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发表于 2009-2-11 15:27:41
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题目:ARGUMENT20 - The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the Balmer Island Gazette.
"The population of Balmer Island increases to 100,000 during the summer months. To reduce the number of accidents involving mopeds and pedestrians, the town council of Balmer Island should limit the number of mopeds rented by each of the island's six moped and bicycle rental companies from 50 per day to 30 per day during the summer season. By limiting the number of rentals, the town council is sure to attain the 50 percent reduction in moped accidents that was achieved last year in the neighboring island of Torseau, when Torseau's town council enforced similar limits on moped rentals."
In this letter the writer recommends limiting the number of rentals. To support this recommendation the writer cites the following facts about Balmer Island: (1) the population of Balmer Island increases to 100,000 during the summer months; (2) by limiting the number of rentals, the town council is sure to attain the 50 percent reduction in moped accidents that was achieved last year in the neighboring island of Torseau, when Torseau's town council enforced similar limits on moped rentals; (3) to reduce the number of accidents involving mopeds and pedestrians, the town council of Balmer Island should limit the number of mopeds rented by each of the island's six moped and bicycle rental companies from 50 per day to 30 per day during the summer season. Close scrutiny of each of these facts, however, reveals that none of them land credible support to the recommendation.
First, the increase of the population does not necessarily indicate that the number of accidents will rise. Perhaps the population of Balmer Island is 99,000, which is only a little smaller than present. Perhaps there are a lot of tourists in the summer months, and in the rest of times, Balmer Island just has 10,000 residents, which is one tenth of its peak. In short, without ruling out other possible reasons for the increase of the population the writer cannot convince me on the basis of them that the number of accidents is increasing, let alone that the town council should limit the numbers of mopeds rented.
Secondly, even if the population of Balmer Island is increasing, the writer assumes further that the town council is sure to attain the 50 persent reduction in moped accidents that was achieved last year in the neighboring island of Torseau, when Torseau's town council enforced similar limits on moped rentals. Yet the letter contains no evidence to support this assumption. Lacking such evidence it is equally possible that the island fo Torseau only achieved the 50 persent reduction in moped accidents, yet the rental limits has been carried out for many years. In fact, perhaps the Torseau's town council may have published other restrictions to reduce the accidents of the mopeds.
Thirdly, the fact that the limit of the number of mopeds rented accomplishes nothing toward bolstering the recommendation. The number of privacy owned mopeds are not considered, which could make up the majority of the mopeds. Besides, the pedestrians maybe lack of traffic rules, for they may simply cross the road without caring about the traffics.
In sum, the recommendation relies on certain doubtful assumptions that render it unconvincing as it stands. To bolster the recommendation the writer must provide clear evidence--perhaps by way of a local survey or study--that the population is ever growing, the majority of mopeds are privacy or not, and in the accidents concerned with mopeds, whether the pedestrians obey the traffic law. To better assess the recommendation, I would need to know why the accident reduction happed in island of Torseau. |
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