Argument38 thrive 小组第四次作业

lsl711UID: 2378391

TOPIC:
ARGUMENT38 - The following memo appeared in the newsletter of the West Meria Public Health Council.
"An innovative treatment has come to our attention that promises to significantly reduce absenteeism in our schools and workplaces. A study reports that in nearby East Meria, where fish consumption is very high, people visit the doctor only once or twice per year for the treatment of colds. Clearly, eating a substantial amount of fish can prevent colds. Since colds are the reason most frequently given for absences from school and work, we recommend the daily use of Ichthaid, a nutritional supplement derived from fish oil, as a good way to prevent colds and lower absenteeism."
WORDS: 417         
提纲：
1.eating fish 可以prevent cold?  在EM仍open to doubt,更不用说到WM（考虑到地区差异）
2.即使eating fish 确实可以prevent colds, 是其中的Ichthaid在起作用么？没有facts or survey 来证明这一点
3.减少cold 就可以减少absenteeism?
个人认为，还有consumption high 不一定就是吃得多更值得批驳，但是写作时没有注意到这一点~~

The memo declares that the daily use of Ichthaid can prevent colds and decrease the absenteeism in schools and workplaces, based on several facts and consumptions. However, more circumspect scrutiny to the author's line of reasoning reveals the arguer commits several logical fallacies, which render the argument unpersuasive.

In the first place, based on the study in nearby East Meria, the autor concludes that eating a substantial amount of fish can prevent colds, which is full of doubt. To some extent, the relationship between eating fish and preventing colds has not been clearly demonstrated. The fact that people in East Meria visit doctor only once or twice per year for colds treatment may result from other factors, such as the stronger immunity and the effective perventive from colds. Besides, it is entirely possible that such method does not work when it comes to West Meria, since the daily lists of diet and their life styles vary from places. Without ruling out more facts to bolster the connections between eating fish and the reduce of colds in West Meria, the author fails to persuade me into convincing the conclusion.

Secondly, even assuming that eating fish does lead to people in West Meria visit the doctor only once or twice per year for treatment of colds, the author cannot recommend the daily use of Ichthaid as a good way to prevent colds. No further research indicates that it is Ichthaid contributing to preventing colds. Possibly other complements in fish help to keep residents from catching a cold. The author has to take another survey on each part of the fish eating in East Meria in order to convince me that it is the Ichthaid has effect on preventing colds.

Finally, the author assumes that, by preventing colds, they can significantly decrease the absenteeism in schools and workplaces. The feasibility of such treatment is strongly doubtful. Since given feason as colds are for absences from schools and work, are those who are absent really for the reason of colds? Can colds just be a pretext? There might be other factors resulting in the absenteeism. The students or the workers in West Meria frequently suffer from more serious diseases, rather than colds. Or the legal holiday for them are so little that they have almost no leisure time for private affairs, so they have to ask for absenteeism to solve such problems.

In sum, the author has to cite more details and further survey to bolster the assumptions in the memo.