GMAT考试写作指导：Argument范文三五

　　35. The financial-planning office at Fern Valley University concludes that it is

　　necessary to initiate a fund-raising campaign among alumni that will enable the

　　university to expand the range of subjects it offers and increase the size of its library

　　facilities. It: argument is based on a five-year decline in enrollments and admission

　　applications together with the claim that students cite poor teaching and inadequate

　　library resources as their chief sources of dissatisfaction with Fern Valley. The

　　conclusion of the financial-planning office is not strongly supported by the reasons

　　given.

　　To begin with, this argument depends on the assumption that providing a greater

　　range of subjects and a larger library will alleviate the students chief sources of

　　dissatisfaction. However, the students have not complained about inadequate course

　　offerings or about the size of the library; their complaint is that the existing courses are

　　poorly taught and that library resources are inadequate. Offering more kinds of classes

　　does not improve teaching quality, and increasing a librarys size does nothing to

　　enhance its holdings, or resources. Accordingly, the recommendation does not bear

　　directly on the problem as stated.

　　Secondly, the proposal unfairly assumes that the recent enrollment and application

　　decline was caused by poor teaching and inadequate library resources. It is equally

　　possible that all colleges, regardless of teaching quality and library resources, have

　　experienced similar declines. These declines may have been due to unrelated factors,

　　such as unfavorable economic conditions, or an increase in high-paying computer jobs

　　not requiring a college education.

　　Thirdly, the author provides no support for the claim that students are dissatisfied

　　with the teaching and library resources at Fern Valley. It is possible that the claim is

　　based on hearsay or on scant anecdotal evidence. Without more information about the

　　basis of the claim, we cannot be sure that the financial-planning office is addressing the

　　real problems.

　　In conclusion, the advice of the financial planning office is not well supported. To

　　strengthen the argument, the planning office must provide evidence that students are

　　dissatisfied with the range of subjects and with the librarys size, and that this

　　dissatisfaction is the cause of the recent decline in enrollment and the number of

　　admission applications. To better assess the argument as it stands, we would need to

　　know whether the students attitudes were measured in a reliable, scientific manner.