Issue 144 argu14

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题目：ISSUE144 - "It is the artist, not the critic,* who gives society something of lasting value."
*a person who evaluates works of art, such as novels, films, music, paintings, etc.
字数：469          用时：0:45          日期：2009-2-9
Nowadays, there are more and more artist who we are found of, meanwhile, as the number of artist rises, a lot of critics come into our life. Artist is creating, as critics is judging. So someone may wonder who finally gives something of lasting value.
An artist's inspiration and creative works reflect the full panoply history of human beings. Taking Shakespeare’s King Lear as an example. The whole story is merged with the pursuance of mighty power. The love, the heat, and the mercy are only linked with the original human nature. The article reflects how the people do thousands of years ago, and is a warning for the people of today---do not trust people simply on the surface. And a series of TV play shows the endeavor of President Lincoln in solving the dependence of south American and finally abolished the slavery. From them, we could feel how hard it was when facing and fighting the illegal slavery.
Critics can help us understand and interpret art; a critic who is familiar with a particular artist and his or her works might have certain insights about those works that layman would not. Some of the artists prefer to think the people who do not like their arts as "they do not understand art".  Sometimes it is true, jet in other cases it is only an excuse. Some artists even foolish the public, and seeks funds from the government. So it must be some experts judging the arts so as not to frustrate ordinary people.
A critic's evaluation of an art work serves as a filter which helps us determine which art is worth our time and attention. If a critic thinks the art is not good enough, then one may not pay attention to the art as well. In Beethoven’s time, because the critics thought there are actually no one that catches up with Beethoven, he finally make the musician’s statutes not as lord's servants any more. From his time, musicians are respected as celebrity.
A critic can provide feedback for artists, and constructive criticism, if taken to heart, can result in better work. As the students is justified by test and finally make improvements by taking test, critics is the test for artists, in order to make themselves not pound of themselves. Through the critics, artists can find what is not good enough, how does it occurs, and in what way he/she can improve it.
Artists and critics supplement each other. As time passes, the greatest works are those which are created by artists and evaluated by critics which draw people's attention towards those works. Critics in most of times are also artists. They create arts and others judge them, meanwhile they also judge others'. So it is both the artist and critic that give society something of lasting value.




题目：ARGUMENT14 - The following appeared in a memo from the owner of Green Thumb Gardening Center, a small business serving a suburban town.
"There is evidence that consumers are becoming more and more interested in growing their own vegetables. A national survey conducted last month indicated that many consumers were dissatisfied with the quality of fresh vegetables available in supermarkets. And locally, the gardening magazine Great Gardens has sold out at the Village News stand three months in a row. Thus, we at Green Thumb Gardening Center can increase our profits by greatly expanding the variety of vegetable seeds we stock for gardeners this coming spring."
字数：447          用时：0:30          日期：2009-2-9
In this memo, the owner of Green Thumb Gardening Center (GT) concludes that GT could increase its profits by expanding its stock of vegetable seeds. The owner indicates that a national survey implicates growing dissatisfaction with supermarket vegetables, then refers that a certain gardening magazine has been sold at one local news stand three months in a row. I find the owner's argument weak, for three reasons.
First, according to the national survey, the conclusion of the argument depends on the assumption that the level of satisfaction locally with store-bought groceries reflects national levels. Yet the owner provides no evidence to support this assumption. It is possible that residents of this town are quite satisfied with these vegetables. Without eliminating this possibility, the owner cannot rely on the national survey to conclude that this town's residents would be interested in buying vegetables seeds from GT.
Secondly, by relying on the survey the argument assumes that consumers who are dissatisfied with store-bought groceries are likely to grow their own vegetables instead. However, the owner fails to provide any evidence to provide this assumption. Perhaps consumers are continuing to buy vegetables from grocery stores despite of their dissatisfaction. Or perhaps this dissatisfaction is leading consumers to buy their vegetables from special produce markets and vegetable stands instead of supermarkets. Since the owner has failed to consider and rule out these possibilities, the owner's assertion that this town's dissatisfied consumers would be eager to buy vegetable seeds from GT to grow their own vegetables cannot be taken seriously.
Thirdly, the mere fact that a certain gardening magazine has recently sold out at one news stand in the town is not the evidence that the town's residents would be eager to buy vegetables seeds from GT. Perhaps three months ago this news stands decreased the number of magazines it stocks; or perhaps the magazines does not even attribute to vegetable grading; or perhaps the only reason for this apparent increase is that other news stands in town have stopped selling the magazine. Given these possible scenarios, the fact that one news stand have sold every copy of the last three months issues proves nothing about local trends in vegetable gardening.
In conclusion, the owner's argument is unpersuasive. To strengthen it, the owner must provide more convincing evidence that consumers in this town are actually becoming less satisfied with supermarket vegetables, and that as a result they are fewer such vegetables. To better evaluate the argument we would need more information about alternative sources of vegetables for local consumers--for example, the number and quality of produce stands. We would also need to know why the news stand's copies of gardening magazine sold out.