While I am maturing, I discover sometimes difficult to seize leisure time for relaxing, chatting with my fellows, and touring. A variety of trifles just appear to bother me without any adumbration. For instance, I have been postoning meeting, dinning, and junketing over the period of preparing the Analytical Writing section of GRE. Nevertherless, schedule is still so tight and not as comfortable as I considered before a 9th, April--the day I took contest of AW section.
Consequently, in my view it seems that those phenomena are symbols of my growing up. The procedure of growing up to a adult is a process in which various paramount and relatively paltry matters play games with me. I would be a so-called "successful" man, provided that I won the majority plays aforementioned.
Another thing: Learing English seems to me that it is no longer a agony but rather certain pastime, which is more and more so during my preparing for GRE. This morning a tall, slim and delicate girl lined up in front of me, when I had breakfast at Xinxi dinning-room. So engaging, comely, entrancing...Hahahaa...
Apr 15, 2008
Apr 10, 2008
Issue 212
TOPIC: ISSUE212 - "If a goal is worthy, then any means taken to attain it is justifiable."
WORDS: 568 TIME: 00:45:00 DATE: 2008-4-8 16:19:46
This statement asserts that any method to fulfill a target is justifiable, provided that the target is of value. I concede that in many cases one should try his or her best and makes tools of every potential condition to achieve inner object of the person. However, before one takes any practical action to approach personal or private ideal, he or she has to take into account a myriad of sociological and political factors--such as morality, feasibility, conscience, etc.
Admittedly, one may be encouraged to achieve a worthwhile goal, no matter which means is adopted. This is especially true when the goal would bring to society great value and substantial material or mental benefits. Consider Edison, an inventor of America, who patented for more than one thousand inventions, including microphone, phonograph, incandescent lamp, to name just a few. Since incandescent lamp would enable humans to commit various sorts of actions--such as researching, reading, and studying, any one would agree that it was inerrant for Edison to bring the lamp to real world. In effect, Edison had attempted to use many differing materials before he eventually discovered that the element W is the most appropriate. Therefore, in the realm of sciences, scientists are frequently encouraged to take all kinds of research means. Besides, government sometimes even provides additional material resources and financial resources.
However, when it comes to the area of politics, whether to adopt a variety of methods to accomplish the goals of politic leaders is quite questionable. Fist of all, a goal that some specific public officials believe is great may be reckoned as meaningless or even anti-social one. For instance, the Nazism was deeply believed by Hitler and was advocated by many adherents in that time. In order to realize racist nationalism, Nazis carried out several policies, including national expansion, state control of economy, and so on. Nevertheless, any means taken to attain Hitler's thought should be banned and fought back. In addition, in physics, for example, the perpetual machine was once considered to be a unifying goal in physics, and a few physicists were devoted to manufacturing such a machine. In this case, any effort will surely fail, since the machine violates the law of conversation of energy. Thus, any way that defies natural laws ought to be abandoned.
Yet on balance, when it comes to determine a means which aims to fulfill a certain goal is justifiable or not should be based on some criteria--for example, morality, sciences and feasibility. Generally speaking, people are supposed to take everything available to accomplish a goal, on condition that the goal is realistic and means taken are morally and ethically correct. Consider the process that Homer wrote his most noble works--Iliad and Odyssey which describe famous wars of ancient Greek. Homer did his most work on addition, expurgation and modification on the achievements of others. However, if a professor today utilized others' scientific outcomes without authority, this professor is likely to commit the crime of plagiary. Then, mores is the fist factor to be though before choosing a available way.
In summary, albeit a special goal is appealing for us, we must comply with prevailing ethics in our societal life and guarantee that actions we adopt obey laws of both sciences and politics. Furthermore, due morality and laws are changing with the advancement of humans, we are required to keep our mores and notions abreast of mainstream.
Argument 241
TOPIC: ARGUMENT241 - The following appeared in a memo at the XYZ company.
