劉文勇GRE寫作Argument題庫 Day 56

Day 56 A recent study of our customers suggests that our company is wasting the money it spends on its patented Endure manufacturing process

The following appeared in a memo from the vice president of marketing at Dura-Sock, Inc.

“A recent study of our customers suggests that our company is wasting the money it spends on its patented Endure manufacturing process, which ensures that our socks are strong enough to last for two years. We have always advertised our use of the Endure process, but the new study shows that despite our socks' durability, our average customer actually purchases new Dura-Socks every three months. Furthermore, our customers surveyed in our largest market, northeastern United States cities, say that they most value Dura-Socks' stylish appearance and availability in many colors. These findings suggest that we can increase our profits by discontinuing use of the Endure manufacturing process.”

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：

（1）“These findings suggest that we can increase our profits by discontinuing use of the Endure manufacturing process”是結論，其余部分是事實，值得反駁嗎？

（2）我們的顧客每三個月就會買一次新襪子，因此就能簡單地認定他們并不在乎襪子的耐用程度嗎？有哪些要素可能會促使顧客購買新的襪子？你能具體地列舉其中的一兩個嗎？例如：襪子的價格較低或者顧客很喜歡襪子的樣式等。

（3）原文的第二個論述點基于一項調(diào)查。請各位同學回顧一下：一次調(diào)查研究的有效性由哪些要素來決定？原文中是否考量了這些要素？

（4）在回答以上問題時應該注意：最大的市場能夠代表所有的市場嗎？例如：比較寒冷的地區(qū)可能更注重襪子的耐用度。顧客最看重樣式和顏色，就意味著他們不關注其他方面了嗎？比如耐用程度？

（5）原文的結論是要提高利潤。請你回顧一下，利潤由哪些因素決定？文中的策略是否只是諸多因素中的一個？這可能會產(chǎn)生什么不好的結果？放棄使用使產(chǎn)品更耐用的生產(chǎn)專利，可能會失去品牌的主要特征和優(yōu)勢。如果襪子耐用度降低，穿幾天就壞了，即使有再多的樣式和顏色，人們可能也不愿意購買。