Argument53 【0906G 文以载道三月四月小组】第二周第一次作业 by gewang

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[题目]
Argument53
Thirteen years ago, researchers studied a group of 25 infants who showed signs of mild distress when exposed to unfamiliar stimuli such as an unusual odor or a tape recording of an unknown voice. They discovered that these infants were more likely than other infants to have been conceived in early autumn, a time when their mothers' production of melatonin-a hormone known to affect some brain functions-would naturally increase in response to decreased daylight. In a follow-up study conducted earlier this year, more than half of these children-now teenagers-who had shown signs of distress identified themselves as shy. Clearly, increased levels of melatonin before birth cause shyness during infancy and this shyness continues into later life.
13年前，研究者研究了一组在受到不熟悉的刺激比如不寻常的气味和未知声音的录音时表现出轻微紧张的25名婴儿。他们发现这些婴儿比其他婴儿更可能在早秋怀孕，而早秋是他们的母亲分泌的melatonin--一种已知会影响一些大脑功能的荷尔蒙--因日照的减少而增加的季节。在今年早些时候所作的跟踪调查中，这些表现出紧张迹象的儿童--现在已经是十几岁--有一半以上认为自己害羞。显然，出生前melatonin的增加导致婴儿期的羞涩并且这种羞涩将延续至生命更晚的阶段。
[提纲]
论断: 出生前melatonin的增加导致了婴儿期的羞涩,而且这种羞涩将会延续.
提纲:
1)    论据没有说服力,轻微紧张≠害羞, 只是对外界刺激比较敏感, 这是自然本能.
2)    melatonin只是影响一些大脑功能, 并不一定导致婴儿的害羞. 而且没说是对母体还是婴儿的影响. 而且冬天的日照更少.
3)    跟踪研究,无生活资料,环境也可能影响, 而且此项调查的25个人,一半以上并不足以说明问题.
结论:
若要增加说服力，论者还需要提供有关科学研究资料，进一步说明某素对胎儿能造成什么样的影响。而且是否这种影响是永久的，无法消除的
[正文]
In this argument, the author draws the conclusion that increased levels of melatonin before birth cause shyness during infancy and this shyness continues into later life, based on a study of a group of 25 infants who showed signs of distress during their infancy and identified themselves as shy when they grew up as a teenager. Although this deduction seems logical at first glance, it is in fact highly doubtful for the reasons as follows.

To begin with, the signs of mild distress do not represent these babies were shier than others. It is human natural that responding to the change of outside circumstances and the signs they showed when exposed to unfamiliar stimuli were mild rather than sharp ones. From this information, it only can deduce that these infants were more sensitive than others, and more likely to reply to outside stimuli. Before rule out this possibility, the author cannot convince us the group of 25 infants the researches studied was shy.

In addition, even if these babies were shy, the author did not show enough evidences that the high level of melatonin caused the shyness of infants. As what stated in this argument, the melatonin only affects some brain functions, and it is not mentioned that this affects are to mothers or infants. If melatonin only has effect on mothers, we could not claim it caused the shyness of infants. What's more, the author thinks that the level of melatonin would increase with de decline of daylight. As we known, the winter has even less daylight than the early autumn. According to the author's logic, these babies are conceived in winter will show more signs of shyness than other times' born infants, which is contradicted to these babies were more likely to have been pregnant in early autumn. Without of more research on melatonin, it is hardly to make people believe that melatonin leads to the infants' shyness.

Finally, there is no casual relationship between the shyness during infancy and this shyness continues into later life. First, the follow-up study is not statically reliable, 25 is not sufficient and more than half is too vague to draw a conclusion that most of them are shy. What’s more, the author failed to consider other causes of shyness of teenagers. The living environment they grew up and the education they received are probable originates of their shyness. May some of them live quiet and isolate countries, where they do not have more experiences to communicate with people. While others grow up in big cities, where they have more opportunities to show themselves, moreover, they may have received relevant education about how to express themselves to others. Therefore, it is unwarranted to make sure the shyness will continue into infants' later lives.

In sum, the argument that increased levels of melatonin before birth cause shyness during infancy and this shyness continues into later life seems logical at first. However, before any conclusion is made, the author needs to provide more convincing evidence to support his/her claim.