刘文勇GRE写作Argument题库 Day 9

Day 9 Nature's Way, a chain of stores selling health food and other health-related products, is opening its next franchise in the town of Plainsville

Nature's Way, a chain of stores selling health food and other health-related products, is opening its next franchise in the town of Plainsville. The store should prove to be very successful: Nature's Way franchises tend to be most profitable in areas where residents lead healthy lives, and clearly Plainsville is such an area. Plainsville merchants report that sales of running shoes and exercise clothing are at all-time highs. The local health club has more members than ever, and the weight training and aerobics classes are always full. Finally, Plainsville's schoolchildren represent a new generation of potential customers: these schoolchildren are required to participate in a fitness-for-life program, which emphasizes the benefits of regular exercise at an early age.

Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.

五问：

（1）“Nature's Way, a chain of stores selling health food and other health-related products, is opening its next franchise in the town of Plainsville”“Plainsville merchants report that sales of running shoes and exercise clothing are at all-time highs. The local health club has more members than ever, and the weight training and aerobics classes are always full”和“these schoolchildren are required to participate in a fitness-for-life program, which emphasizes the benefits of regular exercise at an early age”是事实，“The store should prove to be very successful: Nature's Way franchises tend to be most profitable in areas where residents lead healthy lives, and clearly Plainsville is such an area”是结论，值得反驳吗？

（2）商人的报告是否准确？“商人”这个身份是否会使其报告在某些特定方面有倾向性或偏好？运动装备卖得好，就意味着 Plainsville的居民一定是热爱运动的吗？是否有其他因素，比如打折促销，导致运动装备卖得好？

（3）运动装备和健康食品之间的关系是互补品 [1] 还是替代品 [2] ？这个判断是否会影响最终的决定？如果这两者互为替代品，那么运动装备卖得好，可能预示健康食品在当地的销量不会太好。

（4）健身俱乐部的火爆，除了因为“当地人关注身体健康”之外，是否可能有其他原因？例如：审美标准的转变促使人们为了保持身材而健身。健身俱乐部与健康食品之间的关系，是互补品还是替代品？如果是互为替代品，那么结论还一定成立吗？

（5）孩子现在参加健身项目，就意味着他们以后一定会注重健康吗？这里再次出现时间轴论证。就算他们注重健康，就一定会成为 Nature's Way的顾客吗？而且，文中没有提到 Nature's Way在此开店的成本问题以及潜在的竞争，利润难以确定，所以能否成功还不一定。

[1] 互补品：对于两种物品而言，如果两者必须互相配合才能满足消费者的同一种需要，如照相机和胶卷，则这两种物品互为互补品。

[2] 替代品：对于两种物品而言，如果其中一种物品价格的上涨会导致对另一种物品需求的增加，则这两种物品互为替代品。