Argument 35【0906G文以载道三月四月小组】第一周第一次作业 thanks maomao112

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argument35
The following appeared in the summary of a study on headaches suffered by the residents of Mentia.
"Salicylates（水杨酸脂） are members of the same chemical family as aspirin, a medicine used to treat headaches. Although many foods are naturally rich in salicylates, for the past several decades food-processing companies have also been adding salicylates to foods as preservatives. This rise in the commercial use of salicylates has been found to correlate with a steady decline in the average number of headaches reported by participants in our twenty-year study. Recently, food-processing companies have found that salicylates can also be used as flavor additives（食品香料） for foods. With this new use for salicylates, we can expect a continued steady decline in the number of headaches suffered by the average citizen of Mentia."
水杨酸酯和用来治疗头痛的药物--阿司匹林是同一类化合物。尽管很多食品天然富含水杨酸酯，过去几十年中食品加工公司仍然在食品中加入它来作为防腐剂。这种水杨酸酯在商业上的使用被发现与我们为期20年研究的参加者所报告的头痛发病的平均数量下降是相关的。最近，食品加工公司发现水杨酸酯也可以被用作食品香料。根据这种水杨酸酯的新用途，我们可以预期Mentia居民患头痛症的数量将会持续稳步下降。

1.头痛患者可能既通过食品添加剂又通过食品香料摄入salicylates，所以从数量不不会有继续的明显下降
2.药物的用量对治疗的效果有重要影响，通过食品添加剂和香料同时摄入，是否会增加摄入量导致副作用
或在香料的刺激性环境中影响药物治疗效果，有待进一步确证
3.如果不存在副作用，边际效用递减规律会导致效果不如之前明显，只有小幅下降（举面包的例子）
4.平稳下降的结论的得出是过去二十年的研究分析，还有很多因素可能导致人头痛病发，未来压力的增大可能恶化疾病使得salicylates的效果被抵消，人数可能增加

In the argument the arguer recommends that the rise in the commercial use of salicylates as food additives steadily decreased the average number of headaches reported by participants in twenty-year study to support this conclusion that we can expect a continued steady decline in the number of headaches suffered by the average citizen of Mentia with the new use for salicylates as flavor additives. The argument is well-present, but not thoroughly well-reasoned.

First of all, the new use of salicylates as flavor additives will increase the level of aspirin in people’s food apart from the prevailing use of salicylates as food additive ,which might do harm to people’s health if the use of salicylates is excessive. Therefore, it is fairly necessary for us toDiscuss the level of salicylates both as food and flavor additives comparing to the standard level before we judge  whether the new use of salicylates will work.

On condition that the weight of flavor additives doesn't exceed the standard weight, the number of headaches will definitely not increase if the other terms, such as the physical conditions of headaches ,are the same. It may decrease a little, but not as steady as before for the rule of Decline of Marginal Utility, that is to say, the fore pills of medicine will function better than the latter.

If the weight exceed the standard, the use of flavor additives will bring a negative effect doing harm to people's health, in this case , the number of headaches might increase instead. In the perspective of standard rule, whether the use of flavor additives increase or decrease the number suffered from headache depends on the weight of salicylates the flavor additives contain and people have.

In addition, the medicine circumstances differ between food additives and flavor additives as the latter irritate easily, which might influence the effect of salicylates. Therefore, we should take the possible negative effect into consideration before we make our judgment instead of hasty generalization.

Last, there are many other possible factors that might cause headache and the negative effect will neutralize the beneficiary of the salicylates, especially in today's rapid changing world with great competition. Sometimes people are confronted with exhaustion of hard work day and night, the tremendous pressure and even some terrible psychological diseases. As a result, the number of headaches suffered by the average citizen of Mentia might increase.

In summary, the argument is not persuasive as it stands. To make it more convincing, the arguershould have to provide more information concerning standard weight of salicylates ,medicine functioning details and other possible factor that might cause headaches.

[ 本帖最后由 perfectattack 于 2009-1-15 07:39 编辑 ]