Argument001 – Increasing Efficiency at Olympic Foods

The following appeared as part of an annual report sent to stockholders by Olympic Foods, a processor of frozen foods.

“Over time, the costs of processing go down because as organizations learn how to do things better, they become more efficient. In color film processing, for example, the cost of a 3-by-5-inch print fell from 50 cents for five-day service in 1970 to 20 cents for one-day service in 1984. The same principle applies to the processing of food. And since Olympic Foods will soon celebrate its twenty-fifth birthday, we can expect that our long experience will enable us to minimize costs and thus maximize profits.”

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument.

Reference:

• Arco Argument 01
• 老莫舊版作文 Argument 01

Issue062 – Education – teaching about the human community

“What education fails to teach us is to see the human community as one. Rather than focus on the unique differences that separate one nation from another, education should focus on the similarities among all people and places on Earth.”

What do you think of the view of education expressed above? Explain, using reasons and/or specific examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

Reference:

• Arco Issue 62
• 老莫舊版作文 Issue 62

Argument044 – Postage Stamp Prices

The following appeared in the opinion section of a national newsmagazine.

“To reverse the deterioration of the postal service, the government should raise the price of postage stamps. This solution will no doubt prove effective, since the price increase will generate larger revenues and will also reduce the volume of mail, thereby eliminating the strain on the existing system and contributing to improved morale.”

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument.

Reference:

• Arco Argument 42
• 老莫舊版作文 Argument 42

陶淵明 － 飲酒詩

結蘆在人境
而無車馬喧
問君何能爾
心遠地自偏

心遠地自偏真是我一直以來最嚮往的理想境界。

Issue037 – Teamwork or Strong Individual

“Businesses and other organizations have overemphasized the importance of working as a team. Clearly, in any human group, it is the strong individual, the person with the most commitment and energy, who gets things done.”

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

Reference:

• Arco Issue 36
• 老莫舊版作文 Issue 36

Argument110 – Take Heart business plan

The following appeared as part of a business plan created by the management of the Take Heart Fitness Center.

“After opening the new swimming pool early last summer, Take Heart saw a 12 percent increase in the use of the center by members. Therefore, in order to increase the number of our members and thus our revenues, which depend on membership fees, we should continue to add new recreational facilities in subsequent years: for example, a multipurpose game room, a tennis court, and a miniature golf course. Being the only center in the area offering this range of activities would give us a competitive advantage in the health and recreation market.”

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument.

Reference:

• Arco Argument 102
• 老莫舊版作文 Argument 100

English Composition Practice

GMAT 和 TOEFL 都要考寫作，而要加強寫作的唯一方式就是多寫。因此從今天開始要強迫自己每天至少寫一篇 issue 和 argument。在這裡的文章都是自己練習寫的，如果 ETS 看到這個然後拿這個來說我考試時寫的是抄襲的話，那就有趣了。我也非常歡迎大家的 comment，這樣才能讓自己寫得更好。希望大家不吝指教，謝謝各位。

Both GMAT and TOEFL test writing skills. The best ways to improve one’s composition are to write, to write, and to write. Therefore, I’ve made up my mind to compose one issue essay and one argument essay every day. All articles here are original works. If ETS finds that my articles in the GMAT exam are similar to the posts here, hopefully I will not be accused of plagiarism!

改版中

現在 blog 正在改版中，想將其換成更單純簡單的版面，減少側邊欄等等有的沒的 plugins ，回歸閱讀的基本環境。

在此同時，我也將本站所使用的 blog 系統 WordPress 升級到最近的 2.2.2 版。這個升級造成不小的中文亂碼的問題，改了一整個晚上才好不容易修正完成，真是累人。升級這麼痛苦，也是我想將版面變得更精簡的另外一個因素：plugins 越多，改的東西就越多。

無論如何，這次這個版面我還蠻喜歡的，接下來就是慢慢修改色調和字體囉。希望會給人耳目一新的感覺！

又一個有趣的爆腦問題

在網路上看到的，無聊的時候可以拿出來玩玩看，是個蠻需要邏輯的問題。

問題如下：

1. 最先出現答案為 “B" 的題號為 A)1 B)2 C)3 D)4 E)5
2. 唯一連續兩題出現相同答案的題號為 A)6, 7 B)7, 8 C)8, 9 D)9, 10 E)10, 11
3. 答案為 “E" 的題目有幾個 A)0 B)1 C)2 D)3 E)4
4. 答案為 “A" 的題目有幾個 A)4 B)5 C)6 D)7 E)8
5. 本題答案與哪一題號的答案相同 A)1 B)2 C)3 D)4 E)5
6. 第 17 題答案為 A)C B)D C)E D)以上皆非 E)以上皆是
7. 本題答案與下題答案相差幾個字母 A)4 B)3 C)2 D)1 E)0（註："A" 與 “E" 相差 4 個字母，"C" 與 “B" 相差 1 個字母。）
8. 答案為母音的題目有幾個 A)4 B)5 C)6 D)7 E)8
9. 本題之後的問題中，最先出現與本題有相同答案的題號為 A)10 B)11 C)12 D)13 E)14
10. 第 16 題答案為 A)D B)A C)E D)B E)C
11. 以上 10 題中答案為 “B" 的題目有幾個 A)0 B)1 C)2 D)3 E)4
12. 答案為子音的題目的個數為 A)偶數 B)奇數 C)完全平方數 D)質數 E)5 的倍數
13. 唯一答案為 “A" 的奇數題號為 A)9 B)11 C)13 D)15 E)17
14. 答案為 “D" 的題目有幾個 A)6 B)7 C)8 D)9 E)10
15. 第 12 題答案為 A)A B)B C)C D)D E)E
16. 第 10 題答案為 A)D B)C C)B D)A E)E
17. 第 6 題答案為 A)C B)D C)E D)以上皆非 E)以上皆是
18. 答案為 “A" 的題目數目與答案為何的題目數目相同 A)B B)C C)D D)E E)以上皆非
19. 本題答案為 A)A B)B C)C D)D E)E
20. 本題答案為 A)A B)B C)C D)D E)E

唯一的提示：第20題答案為 “E"。

縱囚論

最近減刑造成一些討論，不禁讓我聯想到以前讀過的一篇文章：歐陽修的「縱囚論」。那篇文章描述的事件和最近的減刑沒有太大的關聯，但有些基本原則是千古不變的。此外，歐陽修在這篇文章展現的邏輯推論非常精彩，短短幾段文字，層層推進，有條不紊，最後得出「上下交相賊」這麼一個犀利鋒銳又鞭辟入裡的評論，極佳！