argument105=so what=第六次作业 by linyan821230

linyan821230UID: 2638813

TOPIC: ARGUMENT105 - The following appeared in a health newsletter.

"According to a recent study, people with many social ties report catching colds less often than do people with few social ties. Consequently, researchers conclude that having an active social life probably helps strengthen the immune system. The researchers note that catching a cold-one of a family of highly contagious viruses-gives the cold-sufferer temporary immunity to that virus in the future, but not to the many other related viruses. Merely being exposed to a new cold virus, however, is not enough for a person to catch a cold, since a strong immune system can successfully fight off some new viruses. Thus, in order to prevent catching a cold, people should strengthen their immune systems by becoming more active socially."
WORDS: 467

耗时很长，至今都不是非常理解题目的逻辑，尤其是 The researchers note that catching a cold-one of a family of highly contagious viruses-gives the cold-sufferer temporary immunity to that virus in the future, but not to the many other related viruses. Merely being exposed to a new cold virus, however, is not enough for a person to catch a cold, since a strong immune system can successfully fight off some new viruses.两句话作者想证明什么

linyan821230UID: 2638813

提纲：
-the reliability of the study is open to question
-the argument assumes that a correlation between active social life and strong immune systems is a causal relationship
-the argument fails to consider other alternatives

linyan821230UID: 2638813

On the basis of a recent study, the arguer states that people should strengthen their immune systems by becoming more active socially. However, in the argument we cannot find cogent evidence to support the conclusion.

The reliability of the recent study is open to question. One may consider several questions about the survey. The study should contain a survey. The first question is whether the sample size is enough. If just few people are involved, for example 100 or 200, the result of the study could not apply to most people. Secondly, one might consider that whether the study was limited in certain ways. For example, were the people involved in different age brackets? Or were the study conducted in a certain region? In addition, the author does not indicate the criterion to judge a person socially active or not. Which category does a person with three social ties belongs to? Factors such as these might undermine the reliability of the study. If the arguer would like to persuade others the result of the study, it is advisable to provide details of the study.

Even if one accepts the result of the study, the conclusion is still questionable. The argument assumes the correlation between the active social life with strong immune systems is a casual relationship. However, the argument fails to provide evidence to support the conclusion. Instead, the conclusion from the argument should be people with active social life seem to have strong immune systems, other than active social life strengthens immune systems.

As we all know, the immune systems are associated with people’s physical and mental health. Generally speaking, a person who goes jogging everyday will be healthier than a person sitting and working all day. Also, happy persons could be healthier than depressives with the premise that they have the equal physical health. Because depressive mood may weaken the immune systems. People with active social life are more likely to be outgoing and easygoing with better mental health, which could be the reason for these people having strong immune systems and catching less cold. Strong immune systems are the premise of taking active part in social life.

Moreover, the argument fails to rule out other alternatives. Perhaps those socially active people involved in the study concerned more about their images subconsciously, which meant they were prone to optimize their answers by issuing less times of catching cold.

In conclusion, the argument that active social life will strengthen immune systems is not cogently developed. There is no doubt that the strong immune systems could help to prevent people from catching a cold. However, no evidence supports that active social life can strengthen immune systems. It is the strong immune systems that give people healthy body and make it possible to be active in social life.