每天都要麻烦大家,可是我实在是很差必须要练。请各位使劲拍砖,我不怕疼(铁头功已经练出来了 )字数总是提不上去,不知道还应该再写些什么,请指点迷津。
The following appeared as part of an annual report sent to stockholders by Olympic Foods, a processor of frozen foods.
`Over time, the costs of processing go down because as organizations learn how to do things better, they become more efficient. In color film processing, for example, the cost of a 3-by-5-inch print fell from 50 cents for five-day service in 1970 to 20 cents for one-day service in 1984. The same principle applies to the processing of food. And since Olympic Foods will soon celebrate its twenty-fifth birthday, we can expect that our long experience will enable us to minimize costs and thus maximize profits.~
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.
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In this argument, the author concludes that the long experience of Olympic Foods will enable it to minimize costs and thus maximize profits. To buttress the argument, the author shows evidence that the color film processing has experienced a reduction of costs. At first glance, the author's conclusion seems to be acceptable. However, a careful examination can reveal several flaws from the argument.
First, the author makes a wrong analogy between the food processing and the color film processing in all aspects. The characteristics of food processing are so different from those of color film processing that the two processing cannot be analogous. For example, the food processing contains many aspects such as storing and transforming, to list a few, which do not involve in the color film processing. Therefore, although the color film processing have experienced a decrease in the costs, Olympic Foods, a processor of frozen foods, will possibly not achieve in reducing the costs.
Second, the author fails to correlate the profits to both the costs and revenues, both of which have great impact on profits. If only minimizing costs is considered in the plan to maximize the profits, it is possibly that the company will not achieve the business goal due to the dramatical decline of the revenues. Thus, the company Olympic Foods should both maximize revenues and minimize costs to reach its business target: maximum profits.
Third, the author unfairly assumes that company's long experience is sufficient to give birth to the desired goals: minimizing costs. However, if it turns out that cost minimization is due to a combination of factors, some of which will remain unchanged in the future, such as advanced technology and efficient management. Mere long experience can not have stimulating impact on the intention.
In conclusion, the author makes an unconvincing conclusion based on false analogy and incomprehensive consideration. To reach a more plausible argument, he or she would show evidence that the similarities of the color film processing and food processing outweigh the differences of them, and a inclusive contemplation is needed.
[此贴子已经被作者于2005-8-31 22:51:21编辑过] |