刘文勇GRE写作Argument题库 Day 72

Day 72 Your recent article on corporate downsizing in Elthyria maintains that the majority of competent workers who have lost jobs as a result of downsizing face serious economic hardship, often for years, before finding other suitable employment

The following appeared as a letter to the editor of a national newspaper.

“Your recent article on corporate downsizing* in Elthyria maintains that the majority of competent workers who have lost jobs as a result of downsizing face serious economic hardship, often for years, before finding other suitable employment. But this claim is undermined by a recent report on the Elthyrian economy, which found that since 1999 far more jobs have been created than have been eliminated, bringing the unemployment rate in Elthyria to its lowest level in decades. Moreover, two-thirds of these newly created jobs have been in industries that tend to pay above-average wages, and the vast majority of these jobs are full-time.”

*Downsizing is the process whereby corporations deliberately make themselves smaller, reducing the number of their employees.

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

五问：

*“downsizing”是什么意思呢？原文中给出了释义的名词不同于一般的专有名词，一定要仔细阅读；如果这个专有名词对原文的理解没有影响， ETS就应该像对待其他专有名词那样对待这个单词，不会进行任何解释。因此，本文中的解释显然会在文本的理解中起到重要作用。

（1）“But this claim is undermined by a recent report on the Elthyrian economy”是结论，其余部分是事实，值得反驳吗？

（2）原文采用了 a recent report作为主要的论述手段：我们应该思考以前学习过的内容——什么样的 report才能起到良好的论证作用呢？需要具备哪些条件？需要提供哪些方面的信息？这些信息在原文中是否提及了呢？

（3）新创造的工作机会比减少的工作机会多，是否意味着工作就更好找了呢？找工作的除了被解雇的人之外，是否还有其他群体？比如刚刚从学校毕业的新鲜劳动力。注意到这一点可能对原文的命题及论述起到什么样的作用？如果新鲜劳动力所占就业比例更大，那该论据缺乏对结论的支持性。

（4）三分之二新创造的工作岗位的状况能否代表所有工作岗位的状况？是否有一种典型的错误类型叫作“大比例数据替代错误”？

（5）新创造的工作岗位是否适合中老年劳动力？原文中是否给出了足够的信息来证明这一点？许多新创造的工作是由科技发展带来的，中老年劳动力可能并不具备这些新的工作技能。