140. The following editorial appeared in the South Fork Gazette.
“Last year, the city contracted with Flower Power to plant a variety of flowers in big decorative pots on Main Street and to water them each week. By midsummer many of the plants were wilted. This year the city should either contract for two waterings a week or save money by planting artificial flowers in the pots. According to Flower Power, the initial cost for artificial flowers would be twice as much as for real plants, but after two years, we would save money. Public reaction certainly supports this position: in a recent survey, over 1,200 Gazette readers said that the city wastes money and should find ways to reduce spending.”
Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.
Because many of the flowers on Main Street by midsummer were wilted, the passage recommends that the city either contract for two waterings a week or planting artificial flowers in the pots.To support the recommendation, the author argues that although the initial cost for artificial flowers would be twince as much as for real plants,but after two years,the city could save money. Moreover the author cites the a survey result as evidence to support that public will support the idea. The argument is not convincing as it suffers from the following flaws.
Firstly,there is no connection established in the argument that the flowers were wilted because once a week watering is not enough. Although lacking watering is a tempting reason,it is not self evident as there are other possibilities such as the pollution, quality of the earth or even the quality of the seeds provided by the supplier which may cause the result. All the possibilities should be ruled out for safely arriving at the conclusion.
Secondly,the author claims that city can save money after two years planting artificial flowers.However,the claim is based on unwarranted assumptions that the artificial flowers do not need any care and will exist after two years. Although the artificial flowers do not need watering, may be extra cleaning work needed to be done for them. Since artificial flowers can not be regenerated like actual flowers, it is possible that after two years,the flowers are so worn out that they need to be replaced. All the facts need to take into consideration, or, the claim is untrustworthy.
Thirdly,the credibility of the survey result is uncertain. Since we don't know how the survey is conducted , we can not make sure the sample of the survey is representative. For incidence, if all the 1200 readers have similar backgrounds, then their voices can not represent the whole citizens with diversified backgrounds. Since no information is provided about the survey sample, we can not assess the reliability of the survey result.
To sum up, the argument is not well reasoned due to the above mentioned flaws. To strengthen the argument, the author should provide more information about the cost and benefit of planting artificial flowers and more information about the survey samples. Furthermore, the city should figure out the true reason of the wilting of the flowers to base the right solution on.
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发表于 2005-7-20 02:53:00
发表于 2005-7-25 09:54:00
