Argument53【0906G 文以载道三月四月作文小组】第2周第2作业 thanks conceptal

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【标题】
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】

1、
虽然论者说melatonin是一种对某些大脑功能有影响的荷尔蒙，但并没有告诉我们这种影响是对母亲，还是对胎儿，论者对melatonin的研究信息提供较少，对其功能并不了解，因而不能得出melatonin与孩子在婴儿和儿童期害羞有关。
2、
论者没有提供资料表明婴儿表现出来的敏感一下是因为害羞，我们不能排除这是因为刺激带来的生理上的不舒服。
3、
而且这些儿童只是认为自己害羞，并没有外人指出这些孩子很害羞，可能是由于思想不成熟，根本不知道什么是害羞所以错误以为自己是羞涩的。
4、
而在跟踪研究中，论者也没有提供有关这些孩子在这十几年里的生活环境的资料，我们不能排除环境以及各种经历对孩子性格的影响。
5、
总共才观察了25名孩子，样本太少，不具有代表性。
【正文】
In this editorial, the author argues that increased levels of melatonin-a hormone known to affect some brain functions- before birth cause shyness during infancy and this shyness continues into later life. To support the recommendation, the author points out a study of 25 infants 13 years ago which showed that when these 25 infants exposed to unfamiliar stimuli such as an unusual odor or a tape recording of an unknown voice, they showed signs of mild distress. Furthermore, the author also points out these infants were more likely than other infants to have been conceived in early autumn, a time when their mothers' production of melatonin would naturally increase. Finally, the author cites a follow-up study conducted earlier this year, which shows more than half of these children-now teenagers-who had shown signs of distress identified themselves as shy. However, the argument relies on a series of unsubstantiated assumptions, which render it unconvincing as it stands.

First of all, although the author tells us that melatonin is a hormone known to affect some brain functions and would naturally increase in response to decreased daylight, he just provides little evidence about the functions of melatonin. Because of the absence of the reliable data, we are not sure that melatonin has an effect on the mothers’ brains or the infants’. If the fact is melatonin just infecting the mothers’ brains, the conclusion that increased levels of melatonin before birth cause shyness during infancy and their later life is not accurate.

Secondly, in this study which had been made 13 years ago, when these 25 infants exposed to unfamiliar stimuli such as an unusual odor or a tape recording of an unknown voice, they showed signs of mild distress. However, signs of distress they showed do not represent shyness. Perhaps when they heard the unknown voice, they felt very terrible and they showed distress. Therefore, the author cannot simply believe that distress is equal to shyness and get a unconvincing conclusion.

In addition, in the recently study, more than half of these children who are the 25 infants of that  study in 13 years ago identified themselves as shy. But this evaluation is not objective, it is just these children’s opinion about their personal characters. And there are not other people identify these children as shyness. Perhaps these children do not understand the meaning of “shyness”, they make a mistake of thinking that they are shame.

Even assuming that most of these children are shy, melatonin may not be the reason which causes shyness in the infancy and later life, the characters are shaped by many factors, such as the education, the environment and the friends. For instance,
the twins separated when they were born, and they live in the different conditions. Many years later, their characters are not uniform although they are twins.

Last but not least, the result of the study is not statistically reliable, because 25 samples are not sufficient. So few samples cannot represent the overall population, it is impossible to confidently apply the study’s result to other population, the smaller the sample, the less reliable the study’s conclusion.

In short, without evidence that all other conditions that might affect the characters shaped, the author’s claim that is increased levels of melatonin before birth cause shyness during infancy and this shyness continues into later life dubious at best. To make the conclusion more convincing, the author must provide more supporting evidence.