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Argument153:

The following is from an editorial in the Midvale Observer, a local newspaper.

Issue152: The only responsibility of corporate executives, provided they stay within the law, is to make as much money as possible for their companies

The speaker’s claim that the corporate executive has the only responsibility of making money for the company as long as staying within the law may seem unpleasant and shocking at the first glance. However, after

Issue153: “Students should bring a certain skepticism to whatever they study. They should question what they are taught instead f accepting them passively.”

The speaker values skepticism as important in students’ study that everyone should question what they are taught instead of accepting the knowledge passively. Insofar as the skepticism is not carried out at a too early time that the basic condition for efficient skepticism is not valid, I agree with the speaker.

Argument238:

The following appeared in a memorandum from the president of Mira Vista College to the college's board of trustees.

To begin with, the national survey cited as evidence lends no strong support to the arguer’s assumption that local people are inclined to grow their own vegetables due to the dissatisfaction with vegetables available in supermarkets. On the one hand, the overall attitude of customers nationwide towards the quality of vegetables in supermarkets doesn’t necessarily agree with the local people’s evaluation since the quality of agricultural output will vary from area to area. It may be that with weather in this suburban town quite suitable for growing vegetables and the local farmers fairly experienced, the local vegetables are of the highest quality throughout the country, so are those supplied by local supermarkets. Moreover, even if the vegetables in local supermarkets don’t meet the customers’ expectation, there is no guarantee that people will turn to g

First of all, the information provided in the argument is insufficient to guarantee the quality of “Squirrel Power”. Despite of the popularity of wood’s last three books, whether “Squirrel Power” will continue to receive the same popularity is questionable since a trend for books written by a specific author is commonplace in the past-paced era. Had Peter Wood followed the writing style of his previous books in “Squirrel Power” but make no innovation, readers were likely to feel it predictable and ceased to enjoy it, or, Wood may have changed his writing characteristics, which actually does not apply to most readers’ taste. Both the assumptions listed above have potential to occur and undermine the popularity of “Squirrel Power”.

First of all, the incomplete and selective comparison between the two Manufacturing is misleading that it omits other factors besides the working hours, which may be the true reason why there is a sharp difference of on-the-job accident rate. It may be due to the insufficient safety measures that Alta’s workers are more likely to get injured, or, operations required for Alta’s workers are intrinsically more risking than that of Panoply’s workers’, or the maintenance of Alta’s equipment is in a poor condition, etc. Any of the possibilities listed above may be used to account for Alta’s more on-the-job accidents than nearby Panoply.

To begin with, the arguer’s assumption that the recycling will necessarily increase lacks credibility. First, the aluminum and paper recycled only makes up a portion of the total garbage produced by the residents everyday, other kinds of waste may increase while recycling aluminum and paper; and whether this trend of recycling aluminum and paper will continue is even open to doubt. Second, the charge for garbage pickup has only a very weak relevance to the amount of material recycled, since recycling not only concerns the residents’ willingness but also need technique, which may not have been fully d

Issue216: Most important discoveries and creations are accidental: it is usually while seeking the answers to one question that we come across another.

A traditional Chinese idiom goes like this: “One may search for something so hard as to wear out his shoes but find nothing, or he may get what he wants totally without efforts.” It tells that the best things come when you least expect them to. This idiom is to some extent reasonable if we have a look at those accidental discoveries or creations in the development of science and technology.  

First of all, the cited statistics of doubled milk price at a local food market lends no strong support to the arguer’s assumption that farmers are receiving excessive profit. On the one hand, whether the price of milk on the Excello Food Market is a representative of the average milk price offered to the farmers is open to doubt. On the other hand, the arguer fail to take into consideration of other factors such as increased tax, raised price index, which may hinder farmers’ gaining profit despite of the raised retail price.

In addition, the arguer’s assumption about in