argument177[Shining Sep]作文组 第四天作业

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177The following is a letter that recently appeared in the Oak City Gazette, a local newspaper. [51]

"Membership in Oak City's Civic Club—a club whose primary objective is to discuss local issues—should continue to be restricted to people who live in Oak City. People who work in Oak City but who live elsewhere cannot truly understand the business and politics of the city. It is important to restrict membership to city residents because only residents pay city taxes and therefore only residents understand how the money could best be used to improve the city. At any rate, restricting membership in this way is unlikely to disappoint many of the nonresidents employed in Oak City, since neighboring Elm City's Civic Club has always had an open membership policy, and only twenty-five nonresidents have joined Elm City's Club in the last ten years."



In this argument, the arguer concludes that membership in Oak city' civic club shoudl continue to be restricted to people who live in Oak city. To support his conclusion, the arguer provides that people who work in the city but who live in elsewhere cannot truly understand the business and politics and the restricting will is not to disappoint many nonresidents employed in Oak City. It may seem reasonable on the surface. However, careful examination reveals it lends little credible support to the conclusion.
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To begin with, the arguer asserts that only people who pay tax and can understand the politics and business of the city. Yet the arguer fails adequately to provide sufficient evidence to support that people who live elsewhere cannot understand. Even given the dubious assumption that a local taxpayer can understand the business and political issues, it is fallacious to conclude that its paying tax is the only way to understand these issues. Common sense tells us that business people, would probably more sensitive about the local issues no matter a resident or not. Moreover, the nonresidents who work in Oak City will contribute more to the club's issues, because they may have a more comprehensive view by organizing the condition of the Oak city and the city they live. Similarly, the local residents' point of view will be limited in some degree.

To buttress this argument, the letter points out that restricting membership in this way will not incur the nonresidents' complaints by making an incomplete and selective comparison between Elm City and Oak City. It is entirely possible, for instance, that Elm City is a small town where only fifty nonresidents live in, showing that high rate of people are likely to concern the issues. While Oak city is a metropolis which attracts many people from other cities. The nonresidents in Oak City may be more interested in the local issues.  Anther possibility that majority of the business people of have been members of Elm City for more that ten years will weaken the author's conclusion. Hence the author should rule out other alternatives will be responsible for the apparently low rate of people joining Elm's club.

[ 本帖最后由 flycc28 于 2006-8-18 18:37 编辑 ]