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Task Direction:
You will have 30 minutes to plan and write a critique of an argument presented in the form of a short passage. A critique of any other argument will receive a score of zero.
Analyze the line of reasoning in the argument. Be sure to consider what, if any, questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and, if evidence is cited, how well it supports the conclusion.
You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what additional information might help you better evaluate its conclusion. Note that you are NOT being asked to present your views on the subject.
GRE® readers who are college and university faculty will read your critique and evaluate its overall quality, based on how well you identify and analyze important features of the argument
organize, develop, and express your critique of the argument
support your critique with relevant reasons and examples
control the elements of standard written English.
Before you begin writing, you may want to take a few minutes to evaluate the argument and to plan a response. Be sure to develop your ideas fully and organize them coherently, but leave time to read what you have written and make any revisions that you think are necessary.
Section Direction:
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument.
Question:
The following appeared as an editorial in a wildlife journal.
"Arctic deer live on islands in Canada's arctic region. They search for food by moving over ice from island to island during the course of a year. Their habitat is limited to areas warm enough to sustain the plants on which they feed, and cold enough, at least some of the year, for the ice to cover the sea separating the islands, allowing the deer to travel over it. Unfortunately, according to reports from local hunters, the deer populations are declining. Since these reports coincide with recent global warming trends that have caused the sea ice to melt, we can conclude that the decline in arctic deer populations is the result of deer being unable to follow their age-old migration patterns across the frozen sea."
语句间的衔接成分用的不错，同时文章中的过程性词汇很丰富；作者句法知识掌握的不够好，可适当增加从句的使用；作者高级词汇使用比较准确，词汇表达较丰富，但仍需增加词汇积累。
The author concludes that the decline in arctic deer populations is the result of deer being unable to follow their age-old migration patterns across the frozen sea. His opinions based on the coincidence that recent global warming trends that have caused the sea ice to melt and the local hunter's report that deer population are declining. Seemingly organized logically, the argument is unconvincing in several respects. First, the reliability of the report of local hunter is questionable. The author didn't tell us how many local hunters report that deer population is declining; it's entirely possible that just a few, for example 3, hunters reported that, the deer population is not declining or even increasing. Or the author just asks hunters of one particular location, perhaps deer in that region happened to be declining at that time, but the overall population is not. Unless evidence was provided that the whole population of deer is declining, the judgment is unjustifiable. Second, even if the deer population are declining, the global warming trends just coincide with the declining population, there is no evidence showing that it's the global warming that causes deer population's decline. It quite possible that global warming trends do not melt the sea ice of Canada's arctic region and perhaps Canada's arctic region is becoming even colder, that deer are died because of lack of food. Without knowing whether the ice in arctic region of Canada are indeed melt or not, it's impossible to draw any reliable conclusion from the coincidence. Third, even if the global warming trend do melt the ice of Canada's arctic region, we can't make hasty generalization that deer population are declining is the result of deer being unable to follow their age-old migration patters across the frozen sea. Perhaps, the arctic deer needn't to across frozen sea, when global warming causes there are far too enough plants to guarantee their survival. Thus global warming has increased the deer population. Or, the deer population is declining due to other reasons such as the undue hunting activities. While the author overlook such alternatives, it's unlikely that his argument is logically justifiable. In sum, the author's argument fails to prove that the declining deer population result from being unable to follow their age-old migration patterns across the frozen sea. To strengthen his statement, we at least need evidence prove that the deer population is indeed declining and the global warming trend caused the sea ice in Canada's arctic region to melt. And we need further research that rule out other possibility that could cause the declining population.
