最新官网上的argument题库及对应翻译(十四)

　　The department of agriculture in Batavia reports that the number of dairy farms throughout the country is now 25 percent greater than it was 10 years ago. During this same time period, however, the price of milk at the local Excello Food Market has increased from $1.50 to over $3.00 per gallon. To prevent farmers from continuing to receive excessive profits on an apparently increased supply of milk, the Batavia government should begin to regulate retail milk prices. Such regulation is necessary to ensure both lower prices and an adequate supply of milk for consumers.

　　112The following appeared in a memo from the mayor of the town of West Egg.

　　Two years ago, our consultants predicted that West Eggs landfill, which is used for garbage disposal, would be completely filled within five years. During the past two years, however, town residents have been recycling twice as much aluminum and paper as they did in previous years. Next month the amount of material recycled should further increase, since charges for garbage pickup will double. Furthermore, over ninety percent of the respondents to a recent survey said that they would do more recycling in the future. Because of our residents strong commitment to recycling, the available space in our landfill should last for considerably longer than predicted.

　　113The following appeared in a memo from a vice president of Alta Manufacturing.

　　During the past year, Alta Manufacturing had thirty percent more on-the-job accidents than nearby Panoply Industries, where the work shifts are one hour shorter than ours. Experts believe that a significant contributing factor in many on-the-job accidents is fatigue and sleep deprivation among workers. Therefore, to reduce the number of on-the-job accidents at Alta and thereby increase productivity, we should shorten each of our three work shifts by one hour so that our employees will get adequate amounts of sleep.

　　114The following appeared in a memo from the chief executive of a video game company.

　　We have recently been offered the opportunity to buy the rights to produce a video game based on the soon-to-be-published childrens book Squirrel Power, by Peter Wood. While the cost of the rights is substantial and will place economic constraints on our company in the short-term, there are two reasons that the purchase of these rights will undoubtedly be a wise investment. First, Woods last three books have been best sellers and the movie based on his first book was highly profitable. Second, the popular characters and story line in Squirrel Power will save us time in developing our video game, thereby reducing our costs.

　　115The following appeared in a memo from the owner of Green Thumb Gardening Center, a small business serving a suburban town.

　　There is evidence that consumers are becoming more and more interested in growing their own vegetables. A national survey conducted last month indicated that many consumers were dissatisfied with the quality of fresh vegetables available in supermarkets. And locally, the gardening magazine GreatGardens has sold out at the Village News stand three months in a row. Thus, we at Green Thumb Gardening Center can increase our profits by greatly expanding the variety of vegetable seeds we stock for gardeners this coming spring.

　　116The following appeared in a newsletter offering advice to investors.

　　Over 80 percent of the respondents to a recent survey indicated a desire to reduce their intake of foods containing fats and cholesterol, and today low-fat products abound in many food stores. Since many of the food products currently marketed by Old Dairy Industries are high in fat and cholesterol, the companys sales are likely to diminish greatly and their profits will no doubt decrease. We therefore advise Old Dairy stockholders to sell their shares and other investors not to purchase stock in this company.

　　117The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a local newspaper from a citizen of the state of Impecunia.

　　Two years ago our neighboring state, Lucria, began a state lottery to supplement tax revenues for education and public health. Today, Lucria spends more per pupil than we do, and Lucrias public health program treats far more people than our states program does. If we were to establish a state lottery like the one in Lucria, the profits could be used to improve our educational system and public health program. The new lottery would doubtless be successful, because a survey conducted in our capital city concludes that citizens of Impecunia already spend an average of $50 per person per year on gambling.

　　118The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the Walnut Grove town newspaper.

　　Walnut Groves town council has advocated switching from EZ Disposal to ABC Waste, because EZ recently raised its monthly fee from $2,000 to $2,500 a month, whereas ABCs fee is still $2,000. But the town council is mistaken; we should continue using EZ. EZ collects trash twice a week, while ABC collects only once. Moreover, EZ ― which, like ABC, currently has a fleet of 20 trucks ― has ordered additional trucks. Finally, EZ provides exceptional service: 80 percent of respondents to last years town survey agreed that they were satisfied with EZs performance.

　　119The following appeared in an editorial in a Prunty County newspaper.

　　In an attempt to improve highway safety, Prunty County recently lowered its speed limit from 55 miles per hour to 45 on all major county roads. But the 55 mph limit should be restored, because this safety effort has failed. Most drivers are exceeding the new speed limit and the accident rate throughout Prunty County has decreased only slightly. If we want to improve the safety of our roads, we should instead undertake the same kind of road improvement project that Butler County completed five years ago: increasing lane widths and resurfacing rough roads. Today, major Butler County roads still have a 55 mph speed limit, yet there were 25 percent fewer reported accidents in Butler County this past year than there were five years ago.

　　120The following appeared in a letter from the manager of a rock band named Double Rice.

　　One year ago, tickets for Double Rices concerts in stadiums around the country took, on average, at least 24 hours to sell out, if they sold out at all. But the band has been enjoying a surge in nationwide popularity among 14 to 25 year olds, and the 30,000 tickets for a recent concert in Megalopolis sold out in 12 minutes. Clearly the ticket sales in Megalopolis are a result both of the bands increased popularity and of the advertising campaign run in Megalopolis by the Ad Lib advertising agency. Thus, in order to ensure that the bands success in Megalopolis is repeated across the country, the band should hire Ad Lib to duplicate the Megalopolis ad campaign on a nationwide scale.

