劉文勇GRE寫(xiě)作Argument題庫(kù) Day 9

Day 9 Nature's Way, a chain of stores selling health food and other health-related products, is opening its next franchise in the town of Plainsville

Nature's Way, a chain of stores selling health food and other health-related products, is opening its next franchise in the town of Plainsville. The store should prove to be very successful: Nature's Way franchises tend to be most profitable in areas where residents lead healthy lives, and clearly Plainsville is such an area. Plainsville merchants report that sales of running shoes and exercise clothing are at all-time highs. The local health club has more members than ever, and the weight training and aerobics classes are always full. Finally, Plainsville's schoolchildren represent a new generation of potential customers: these schoolchildren are required to participate in a fitness-for-life program, which emphasizes the benefits of regular exercise at an early age.

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.

五問(wèn)：

（1）“Nature's Way, a chain of stores selling health food and other health-related products, is opening its next franchise in the town of Plainsville”“Plainsville merchants report that sales of running shoes and exercise clothing are at all-time highs. The local health club has more members than ever, and the weight training and aerobics classes are always full”和“these schoolchildren are required to participate in a fitness-for-life program, which emphasizes the benefits of regular exercise at an early age”是事實(shí)，“The store should prove to be very successful: Nature's Way franchises tend to be most profitable in areas where residents lead healthy lives, and clearly Plainsville is such an area”是結(jié)論，值得反駁嗎？

（2）商人的報(bào)告是否準(zhǔn)確？“商人”這個(gè)身份是否會(huì)使其報(bào)告在某些特定方面有傾向性或偏好？運(yùn)動(dòng)裝備賣(mài)得好，就意味著 Plainsville的居民一定是熱愛(ài)運(yùn)動(dòng)的嗎？是否有其他因素，比如打折促銷(xiāo)，導(dǎo)致運(yùn)動(dòng)裝備賣(mài)得好？

（3）運(yùn)動(dòng)裝備和健康食品之間的關(guān)系是互補(bǔ)品 [1] 還是替代品 [2] ？這個(gè)判斷是否會(huì)影響最終的決定？如果這兩者互為替代品，那么運(yùn)動(dòng)裝備賣(mài)得好，可能預(yù)示健康食品在當(dāng)?shù)氐匿N(xiāo)量不會(huì)太好。

（4）健身俱樂(lè)部的火爆，除了因?yàn)椤爱?dāng)?shù)厝岁P(guān)注身體健康”之外，是否可能有其他原因？例如：審美標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的轉(zhuǎn)變促使人們?yōu)榱吮３稚聿亩∩?。健身俱?lè)部與健康食品之間的關(guān)系，是互補(bǔ)品還是替代品？如果是互為替代品，那么結(jié)論還一定成立嗎？

（5）孩子現(xiàn)在參加健身項(xiàng)目，就意味著他們以后一定會(huì)注重健康嗎？這里再次出現(xiàn)時(shí)間軸論證。就算他們注重健康，就一定會(huì)成為 Nature's Way的顧客嗎？而且，文中沒(méi)有提到 Nature's Way在此開(kāi)店的成本問(wèn)題以及潛在的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，利潤(rùn)難以確定，所以能否成功還不一定。

[1] 互補(bǔ)品：對(duì)于兩種物品而言，如果兩者必須互相配合才能滿(mǎn)足消費(fèi)者的同一種需要，如照相機(jī)和膠卷，則這兩種物品互為互補(bǔ)品。

[2] 替代品：對(duì)于兩種物品而言，如果其中一種物品價(jià)格的上漲會(huì)導(dǎo)致對(duì)另一種物品需求的增加，則這兩種物品互為替代品。