GRE作文范文 Argument-31

"Over the past few years, the number of people who have purchased advance tickets for the Glenville Summer Concert series has declined, indicating lack of community support. Although the weather has been unpredictable in the past few years, this cannot be the reason for the decline in advance ticket purchases, because many people attended the concerts even in bad weather. Clearly, then, the reason for the decline is the choice of music, so the organizers of the concert should feature more modern music in the future and should be sure to include music composed by Richerts, whose recordings Glenville residents purchase more often than any other contemporary recordings. This strategy will undoubtedly increase advance ticket purchases and will increase attendance at the concerts."

嘉文博譯Sample Essay

This argument addresses the problem of a declining number of people purchasing advance tickets for the Glenville Summer Concert series, which the arguer states indicates a lack of community support. The arguer states that bad weather cannot be the reason for the decline because even though the weather had been unpredictable over the past few years, people attended the concerts even in poor weather. The arguer then concludes that the problem must lie with the choice of music, and that more modern music as well as recordings by Richerts, whose recordings are purchased more often by Glenville residents than any other contemporary recordings, should be included to increase advance ticket sales and increase attendance. This argument is unconvincing because the arguer reaches the conclusion based on faulty logic.

In the first place, the writer of the letter states that the decrease in the number of people who purchase advance tickets for the event indicates a lack of community support. A simple decline in advance ticket sales does not necessarily indicate a lack of community support; it may just be that there is no benefit to buying the tickets in advance. It is possible that more people will continue to attend the concert than ever before by buying tickets at the gate rather than in advance. There may be other reasons instead of a lack of community support for the decline in advance ticket sales. For example, in the past there may have been a discount given for buying the tickets in advance. Perhaps in the past there was a "rain-out" provision where advance ticket holders could get a refund if the weather was bad. The dropping of these advance ticket benefits would explain the decline in the number of people buying them. If there is no benefit to buying advance tickets, there is no reason for the community to buy the tickets early. The arguer fails to take these possibilities into account, thus weakening his or her argument.

Furthermore, the writer states that although the weather has been unpredictable in the past few years, this cannot be the reason for declining advance ticket sales because people still attended even in bad weather. Those that attended in bad weather probably only had two choices: attend the concert and suffer through the weather or stay at home, thus wasting the money that was spent on the tickets. Once they attended in the concert in bad weather and had a terrible time, it is likely that they decided that it was not worth it to buy tickets in advance and therefore decided to wait until the day of the show to purchase them in the future. Additionally, it does not follow that the decline is due to the choice of music at the concerts - there is no evidence presented that modern music would attract more advance or regular ticket purchasers or that Richerts' compositions would get more people to buy tickets in advance or attend the concerts. Simply because Glenville residents buy more Richerts recordings than any other contemporary recordings does not mean that they would like to see them performed at the Glenville Summer concert series; in fact, there may be more out-of-town residents that usually attend the concerts than Glenville residents. Again, the writer fails to address these factors in his or her argument.

In summary, the letter writer reaches his or her conclusions based on poorly interpreted information. Without providing direct evidence that the music included is to blame for the decline in advance ticket sales and that changing the music would increase those sales as well as overall attendance, the writer's argument ultimately fails to deliver on its premise.

(618 words)

參考譯文

下述文字摘自一封致某地方報紙《格蘭維爾報》編輯的信函：

"在過去的幾年里，預(yù)購格蘭維爾夏季系列音樂會門票的人數(shù)有所下跌，這說明社區(qū)的支持力度不夠。盡管在過去的幾年里天氣變化出人意料，但是這并不是預(yù)購門票下跌的原因，因為許多人甚至在壞天氣時照樣去聽音樂會。顯然，下跌的原因在于對音樂的選擇，所以音樂會的組織者在未來應(yīng)該演奏更多的現(xiàn)代音樂，應(yīng)該保證演奏里查茲譜寫的樂曲，因為比起任何其他當(dāng)代作曲家的唱片，格蘭維爾的居民更經(jīng)常地購買他的唱片。這一策略將保證增加門票的預(yù)購數(shù)，并將增加聽音樂會的人數(shù)。"

這一論證陳述道，格蘭維爾夏季系列音樂會預(yù)購門票的人數(shù)下降，論證者認(rèn)為這表明社區(qū)的支持力度不夠。論證者聲稱，壞天氣不可能是人數(shù)下降的原因，因為盡管在過去的幾年里天氣變化出人意料，但是人們在出現(xiàn)壞天氣時照樣去聽音樂會。論證者接著得出結(jié)論：問題在于對音樂的選擇，應(yīng)該演奏更為現(xiàn)代的音樂以及里查茲譜寫的樂曲，因為格蘭維爾的居民購買他的唱片比購買任何其他當(dāng)代作曲家的唱片更為頻繁，這樣便能增加門票的預(yù)購數(shù)以及聽音樂會的人數(shù)。這一論證缺乏說服力，因為論證者所得出的結(jié)論是基于錯誤的邏輯。

首先，信函作者聲稱預(yù)購音樂會門票的人數(shù)下跌表明社區(qū)的支持力度不夠。單憑預(yù)購門票的下降，并不能完全說明社區(qū)的支持力度不夠。很可能是因為預(yù)購門票沒有什么益處。也可能與以往任何時候相比，更多的人會隨時在售票處購票而不是預(yù)購門票來繼續(xù)聽音樂會?？赡艽嬖谄渌?qū)е骂A(yù)購門票下降，而不是因為社區(qū)的支持力度不夠。例如，過去，可能預(yù)購門票可以獲得打折。或許過去有"遇雨取消"的規(guī)定，如果天氣不好預(yù)售票持有者可以退票。這樣的預(yù)售門票裨益的取消，可以解釋預(yù)購門票人數(shù)下降的原因。倘若預(yù)購門票沒有益處，也就沒有理由讓社區(qū)居民提前購票了。論證者沒有把這些因素考慮在內(nèi)，因此削弱了他/她的論證。

再者，信函作者說道，盡管在過去的幾年中天氣變幻無常，但這不能構(gòu)成預(yù)售票下降的原因，因為人們在遇到壞天氣時照樣去聽音樂會。那些在壞天氣去聽音樂會的人可能只有兩個選擇：去聽音樂會并忍受壞天氣，或者呆在家里并浪費門票錢。一旦他們在壞天氣去聽音樂會而且過得很不愉快，他們很可能會認(rèn)為不值得提前買票，從而決定在將來要等到演出那天才去買票。此外，說預(yù)購門票數(shù)量的下降是由于音樂會對音樂的選擇所造成的，這也沒有道理--沒有證據(jù)表明現(xiàn)代音樂會吸引更多的預(yù)購門票和普通門票的購買，或者說里查茲的曲目會讓更多的人預(yù)購門票和聽音樂會。只是因為格蘭維爾居民購買里查茲的唱片比購買其他當(dāng)代唱片多，并不能意味著他們喜歡看到他的這些音樂在格蘭維爾夏季系列音樂會上被演出。實際上，經(jīng)常性聽音樂會的城外居民可能要比格蘭維爾的居民來得多。信函作者又沒能在其論證中探討這些因素。 總之，信函作者只是憑借沒有經(jīng)過恰當(dāng)解釋的信息得出其結(jié)論。因為沒有提供直接的證據(jù)證明音樂會所選擇的曲目是預(yù)售票下降的原因，以及改變音樂會的曲目會增加預(yù)售票和聽音樂會的人數(shù)，信函作者的論證最終無法自圓其說。