Argument117 【Jet 小组】第九次作业

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Argument117.
The following is a memo from the business manager of Valu-Mart stores.

"Over 70 percent of the respondents to a recent survey reported that they
are required to take more work home with them from the workplace than they
were in the past. Since Valu-Mart has not seen impressive sales in its
office-supply departments in the past, we should take advantage of this
work-at-home trend by increasing at all Valu-Mart stores the stock of home
office machines such as printers, small copy machines, paper shredders,
and fax machines. We will also increase stock of office supplies such as
paper, pens, and staplers. With these changes, our office-supply
departments will become the most profitable component of our stores."

最近一次调查超过70％的回应者报告说他们被要求回家完成的工作量比以前多。由于Valu-Mart在过去并没有发现办公用品部销量的显著上升，我们应该利用这种在家办公的趋势，在所有Valu-Mart商店增加家庭办公机器比如打印机、小型复印机、碎纸机和传真机的存货。我们也将增加办公用品比如纸笔和钉书机的存货。通过这些变革，我们办公用品部将会成为我们商店中盈利最多的部门。


·提高商品储存不一定就会提高利润，商品的质量、商品的种类都会影响到它的销售。


The conclusion that the arguer advocates in this argument is that they will increase stock of office supplies and their office-supply departments will become the most profitable component of our stores. To support the assumes, the argument points out the evidence that Over 70 percent of the respondents to a recent survey reported that they are required to take more work home from the workplace than they were in the past. In addition, the arguer provides the evidence that all Valu-Mart stores increase the stock of home office machines. At first glance, the arguer’s assumption seems to be accepted, while clearly exam the arguer’s assumption, we may find that it is unconvincing, vague, oversimplified, and unwarranted. The argument contains several facets that are questionable.

First of all, the arguer’s evidences are insufficient to support the conclusion. Obviously, arguer does not provide enough information on the subject of the survey. If the respondents only stand for a tiny proportion of the whole group, we should not be so sure about the conclusion that a recent survey reported shows most respondents are required to take more work home with them from the workplace than before. Maybe many respondents have a manager who distributes too many works for his or her employees, or they are lazy so they can not finish their work in time.

Secondly, the arguer makes an oversimplified analogy about increasing the stock of home office machines. The arguer commits” after this, and therefore because of this” fallacy. The causal relationship between unimpressive sales in Valu-Mart’s office-supply departments in the past and the work-at-home trend is unwarranted. This is a fallacious reasoning unless the arguer can provide persuasive evidences to rule out any other possibilities. Since the development of modern technology we can use computer to write but paper and pens, which is convenient, and quickly and saves money. So we do not need too much stock of office and this
work-at-hometrend is fallacy.

In addition, increasing stock of office supplies such as paper, pens, and staplers is a unadvisable idea. With these changes, office-supply departments maybe do not become the most profitable component of our stores. Printers, small copy machines, paper shredders, and fax machines, paper, pens, and staplers may be useless for house-work because today many people use computers. The quality is also an important aspect for the sales.

On all accounts, the conclusion, which lacks of credibility, reached in this argument is not persuasive as it stands. Regardless of who the arguer is, he or she has overlooked or chosen to ignore many aspects of his or her conclusion. To strengthen the argument, we would need more information about advantage of work-at-home trend. Additionally, the arguer should provide more evidence about the above mentioned possibilities and to rule out other possible causes.

[ 本帖最后由 sallytxh 于 2008-2-22 21:30 编辑 ]