argument233 大杀四方第三次作业 欢迎拍砖

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题目：ARGUMENT233 - The following appeared in a memo from the vice president of a company that builds shopping malls throughout the country.

"The surface of a section of Route 101, paved two years ago by McAdam Road Builders, is now badly cracked and marred by dangerous potholes. In another part of the state, a section of Route 66, paved by Appian Roadways more than four years ago, is still in good condition. Appian Roadways has recently purchased state-of-the-art paving machinery, and it has hired a new quality-control manager. Because of its superior work and commitment to quality, we should contract with Appian Roadways rather than McAdam Road Builders to construct the access roads for all our new shopping malls."
字数：374          用时：1:10:00          日期：2007-2-7
The vice president recommends that we should choose Appian Roadways(AR) rather than McAdam Road Builders(MRB) to construct the access roads for our new shopping malls. To support the recommendation, the arguer provides some evidence about AR's superior work and commitment to quality. However, closely scrutiny to the evidence lends incredible supports to the argument.

Firstly, the comparison between statement of Route 101 and that of Route 66 can not substantiate AR's superior work. Perhaps Route 101 is located in downtown and every day so many motorcars are driven on the road that it is badly cracked and marred by dangerous potholes in two years. To the contrary, Route 66 may be paved in the area where few people live and few motorcars vent. Perhaps the climate of the area Route 101 was paved in is harder than that of Route 66. Besides, the arguer doesn't provide statistic data about the condition of all roads which AR and MRB have paved. it may be a just exception that the condition of Route 66 is better that that of Route 101.

Secondly, the fact that AR has recently purchased state-of-the-art paving machinery can not convince me that AR does work superior to MRB. Perhaps AR uses the inferior materials and employs less skilled workers than MRB. It is utterly possible that MRB also has possessed the same paving machinery and made better use of it.Without ruling out these possibilities, the conclusion about AR's superior work is unbelievable.

Thirdly, the arguer relies on extra assumptions, as follows: (1) hiring a new quality-control manager guarantees commitment to quality. Perhaps he is lack of enough experience or does not seriously fulfill his duty. (2) superior work and commitment to quality are the considerable factors to choose road builders, with ruling out other factors such as costs. (3) We merely have alternative between MRB and AR, rather than other road builders.

In sum, the forgoing flaws may undermine the arguer's recommendation and make it a poor advice. To better assess the argument, we need the vice president to provide statistic data about the condition of all roads which two builders has paved, some information about comprehensive comparison between two builders and whether other road builders can be chosen.