"When XYZ lays off employees, it pays Delany Personnel Firm to offer those employees assistance in creating resumés and developing interviewing skills, if they so desire. Laid-off employees have benefited greatly from Delany's services: last year those who used Delany found jobs much more quickly than did those who did not. Recently, it has been proposed that we use the less-expensive Walsh Personnel Firm in place of Delany. This would be a mistake because eight years ago, when XYZ was using Walsh, only half of the workers we laid off at that time found jobs within a year. Moreover, Delany is clearly superior, as evidenced by its bigger staff and larger number of branch offices. After all, last year Delany's clients took an average of six months to find jobs, whereas Walsh's clients took nine."
WORDS: 486 TIME: 00:30:00 DATE: 2008-4-8 21:34:22
In this argument, the verdict is that Delany Personnel Firm is superior to Walsh Personnel Firm in training employees who are fired by XYZ company. To substantiate this conclusion, the arguer compares the situation of Delany and Walsh, and further argues that the number of staffers of Delany outnumbers those of Walsh. However, close scrutiny of evidence unveils that this argument actually suffers from several critical blemishes as discussed below.
To begin with, the fact that last year those who used Delany found jobs much more quickly than did those who did not might not necessarily induced by Delany. Alternative explanations do exist, which would weaken the conclusion. A possible case is that fired employees who turned to Delany were originally much more talented than those who did not. Moreover, the proportion of staffers who used Delany and quickly found jobs is left untended by the speaker. If the percentage is merely 2%, which is not a particularly large number, Delany indeed offered little to their participants.
Secondly, to strengthen the culmination, the arguer also cites that eight years ago Walsh poorly helped workers laid off by XYZ company find subsequent jobs in a short time--a year. However, this fact which lacks sufficient evidence may not be as powerful as the arguer assumes. After all, the time of eight years is quite a long period, in which everything might change considerably. It is highly possible that Walsh corporation now is extremely competent and much more experienced in vocational training than that enterprise was eight years ago, which is not obviated in this statement. In addition, subjective situation might be a paramount factor too. Perhaps the job market eight years ago was not as prosperous as it is today, which may lend support from the speaker's reasoning.
Thirdly, the arguer is too cursory to arrive at the ultimateness that Delany is better than Walsh by simply taking superficial factors--number of crews and branch offices--into account. These two numbers can not represent anything which could be used to evaluate the two companies. Perhaps greater size of corporation may ironically imply lower efficiency of management. In the last of this statement, the arguer says that Delany's clients took an average of six months to find jobs while Walsh's customers took nine last year, which is also unconvincing. Even though clientele of Walsh took longer time to seize jobs than those of Delany, perhaps the jobs found by Walsh's customers were much more promising than ones caught by Delany's clientele.
In summary, this argument indeed suffers from a few vital fallacies as discussed above. To better solidify the culmination, the speaker would have to demonstrate that Delany's clientele find jobs much more quickly and professions are better than Walsh's, and prove that Walsh corporation has not developed a lot during the past eight years. Consequently, without considering and ruling out potential explanations aforementioned, the speaker's conclusion would otherwise be weakened.
Argument 164
TOPIC: ARGUMENT164 - Claitown University needs both affordable housing for its students and a way to fund the building of such housing. The best solution to this problem is to commission a famous architect known for experimental and futuristic buildings. It is common knowledge that tourists are willing to pay money to tour some of the architect's buildings, so it can be expected that tourists will want to visit this new building. The income from the fees charged to tourists will soon cover the building costs. Furthermore, such a building will attract new students as well as donations from alumni. And even though such a building will be much larger than our current need for student housing, part of the building can be used as office space.
WORDS: 460 TIME: 00:30:00 DATE: 2008-4-8 14:39:23
In this argument, the speaker asserts that Claitown University should hire an illustrious architect known for experimental and futuristic architecture to construct a brand-new building in order to cater students' needs. To substantiate this culmination, the speaker chiefly lists a few benefits of inviting a prominent architect and predicts that new housing will no doubt increase financial revenue. However, close scrutiny of evidence unveils that this argument actually suffers from several critical blemishes, as discussed below.
