GMAT考试写作指导：Argument范文三四

　　36. This newsletter article claims that Professor Taylors 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

　　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

　　argument for two reasons.

　　To begin with, the assumption here is that students from Professor Taylors

　　program 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

　　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

　　basis exists for comparing them to students at the other universities. In addition, the

　　article does not indicate whether students at all the universities, including Jones, were

　　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

　　admission requirements. In this event, the study wouldnt tell us much about Professor

　　Taylors program, for the proficiency of his students might be a function of their

　　superior talent and intelligence.

　　In conclusion, the statistics cited in the article offer little support for the claim

　　about Taylors program. To strengthen the argument, the author must show that the

　　universities in the study, including Jones, were comparable in other ways, that their

　　foreign language students were tested identically, and that Taylors program was the

　　only important difference between students tested at Jones and those tested at the other