argument71 感觉很不好写啊...留链互拍

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TOPIC: ARGUMENT71 - Copper occurs in nature mixed with other minerals and valuable metals in ore, and the proportion of copper in the ore can vary considerably. Until fairly recently, the only way to extract pure copper from ore was by using a process that requires large amounts of electric energy, especially if the proportion of copper in the ore is low. New copper-extracting technologies can use up to 40 percent less electricity than the older method to process the same amount of raw ore, especially when the proportion of copper in the ore is high. Therefore, we can expect the amount of electricity used by the copper-extraction industry to decline significantly.
WORDS: 394          TIME: 0:37:00          DATE: 2007-2-5

In this argument, the arguer concludes that new copper-extracting technologies can reduce the amount of electricity used by the copper-extraction industry. To support the conclusion, the arguer compares the amount of electricity used by old methods and by the new copper-extracting technologies. The argument is well-presented; however, it is not well-reasoned and suffers several critical flaws.

First of all, whether the so-called new technologies use less electricity than the older method is uncertain in this argument. As the arguer says, the proportion of copper in the ore is variable considerably. And the arguer does not provide any evidence that as to process every kind of ore with the same amount the new copper-extracting technologies can use less electricity than the older methods. It is quite possible that if the proportion of copper in the ore is low, the old method can save more electricity than the new technologies. Perhaps, for the ores which contain middle proportion of copper, the new technologies would use more electricity.

Second, even if the new technologies can save electricity compared with the old methods, the arguer fails to consider whether the new technologies can be adopted abroad by companies. Maybe the new technologies need high-tech engineers to support and there are quite few people who are capable. Or it is possible that equipments used by the new technologies are too expensive. If there is no company using the new technologies, the amount of electricity would not be declined.

The last but not the least, the arguer does not consider the possibility that the proportion of copper in the ore are quite lower than ever before. In this case, extracting copper from ore becomes more difficult and could use larger amount of electricity. In addition, there is possible that the demand for copper rises, and companies would use the new technologies for more times than before which would add the mount of electricity.

In summary, from what discussed above, the arguer makes conclusion too haste. To make this conclusion more reasonable, the arguer should provide more information on the amount of electricity used by the new technologies when process variable proportion of copper in the ore. Moreover, the arguer should analysis whether the new technologies would be adopted. And the argument would be more rational if the arguer provides the demand trend of copper-extraction industry and the characteristics of ore.