argument137 这是第三遍写这个了...

lindorUID: 2290025

TOPIC: ARGUMENT137 - The following appeared in an editorial in the Mason City newspaper.

"At present, Mason City residents seldom use the nearby Mason River for any kind of recreational activity, even though surveys of the region's residents consistently rank water sports (swimming, fishing, and boating) as a favorite form of recreation. Since there have been complaints about the quality of the water in the river, residents must be avoiding the river because they think that it is not clean enough. But that situation is about to change: the agency responsible for rivers in our region has announced plans to clean up Mason River. Therefore, recreational use of the river is likely to increase, so the Mason City council will need to increase its budget for improvements to the publicly owned lands along the Mason River."
WORDS: 551          TIME: 0:30:00          DATE: 2007-2-23

In this argument, the arguer concludes that recreational use of the river is going to increase, so it is necessary for Mason City council to increase its budget for improvements to the publicly owned lands along the river. After careful scrutiny, this conclusion lacks credibility for several critical flaws as follows.

To begin with, surveys mentioned in this argument do not lend strong support to the conclusion. We are not informed whether water sports are the most favorite form of recreation.  If many other recreational forms like basketball, badminton and so forth are more popular than water sports, the number of people who like water sports might be limited. Even if a majority of people prefer water sports, we are not informed how often those people play water sports as recreation. Perhaps because of heavy work burden and fast living pace, residents in Mason City have little time to swimming or fishing and boating. Without ruling out these possibilities, the arguer cannot draw a firm conclusion on the basis that residents will use Mason river for recreation if the water is clean.

Furthermore, even if water sports are the most frequent and popular recreation form, there is no evidence that residents require to clean Mason River for recreational activity. Since the demand of water sports is high, it is in all likelihood that there are enough facilities with convenient services and high-tech equipments, such as swimming pools and fishing areas, for people to play water sports. If so, even the water is clean, people would not prefer to go to Mason River.

In addition, the arguer simply assumes that the water in the river will be clean as soon as possible. There is not sufficient information of the river. Perhaps many chemical and industrial companies pour toxic elements into Mason River, so the pollution degree of the river is very severe and it would hard to clean the river, or would cost at least 10 years. Whether plans of the agency responsible for rivers are effective or not is open into doubt.  

Finally, even if the river is going to clean, and many people will come to Mason River, whether the Mason City council needs increase its budget for improvements to the publicly owned lands along the Mason River is suspicious. The arguer fails to provide any information about the situation of the publicly owned lands along the Mason River. Even the recreational usage of the river would increase; there is no indication that people who play water sports in the river will care the lands along the Mason River. Or perhaps there has been built quite well and can satisfy the requirements of citizens.  It is possible that the budget for the publicly owned lands is enough and no need to rise any more. Unless the arguer provides more information of the situation of the publicly owned lands and the requirement of residents to those lands, I can't accept the conclusion that it is necessary to increase budget for improving the lands along the river.

In general, this conclusion reached in the argument is groundless. To bolster it, the arguer should provide more information to attest whether the less usage of Mason River is for the water. In addition, the arguer should provide more information on lands along the river.