Argument14 【7\8\910】AW作文小组 第六次作业 7.25

DemiquaverUID: 203651

TOPIC: ARGUMENT14 - The following appeared in a memo from the owner of Green Thumb Gardening Center, a small business serving a suburban town.

"There is evidence that consumers are becoming more and more interested in growing their own vegetables. A national survey conducted last month indicated that many consumers were dissatisfied with the quality of fresh vegetables available in supermarkets. And locally, the gardening magazine Great Gardens has sold out at the Village News stand three months in a row. Thus, we at Green Thumb Gardening Center can increase our profits by greatly expanding the variety of vegetable seeds we stock for gardeners this coming spring."



In the argument, the author suggests that by expanding the variety of vegetable seeds, the center can increase profits. In order to support his suggestion, the author of the center cites two pieces of evidence shows that people are more likely to grow their own vegetables. However, under close scrutiny, I found the author's suggestion is out of consideration.

To begin with, the premise of the author's suggestion that consumers are more interested in growing vegetables is poorly substantiated. First, the survey which shows many consumers were dissatisfied with the quality of fresh vegetables available in supermarkets can hardly indicate situation in the suburban town where the center locates. It is said that the survey is a national one, which means it may be probably conducted in some big cities. Common sense informs me that people who live in big cities depend more on supermarkets than those who live in suburban town. Namely, the latter has more access to buy fresh vegetables in fairs and other markets. Moreover, although many consumers show their dissatisfaction, it doesn't mean they will choose to grow vegetables by themselves. Not everyone has time to do agriculture stuff. Therefore, to support the premise that more people are interested in growing vegetables by citing the national survey is unconvincing.

Second, the situation that local gardening magazine Great Gardens has sold out at the Village News stand three months in a row is unconvincing to support the premise. The author fails to inform us what the content of the magazine is. Perhaps it is not a book for growing vegetables but for instructing people how to decorate their gardens by flowers and trees. If that is the case, people who bought them are not planning for growing vegetables. Moreover, there is lack of statistical information about how many pieces of magazine were sold. Perhaps just several people in the town buy the magazine every month because it has only a small circulation. Lacking of description in the two aspects above, the premise of the author's suggestion is more dubious.

Finally, even assuming that people in the town choose to grow vegetables by themselves, it is hasty for the author to suggest that in order to increase profits they should expand the variety of vegetable seeds. There is no evidence to show that a variety of vegetable seeds will be favored. Perhaps people in the town are only interested in several seed kinds, thus, an expanding of them is a waste of money which bring about high cost for the center.

To sum up, the suggestion made by the author is unconvincing. In order to make more profits for the center, before making a decision, the author should conduct a survey to find out how many people plan to grow vegetables by themselves and how many kinds of vegetable seeds are popular.

[ 本帖最后由 Demiquaver 于 2008-7-27 16:55 编辑 ]