GMAT考试写作指导：Argument范文三四

会计考友

36.        This newsletter article claims that Professor Taylor's foreign-language program at
Jones University is a model of foreign language instruction. This conclusion is based on
a study in which foreign language tests were given to students at 25 other universities.
The study shows that first-year language students at Jones speak more fluently after just
: }5 l6 B! }% k, ~10 to 20 weeks in the program than do 90 percent of foreign-language majors at other
colleges at graduation. Despite these impressive statistics, I am unconvinced by this
! j8 l) t2 y' C1 s1 ], Bargument for two reasons.
5 s; |1 Y5 |* l" ?: _) z  U      To begin with, the assumption here is that students from Professor Taylor's
- \$ H4 `$ T' L' F* nprogram have learned more than foreign language students at other universities.
However, we are not given enough information about the study to be sure that this
& \  J1 U; b5 K, {+ l# T3 e9 @comparison is reliable. For example, the article does not tell us whether the foreign
language students at Jones were given the tests; it only reports that the tests in question
were "given to students at 25 other colleges." If Jones students were not tested, then no
  w# J7 ]6 Q8 y) Dbasis exists for comparing them to students at the other universities. In addition, the
7 O: E* d) w" O" Earticle does not indicate whether students at all the universities, including Jones, were
  k8 ^" l& C% G! P) [* \given the same tests. If not, then again no basis exists for the comparison.
        Furthermore, we cannot tell from this article whether the universities in the study,
or their students, are comparable in other ways. For instance, Jones might be a
prestigious university that draws its students from the top echelon of high school
graduates, while the other universities are lower-ranked schools with more lenient
  s. Q4 I0 U8 [, Uadmission requirements. In this event, the study wouldn't tell us much about Professor
7 D, c- b" a3 Q2 BTaylor's program, for the proficiency of his students might be a function of their
" l! T/ U$ m! B& A6 Vsuperior talent and intelligence.
  y! Y9 u* [) L9 N: H. t      In conclusion, the statistics cited in the article offer little support for the claim
about Taylor's program. To strengthen the argument, the author must show that the
* }" e& V: I. h2 [" m5 U' l8 zuniversities in the study, including Jones, were comparable in other ways, that their
' E7 J8 Q0 L8 N% U0 t. |5 r( Iforeign language students were tested identically, and that Taylor's program was the
3 O! X+ m4 `  c/ d( L! wonly important difference between students tested at Jones and those tested at the other
. ]5 N4 a" q7 `universities.