　　111 Batavia的农业部门报告说全国奶牛场的数量比10年前增加了25%。然而就在同一时期，当地Excello食品市场牛奶的价格从每加仑$1.5上涨到了$3.0。为防止农场主在牛奶供应量明显增加的情况下获取过多的利润，Batavia的政府应开始管制牛奶的零售价。这种限价对于保证更低的牛奶价格和充足的供应是必需的。

　　112两年前，我们的顾问预言西蛋用于投放垃圾的填埋地将在五年内完全充满。然而在过去两年间，市民对于铝和纸张的循环再生的数量比以前翻了一番。由于垃圾收集的收费在下个月将会加倍，循环再生的材料数量将进一步增加。而且，最近一次调查超过90%的回应者表示他们将会在未来做的循环再生工作。由于居民对循环再生的有力支持，我们填埋地可利用空间的使用时间将比预期的长得多。

　　113在过去，Alta工厂的工伤事故比邻近的Panoply工厂多30%，Panoply的每班工作时间比我们的短一个小时。专家相信导致很多工伤事故的重要因素就是工人的疲劳和睡眠不足。因此，为减少Alta的工伤事故数量并提高生产数量，我们应该把我们的三个班次的工作时间每个都减少一小时，从而我们的雇员将有更充足的睡眠。

　　114我们最近获得了购买一个游戏的生产权的机会，该游戏基于即将出版的由Peter Wood所写的儿童文学《松鼠力量》。尽管购买该生产权的代价比较高昂并将会给本公司的财政造成短期的压力，但我们有两个理由认为购买该生产权无疑是一项明智的投资。首先，Wood的前三本书非常畅销，基于他第一本书改编的电影获得了很高的盈利。其次，《松鼠力量》中受人的角色和情节将节省我们制作游戏所用的时间，从而节约我们的成本。

　　115有证据表明消费者对于自己种植蔬菜越来越感兴趣。上个月举行的一项国家调查显示很多消费者对于超市上供应的新鲜蔬菜的质量不满意。在本地，园艺杂志《大花园》在乡村资讯报亭连续三个月售罄。因此，我们园艺能手园艺中心可以通过大量增加今春为园艺爱好者准备的蔬菜种子的种类而增加盈利。

　　116最近一次调查中超过80%的回应者表达了他们想减少含脂肪和胆固醇的食品的愿望，现在很多食品商店都提供丰富的低脂肪食品。由于Old Dairy Industries当前生产的很多产品都有很高的脂肪和胆固醇含量，该公司的销量有可能严重下降，其盈利无疑会减少。因而我们建议Old Dairy的股票持有者抛出他们所持的股份，其他投资者也不应购买该公司的股份。

　　117两年前我们相邻的州Lucria开展了州际彩票活动来增加用于教育和公共医疗的财政收入。现在，Lucria对于每个小学生的平均开支比我们多，Lucria的公共医疗体系接待的人数也比我们的多很多。如果我们也建立一套和Lucria类似的彩票系统，其盈利可以被用来改善我们的教育系统和公共医疗体系。新的彩票无疑会成功，因为在我们的首府举办的一次调查显示Impecuni的居民每人每年用于博彩的平均支出已经达到$50。

　　118 Walnut Grove的市委提议选择ABC Waste，而不是EZ Disposal(它是过去十年中和Walnut Grove签约提供垃圾收集服务的机构)，因为EZ最近把他们每月的收费从$2000提高到了$2500，而ABC仍然是$2000。但市委是错误的，我们应该继续使用EZ。EZ每周收集两次垃圾，而ABC只收集一次。而且，EZ当前的卡车拥有量和ABC一样都是20辆，但它已定购了的车辆。最后，EZ还提供优越的服务：去年市镇调查中80%的回应者同意他们对于EZ的表现是满意的。

　　119为提高高速公路的安全性，Prunty县最近把县上所有主要路段的最高限速从55mph降到了45。但我们应该回复到55mph的限速，因为这种保障安全的努力已经失败了。多数司机都超过了新的限速，而且Prunty 县全镇的事故率仅有微量下降。如果我们要提高公路安全性，我们应该采取Butler县在5年前完成的同样的道路改善计划：增加车道宽度和重新铺装不平整路面。现在，Butler县的主要道路仍然使用55mph限速，而那里近年间上报的事故发生率比五年前减少了25%。

　　120一年前，Double Rice在全国体育场举行的音乐会门票如果能卖完的话，也平均至少需要24小时。但乐队现在经历了一次14-25岁人群的全国性支持风潮，最近在Megalopolis的一次音乐会的30000张门票在12分钟内就售完了。显然Megalopolis的门票热销得益于乐队日益增加的人气度和由Ad Lib广告公司在Megalopolis所作的广告宣传。因此，为保证乐队在Megalopolis的成功能够在全国再现，乐队应雇佣Ad Lib在全国范围内重复他们在Megalopolis所作的广告宣传。