To begin with, whether tourists will surely be eager to pay money to visit a new housing built by the distinguished architect is questionable, and is not convincing as the arguer stands. Though tourists prefer some existed architectures which have been finished by the engineer, the new housing might nevertheless be an uninspired effort, which thus will not attract people's attention. Moreover, the new housing is supposed to be resided by university students; therefore this building may not suitable for visit by people outside campus.
Secondly, the speaker unfairly assumes that the income from the fees charged to tourists will doubtlessly outnumber the cost of constructing such a building, which lacks sufficient and powerful evidence. After all, the number of tourists who are likely to pay a visit to Claitown is unknown. Perhaps Claitown is not an ideal resort for tour viewing, which would otherwise undermine the conclusion. In addition, supposing that the money charged to tourists exceeds the ability of people, comprehensive income thus is not guaranteed.
Thirdly, whether new students can afford to dwell in such a new housing is questionable. It is highly possible that some students' family circumstances are not so wealthy that they prefer to living in old housings. Besides, the speaker fails to show any reason why alumni should donate to building a new dorm for Claitown University. This presumption would be further discredited if graduates from Claitown University work for unpromising corporations. Moreover, since the new building is constructed for the use of dwelling, it is quite skeptic that the new housing can be shaped to cater office's need. Furthermore, professors who work in that dorm would have to move out, supposing the enrollment of Claitown University sharply increases next year, which may make faculty uncomfortable.
In summary, this argument indeed suffers from a few vital fallacies, as discussed above, and is not as cogent as the arguer advocates. To solidify the verdict, the speaker would have to demonstrate that innumerous tourists are planning to visit that fresh housing and enough financial income is secured, and further prove that students will be glad to live in this dorm. Without considering and obviating those factors aforementioned, it is too cursory of the arguer to arrive at the conclusion. Consequently, we need more detailed information to better evaluate this statement.
Issue 69
TOPIC: ISSUE69 - "Government should place few, if any, restrictions on scientific research and development"
WORDS: 540 TIME: 00:45:00 DATE: 2008-4-7 16:25:26
The speaker asserts that research on various scientific domains should not be restricted by any form of action from government. I concede that a few studies conducted by scientists ought to be managed by our political leaders. With few exceptions, I strongly agree with speaker. Scientific researches, including physics, biology, chemistry, etc, are people's exploration of natural, politics, society, and thus should be encouraged instead of limited by not only government but also the masses.
Admittedly, some sorts of studies in sciences violate certain kind of morality, ethics or mores to which each mentally-normal member of society is hold. The potential outcomes of such researches would endanger our daily life, provided that governors place no restriction on scientists who are actively engaged in research activities. For instance, the subject of cloning human beings is quite attractive for certain biologists who are eager to pursue the law of nature. However, any action that attempts to produce a copy of a person, in any laboratory of the world, must be banned, with a view to its various deleterious effects that would have on ourselves. On the other hand, research on atomic energy ought to be carefully designed and planned by government. For the peace of all the nations on the earth, atomic bomb, one achievement of studying atoms, can not be put into practical use.
However, with a few exceptions in which scientists may bring harmful accomplishments that would conduce towards catastrophes to populace, government is supposed not to shape what scientists can cogitate but rather to encourage our elites to cultivate new knowledge and technologies by supporting manpower, material resources and financial resources. In the realm of astronomy, perhaps the paradigmatic negative archetype was Bruno who advanced the cosmic theory of an infinite universe. Unfortunately, Bruno was burned to death at the stake by the Inquisition of his time. Suppose that Bruno did not die at an early age, Armstrong would have visited the moon much earlier. Another example involves the Cultural Revolution in the 1970s of China. During that period, any sort of scientific experiment was forbidden by political leaders. As a result, the level of sciences and technologies of China had far fallen behind the stream of other countries.
