请教，一道本月高频AA新题。

yzlinlin

1．    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 mid-summer, 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 come out ahead. 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 public spending.”
discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.
2．    去年，本城和fp签订合同让其在主大道上的一个巨大装饰壶内种植多种花卉并每周浇水一次。仲夏以前，许多植物枯萎了。今年，本城或者约定每周浇水两次或者在壶内种植人工花以节省费用。具fp称，人工花的初始费用为真花的两倍，但两年后，我们将得到好结果（come out ahead？）。公众的反应显然支持这种解决方式。在最近的调查中，超过1200的sf读者说本城浪费资金，应该找到方法减少公共支出。

这题本月好几个机井作者都考到了，请问如何批驳最有效？

sober75

i find some reason:
  The first one is the validity of the survey

  The second one is that the authoir fails to take into account factors other than cost when making choices between them.

  The third one is that lacking information about the reason why the flower wilted last year,it is difficult to assess the decision-making

yvonne703

In addition, the author commits a fallacy of false dilema, assume that contrct for two watering a week and save money by planting artificial flowers are muturally exclusive.

without information about the number of people surveyed and the number of respondents, it is impossible to access the vadility of the results.

browse

以下是引用yzlinlin在2003-12-16 2:27:00的发言：
1． 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 mid-summer, 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 come out ahead. 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 public spending.”
discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

First, the author failed to establish the causal relationship between wilted flower and lack of water.
Second, two waterings a week do not guarantee the flourish of flowers.
Third, the public's opinion to reduce public spending does not justify the purchasing of artificial flower. Moreover, the author fails to illustrate that artificial flower do cost less than real flowers.