conclusion. In order to make it more convincing, the arguer would have to present more information about the two firms, including the efficacy of the agents and the conditions of the properties they deal with.