Argument17 Liquidshile--Hamming组 冲刺第2篇Argument

liquidshileUID: 2254332

TOPIC: ARGUMENT17 - The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the Walnut Grove town newspaper.

"Walnut Grove's town council has advocated switching from EZ Disposal (which has had the contract for trash collection services in Walnut Grove for the past ten years) to ABC Waste, because EZ recently raised its monthly fee from $2,000 to $2,500 a month, whereas ABC's fee is still $2,000. But the town council is mistaken; we should continue using EZ. EZ collects trash twice a week, while ABC collects only once. Moreover, EZ-which, like ABC, currently has a fleet of 20 trucks-has ordered additional trucks. Finally, EZ provides exceptional service: 80 percent of respondents to last year's town survey agreed that they were 'satisfied' with EZ's performance."
WORDS: 323          TIME: 上午 12:30:00          DATE: 2007-1-27

In this argument, the author asserts that Walnut Grove's town council makes a mistake. Walnut Grove should continue using EZ Disposal for trash collection. However, careful scrutiny the argument reveals various logical problems, which render it unconvincing. First, the reliability of the survey cited in the argument is open to doubt. In addition, the author falsely assumes that more times and more trucks can provide better service. I will discuss each of these fallacies in turn.

To begin with, the author falsely assumes that EZ collects trash twice as often as ABC necessarily indicates that EZ could provide better service for the town. Yet, no evidence is provided that this is the case. Maybe the EZ team is not as effective as ABC. Their trucks are not as same capability as the ABC. It is more likely that one collection a week is sufficient to dispose all of the town's trash. If so, we cannot be convinced that EZ's service is superior than ABC.   

Moreover, the mere fact that EZ has ordered new trucks is scant evidence that EZ are able to provide superior service and then the town council should choose EZ for the trash collection. Perhaps 20 trucks is enough for the EZ or ABC to collect trash or ABC's fleet of trucks is more efficient than EZ. Maybe EZ does not plan to use these new trucks for trash collection in Walnut Grove. It is equally possible that EZ has some new business in other towns near the Walnut Grove. Besides, there is no specific information about when EZ accepted these additional trucks, if 10 years after, these trucks would have nothing to do in the next few year collection.

The reliability of the survey that the argument cites is open to doubt. We are not informed that respondents are representative of all residents of Walnut Grove. Perhaps only a few of residents participate in the survey. If so, the result of the survey is not statistically reliable. Moreover, even if the residents are generally satisfied with EZ, it is entirely possible that they would be more satisfied with ABC's services.

Overall, this argument, while it seems logical at first glance, has several flaws as discussed above. To strength it the author need provide more information about the survey. To better evaluate it we should know more about the service of two companies.


我还是打得太慢了！不熟