Argument151 [Jet小组] 第十五次作业 随机

滴滴雨儿UID: 2392741

题目：ARGUMENT151 - The following is a letter to the editor of the Atticus City newspaper.

"Former Mayor Durant owes an apology to the city of Atticus. Both the damage to the River Bridge, which connects Atticus to Hartley, and the traffic problems we have long experienced on the bridge were actually caused 20 years ago by Durant. After all, he is the one who approved the construction of the bridge. If he had approved a wider and better-designed bridge, on which approximately the same amount of public money would have been spent, none of the damage or problems would have occurred. Instead, the River Bridge has deteriorated far more rapidly over the past 20 years than has the much longer Derby Bridge up the river. Even though the winters have been severe in the past several years, this is no excuse for the negligence and wastefulness of Durant."
字数：390          用时：0:25:00          日期：2008/3/1

Regardless of who the author of this letter is, he or she seems too unfair to the former mayor Durant for criticize him so severely without enough evidence. This letter is full of fallacies that are open to question.

Firstly, the author claims that both the damage to the River Bridge and the traffic problems they have long experienced on the bridge were caused by Durant 20 years ago because he is the one who approved the construction of the bridge. Such as common sense, the degree of damage of a bridge depends on how often the bridge has been used and how well it has been preserved. The author compared River Bridge with Derby Bridge without traffic frequency statistics, we cannot assume that damage to the River Bridge was due to the less designed and therefore, should not blame for the former mayor Durant who approved the construction of it. Besides, building a bridge has to do with the budget of the government. If the Atticus City was short at money 20 years ago, it could not be able to build a better-designed bridge as the author said, and probably, the River Bridge was the best designed one according to the limited budget. In this case, the former mayor Durant did a right choice to approve the construction of the bridge. As for damage, tight budget might lead to few preservation and reconstruction, which could be easily explained.

Since this River Bridge was built 20 years ago, we can at least assume that it has standed for 20 years, whether the climate were fine or severe. The author admitted that the winter have been severe in the past several years, while provide no evidence that the damage is not made of the bad weather. It is common that extreme low temperature in winter may cause the structure of a bridge freeze and thus easy to cause damages.

As for the traffic problems, the author fails to notice the significant car owner numbers' difference during 20 years. The increasing number of automobiles and highly prosperous economy lead to increasing rapid pace of traffic, which makes more burdens to a bridge, especially the River Bridge connects two cities of Atticus to Hartley, if it has been the main course of transportation.

In sum, the argument lacks of credibility and need to provide more evidence.

滴滴雨儿UID: 2392741

第一次模考,特意掐了五分钟,明显不适应,重点掌握不好不说,连本来就平平的语言更说不出来了. 嗯...练啊...