标题: 5.27 argument 129 showerheads & water pressure. 求猛拍求意见!!!!! [打印本页] 作者: 749896499 时间: 2012-5-10 17:33 标题: 5.27 argument 129 showerheads & water pressure. 求猛拍求意见!!!!! 129. "The following appeared in a letter from the owner of the Sunnyside Towers apartment complex to its manager. ""Last week , all the showerheads in the first three buildings of the Sunnyside Towers complex were modified to restrict maximum water flow to one-third of what it used to be. Although actual readings of water usage before and after the adjustment are not yet available, the change will obviously result in a considerable savings for Sunnyside Corporation, since the corporation must pay for water each month. Except for a few complaints about low water pressure, no problems with showers have been reported since the adjustment. Clearly, modifying showerheads to restrict water flow throughout all twelve buildings in the Sunnyside Towers complex will increase out profits further""
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
结论：I predict that modifying showerheads to restrict water flow throughout all twelve buildings in the Sunnyside Towers complex will increase our profits even more dramatically. 论据： (1) all the showerheads in the first three buildings (2) Although actual readings of water usage before and after the adjustment are not yet available, the change will obviously result in a considerable savings for Sunnyside Corporation, since the corporation must pay for water each month. (3) Except for a few complaints about low water pressure, no problems with showers have been reported since the adjustment.
In this letter, the author predicts that modifying showerheads to restrict water flow throughout all twelve buildings in the Sunnyside Towers complex will increase their profits further. To support the prediction, the author asserts that although the adjustment of lower water pressure of all the showerheads in the first three buildings are not yet available, the change will obviously result in a considerable savings, and points out that there are just a few complaints about the low water pressure. While the prediction is plausible at the first glance, a close scrutiny of the argument reveals that the argument is unconvincing in many regards.
Implied in the argument is the assumptions that the first three buildings could represent all the twelve buildings well enough, and the usage of water in the past week can reflects that in whole year. That is, the author commits a fallacy of hasty generation by suggesting that all the conditions of the twelve buildings are just same with each other, For example, the residents’ life habits of using water in each building have no differences , and every building just share the same water pressure to support enough water to every building. Moreover, the fact is that people use different volumes of water with the seasons change. It is likely that in summer people will use more water than that in winter, or even the past week may have been the most economical week during the year. We just do not know. Only if the three buildings and usage of water in the past week is representative, can it use to back the author’s prediction.
Additionally, the author falsely assumes that the unavailable actual readings of water usage before and after the adjustment being low enough result in a considerable savings because of their duty of paying water, just as they expected. To be more critical, we cannot get any conclusions from the unavailable readings, for it may be big beyond the author’s expectation. Perhaps residents will take showers for longer time, resulting in more usage of water. Even if the usage could be lower, if the expense on water the corporation spend is just at a much lower rate, comparing with other expenses such as electrics expenses or upkeep costs, the lower usage of water will not work in cut down considerable expenses. The author’s reasoning is definitely flawed unless the author can convince me that these and other scenarios are unlikely.
Furthermore, the author still fails to perform a feasibility analysis of the few complaints, even if his/her deduction and inference made in the argument above is true. If the manager if the Sunny Corporation can be sure that the number of people who are unsatisfied with the water pressure are small indeed, the prediction may be true. However, perhaps there are a lot of complaints, but just a few people choose say it out. Perhaps residents living in the building by rent cannot stand the limited water pressure that result in much inconvenience just leave the building for searching another places to live in, a situation leads to a worse profits of the Sunny Corporation.
More savings leading to higher profits, we can completely understand the strong will of Sunny Corporation to pursue high profits. However, the prediction the author make is invalid and misleading, basing on my above analysis. They cannot expects improved savings if they just going to modify showerheads to restrict water flow throughout all twelve buildings. Careful analysis of all the factor I have presented is the best first step to getting more interests.作者: 普渡哥 时间: 2012-5-10 20:53
段落逻辑结构不强。作者: 749896499 时间: 2012-5-11 10:38
嗯、是指段落间还是段落内部？作者: 竹林中人 时间: 2012-5-11 17:15
还有一点是减小了水压，会不会使得用水时间延长呢？反而不会达到节约用水的效果作者: 749896499 时间: 2012-5-11 19:17
谢谢~ 其实我在第三段有提到这个意思，，但是只有一句话 以后会对一些重点进行详细阐述 使得意思更明了些