Argument51【Persistence 小组】第六次作业

vinnieUID: 2104933

2.6
A51 The following appeared in a medical newsletter.
"Doctors have long suspected that secondary infections may keep some patients from healing quickly after severe muscle strain. This hypothesis has now been proved by preliminary results of a study of two groups of patients. The first group of patients, all being treated for muscle injuries by Dr. Newland, a doctor who specializes in sports medicine, took antibiotics regularly throughout their treatment. Their recuperation time was, on average, 40 percent quicker than typically expected. Patients in the second group, all being treated by Dr. Alton, a general physician, were given sugar pills, although the patients believed they were taking antibiotics. Their average recuperation time was not significantly reduced. Therefore, all patients who are diagnosed with muscle strain would be well advised to take antibiotics as part of their treatment."

      In this argument, according to the result of experiment, author concludes that all patients who are diagnosed with muscle strain would be advised to take antibiotics as part of their treatment. It seems quite correct that the cure’s result from two groups which one take antibiotics during therapy and another doesn’t is quite different. However, this argument is flawed in several respects after further consideration.

     The biggest flaw in this argument is that the doctors of two groups are not the same. As the following statement says, the first group of patients is all being treated by Dr. Newland, a doctor who specializes in sport medicine, while the second group is treated by Dr. Alton who is a general physician. It is quite reasonable that Dr. Newland can offer not only taking antibiotics but other better means to cure muscle strain during process of curing muscle strain than Dr. Alton’s. The reason is quite simple as Dr. Newland specializes in sports medicine. He may know much more than a general physician. If the means of cure between two groups are different, the reason why the patients of first group whose recuperation time was 40 percents quicker than typically expected can’t be ascribed to taking antibiotics, as it might be caused by some other treatments.

     Second, we need to pay attention to patients of two groups. We can assume that the difference of recuperation time is caused by patients themselves. The patient’s ability of recover can be different. If the first group is consists of young man whose age is between 20 and 25, and the patients of another group are mainly olds above 70 years old. There is no doubt that the first group will recover sooner than the second. If the assumption comes into existence, we don’t know whether antibiotics is useful or not during therapy. The conclusion from the result of the experiment might no be accurate.

     Finally, I want to mention that we should not ignore a detail in the following argument that patients of second group take sugar pills instead of antibiotics. Is sugar pill totally useless in curing severe muscle strain? It is another doubtful point in this argument. If taking sugar pills can make patients who suffer severe muscle strain recovering slowly, can we say that the recuperation time of first group is shorter than second group just because of taking antibiotics? Of course not.

    In sum, I agree that it is quite possible that taking antibiotics can help patients recover from muscle strain more quickly. We still need further investigation and more information to get an ultimate conclusion. Author should provide the detail of the treatments of two doctors, body condition of two groups’ patients and infection of taking sugar pill in curing muscle strain. After knowing all these information, the conclusion from that experiment can have more persuasion.

[ 本帖最后由 vinnie 于 2007-2-6 21:31 编辑 ]

小驴子UID: 2222683

A51 The following appeared in a medical newsletter.
"Doctors have long suspected that secondary infections may keep some patients from healing quickly after severe muscle strain. This hypothesis has now been proved by preliminary results of a study of two groups of patients. The first group of patients, all being treated for muscle injuries by Dr. Newland, a doctor who specializes in sports medicine, took antibiotics regularly throughout their treatment. Their recuperation time was, on average, 40 percent quicker than typically expected. Patients in the second group, all being treated by Dr. Alton, a general physician, were given sugar pills, although the patients believed they were taking antibiotics. Their average recuperation time was not significantly reduced. Therefore, all patients who are diagnosed with muscle strain would be well advised to take antibiotics as part of their treatment."

In this argument, according to the result of experiment, author concludes that all patients who are diagnosed with muscle strain would be advised to take antibiotics as part of their treatment. It seems quite correct that the cure’s result from two groups which one take antibiotics during therapy and another doesn’t is quite different.（这句话感觉可以再精简，或者以别的语句替换） However, this argument is flawed in several respects after further consideration.

The biggest flaw in this argument is that the doctors of two groups are not the same. As the following statement says, the first group of patients is all being treated by Dr. Newland, a doctor who specializes in sport medicine, while the second group is treated by Dr. Alton who is a general physician. It is quite reasonable that Dr. Newland can offer not only taking antibiotics but other better means to cure muscle strain during process of curing muscle strain than Dr. Alton’s. The reason is quite simple as Dr. Newland specializes in sports medicine. He may know much more than a general physician. If the means of cure between two groups are different, the reason why the patients of first group whose recuperation time was 40 percents quicker than typically expected can’t be ascribed to taking antibiotics, as it might be caused by some other treatments.

Second, we need to pay attention to patients of two groups. We can assume that the difference of recuperation time is caused by patients themselves. The patient’s ability of recover can be different. If the first group is consists of young man whose age is between 20 and 25, and the patients of another group are mainly olds above 70 years old. There is no doubt that the first group will recover sooner than the second. If the assumption comes into existence, we don’t know whether antibiotics is useful or not during therapy. The conclusion from the result of the experiment might not be accurate.

Finally, I want to mention that we should not ignore a detail in the following argument that patients of second group take sugar pills instead of antibiotics. Is sugar pill totally useless in curing severe muscle strain? It is another doubtful point in this argument. If taking sugar pills can make patients who suffer severe muscle strain recovering slowly, can we say that the recuperation time of first group is shorter than second group just because of taking antibiotics? Of course not.（这句话是口语中的 不可以在书面中这样用）

In sum, I agree that it is quite possible that taking antibiotics can help patients recover from muscle strain more quickly. We still need further investigation and more information to get an ultimate conclusion. Author should provide the detail of the treatments of two doctors, body condition of two groups’ patients and infection of taking sugar pill in curing muscle strain. After knowing all these information, the conclusion from that experiment can have more persuasion.

1 文章语句没有大毛病逻辑找得也是对的但是逻辑上似乎比较混乱就是感觉都拣的豆子
2 本文主要的问题如果这样写应该也可以拿到高分但是如果结合了后来给你看得那篇文章作者的思想应该就没问题了
3 加油加油！A ZA!