[Try Best]第一小组 argument112 by nlhust

nlhustUID: 2404239

TOPIC: ARGUMENT112 - The following proposal was raised at a meeting of the Franklin City Council.

"Franklin Airport, which is on a bay, is notorious for flight delays. The airport management wants to build new runways to increase capacity but can only do so by filling in 900 acres of the bay. The Bay Coalition organization objects that filling in the bay will disrupt tidal patterns and harm wildlife. But the airport says that if it is permitted to build its new runways, it will fund the restoration of 1,000 acres of wetlands in areas of the bay that have previously been damaged by industrialization. This plan should be adopted, for it is necessary to reduce the flight delays, and the wetlands restoration part of the plan ensures that the bay's environment will actually be helped rather than hurt."
WORDS: 507         


In order to reduce the flight delays, the Franklin City Council suggests adopting the Franklin Airport management's plan, sacrificing 900 acres of the bay to increase capacity of the airport. Meanwhile, the council seems to hold an opinion that they could ignore the negative impacts of filling in the bay just because of the wetlands restoration part of the plan. However,  the Council fails to recognize some fatal defect in this plan.

First of all,  this plan is applicable only when the flight delays is the result of insufficient capacity.  However, some other factors could also lead to the same results. Perhaps it is the bad environmental condition that causes the flight delay. As the airport is built on a bay, the current of warm and wet air over the sea might result in a changeable weather. Hurricane, thunderstorm and thick sea fog are likely to happen frequently and to be the main reason of flight delays. It seems unreasonable, therefore,  to enlarge the airport, since nothing would changed if the weather remains to be so unpleasant. Then the invest in the plan would be a waste of money, and the sacrifice of the bay is unworthy. Thus, unless taking all the possible factors into consideration, the Council is not able to evaluate efficiency of the plan or make right decision.

Even if increasing capacity of the airport can help reduce the flight delays, the plan, concerning for the protection of environment, is not a sound one. As a long-term task, the restoration will progress step by step and the good results can only be achieved years later, while the destruction of the bay can be done in few days. Then, during the time when both the bay and the wetland are damaged, some species may die out and never appear again.

What's more, the wetlands restoration part may not work so well as what is expected. Since the role a bay plays in the eco-system is different from what a wetland acts as, it cannot be replaced by the wetland in many aspects. While a wetland is an important habitant for some kinds of wild animals, it may not be a suitable place to stay for those who live depending on a bay environment. Also, it appears what affect the tidal pattern a lot are the shape of the bay and the ocean current near the bay, the characteristics which will be completely changed after the filling in of the bay. In this case, restoring the wetland can do some good for the environment, but it can never eliminate the environmental problem caused by the reduction of the bay area.  

Overall, the plan of reducing the flight delays is based on some unreliable assumptions and it mixes up the function of bay and wetland. Thus, before finding out the real cause of the frequently delays, the Council could not tell whether the plan is useful. Also, the Council should carefully assess the value of the bay in this area and distinguish it from the wetland.

yjwn1987UID: 2495078

1. 第二段可以把中心句放在开头，看起来更一目了然。
2.第三段讲restoration的时间效应，第四段前半部分讲restoration不一定可以达到目的，可以让步，即使有效果在时间上也。。。。
3.第四段后半部分可以单独列出作为build new runways的其他坏处。会更清晰。

语法用词上没什么问题，所以就只是对整体的逻辑顺序说说自己的意见了。