Furthermore, our society is replete with examples of scientific researches, supported by government, that have brought positive attainments that make our life much more convenient, easy, and comfortable. Consider the disease of pneumonia which had killed many people's life in the 19th-century. The most recent half-century, medical researches have been conducted increasing by consortiums and governments, and also solved many life-threatening diseases. For instance, pneumonia is no longer an incurable disease for humans; patients who develop high blood pressure have better quality of life; and genetic engineering makes AIDS a less suffering disease. All of these accomplishments can not be fulfilled under a variety of confines from political figures.
In summary, though in certain cases studies on sciences and technologies should be guided by our government, under most circumstances public officials are supposed to provide every possible and helpful situation for scientists' research. In turn, with substantial materials and funds scientists will advance further knowledge and newer technologies that will no doubt make our society more civilized, tolerant, and respectful.
Argument 156
TOPIC: ARGUMENT156 - The following is taken from an advertisement placed in a weekly business magazine by the Dickens Academy.
"We distributed a survey to senior management at International Mega-Publishing, Inc. The result of the survey clearly indicates that many employees were well prepared in business knowledge and computer skills, but lacked interpersonal skills to interact gracefully with customers. International Mega-Publishing decided to improve customer satisfaction by sending their newly hired employees to our one-day seminars. Since taking advantage of our program, International Mega-Publishing has seen a sharp increase in sales, an indication that the number of their disgruntled customers has declined significantly. Your company should hire Dickens and let us turn every employee into an ambassador for your company."
WORDS: 444 TIME: 00:30:00 DATE: 2008-4-7 21:39:01
In this argument, the speaker advocates that each company should employ Dickens Academy to train the company's staffers and will no doubt increase efficiency of crews as a result. To substantiate the culmination, the speaker chiefly cites an example of International Mega-Publishing, Inc. which has yet sent its employee to Dickens for a vocational training. However, close scrutiny of evidence unveils that this argument actually suffers from several critical blemishes, as discussed below.
To begin with, the arguer fails to provide any practical evidence to demonstrate that the result of the survey, conducted by Dickens Academy, to senior management at International Mega-Publishing, Inc. is credible and convincing. All we know from this statement is solely represented by the speaker himself or herself. Without sufficient information about methods used in that survey, the outcomes of which is lame and unconvincing. Moreover, the participants in the study are senior managers that are quite differing from newly hired employees. Therefore, even though the conclusion of the study is cogent, it should not be generalized to fresh staff, and the behavior of Mega-Publishing is ridiculous.
Secondly, a sharp increase in Mega-Publishing's sales does not necessarily imply that the number of their disgruntled customers has declined considerably. The arguer mistakenly assumes a correlation amounts to a cause-and0-effect nexus. There are a myriad of potential factors that would cause increased profits of Mega-Publishing. A possible reason is that quality of products published by Mega corporation has greatly ameliorated; thus clientele are much more inclined to purchase books of Mega than other enterprises'. Or, it is highly probable that cost of manufacturing books has been sharply decreased and a low price of books is made possible, which is the actual reason attracting people.
Thirdly, the speaker does not state any statistics of disgruntled consumers either, which further undermines the culmination suggested in this argument. Perhaps customers who are unsatisfied with products of Mega are relatively a small group. Moreover, what purchasers are malcontent with are not conspicuously alleged. Therefore the possibility that the content of books is the actual factor contributable to people's dissatisfaction does exist. Without considering and obviating those potential causal factors, the arguer is too cursory to arrive at his or her ultimateness.
In summary, this argument indeed fails to convince us in many aspects, as discussed above. To solidify the verdict, the speaker would have to demonstrate that newly hired employees of Mega-Publishing lack the basic skills of communicating with clientele, and further prove that the reason why consumers are dissatisfied is just the performance of crew who work for Mega. Consequently, we need more detailed information to better evaluate the thread of reasoning in this argument.
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