Argument45【0906G 文以载道三月四月作文小组】1.24 作业by noheven

nohevenUID: 2447539

TOPIC: ARGUMENT45 - The following appeared as aneditorial in a wildlife journal.

"Arctic deer live on islands in Canada's arcticregion. They search for food by moving over ice from island to island duringthe course of a year. Their habitat is limited to areas warm enough to sustainthe plants on which they feed, and cold enough, at least some of the year, forthe ice to cover the sea separating the islands, allowing the deer to travelover it. Unfortunately, according to reports from local hunters, the deerpopulations are declining. Since these reports coincide with recent globalwarming trends that have caused the sea ice to melt, we can conclude that thedecline in arctic deer populations is the result of deer being unable to followtheir age-old migration patterns across the frozen sea."

WORDS: 423
TIME: 00:30:00
DATE:2009/2/26 17:09:00

In this argument, the author concludes the decline ofArctic deer in Canada'sarctic region from the report local hunters. In addition, the author alsopresents the recent global warming trends as the reason why deer are unable tofollow their age-old migration patterns to explain the deer's decline. All ofabove appears to be reliable, however, the lack of the creditability of thesurvey and the hasty generalization turn the argument open to doubt.

In the first place, the foundation of the conclusionthat the population of deer in Canada'sarctic region is decreasing just depends on the report from some local hunters,which is not reliable. The numbers of the hunters reporting, the former andrecent numbers of deer populations reported, and the place of deer reported,which are all important to the survey are not mentioned at all. Because ofvague data, the arguer should not get the final conclusion.

The second problem with this argument lies in hastygeneralization that the global trends are suitable for anywhere on the earth.Given the recent global warming trends, the Canada's arctic region is likelywarmer that before; however, is it really too warm for sea ice to melt in largescale and destroy the migration patterns of deer? Moreover, it is entirelypossible that this area is getting colder and colder and the sea ice iscovering more and more regions since the local climate trends are not mentionedat all.

Last but not least, even the deer is really less thanbefore; there is no evidence to show the cause-effect relationship between thedecline of deer and the chaos in their age-old migration patterns. As thearguer presents, the elements influencing the population of deer also includesthe plants on which they feed and the weather of their habitat. The arguer justshould not get the conclusion without ruling out the other possibilities.Perhaps the decreasing of the food causes the real disaster, or the bad weatherresults in some disease; in either case, there is no matter about deer’s age-oldmigration patterns.


To sum up, the arguer just illustrates someindependent factors which are not related to others.
For lacking of reliable supporting, theconclusion is problematic. For better access, the survey including the numbersof eyewitnesses, the former and recent numbers of deer populations reported,and the place of deer reported should all be offered. Besides, the logicalproof of the probable reasons for the decline of Arctic deer in Canada's arcticregion should also be well presented.