GRE作文范文 Argument-37

“ Humans arrived in the Kaliko Islands about 7,000 years ago, and within 3,000 years most of the large mammal species that had lived in the forests of the Kaliko Islands had become extinct. Yet humans cannot have been a factor in the species' extinctions, because there is no evidence that the humans had any significant contact with the mammals. Further, archaeologists have discovered numerous sites where the bones of fish had been discarded, but they found no such areas containing the bones of large mammals, so the humans cannot have hunted the mammals. Therefore, some climate change or other environmental factor must have caused the species' extinctions.”

嘉文博譯Sample Essay

In this argument, the arguer states that humans arrived on the Kaliko islands seven thousand years ago and within three thousand years, most of the large mammal species that had lived in the forests there had become extinct. The arguer attempts to convince the reader that it was not humans that caused the extinction but that it was climate change or some other environmental factor that caused the species’ extinction. For support, the arguer claims that there is no evidence that the humans had any significant contact with the animals. The arguer also claims that archaeologists have discovered numerous sites where fish bones have been discarded but no such areas containing the bones of large mammals; therefore humans could not have hunted the mammals. This argument unconvincingly attempts to apply ambiguous evidence to prove the point but fails to address other possibilities that explain such evidence.

In the first place, the arguer states that humans cannot have been a factor simply because there is no evidence that the humans had any significant contact with the mammals. Simple logic would indicate that significant contact was likely. First of all, an island is a closed environment so it is likely that humans and the mammals would be forced to interact at some point during their four thousand year period of coexistence. Secondly, a lack of evidence after thousands of years have passed does not mean that humans cannot have been a factor – such evidence could have easily disintegrated or disappeared over such a long time. Finally, assuming that there was no significant contact between humans and mammals, the humans could have caused the mammals extinction without ever even touching them by destroying their food sources or natural habitats. Many species today are facing extinction due not to the animals being killed by humans, but by the elimination of their food sources and living environments. Failing to address these possibilities critically weakens the argument.

Furthermore, the arguer cites numerous sites where archaeologists have uncovered discarded fish bones, but that the archaeologists have found no such areas containing the bones of large mammals; therefore indicating that humans cannot have hunted the animals. Again, the arguer jumps to an illogical conclusion by failing to address other possibilities explaining the situation. First of all, it is possible that the humans did indeed hunt the large mammals for food, and ate the bones as well so that none were left behind as evidence. Many cultures today eat the bones (as well as all other parts) of mammals so it is a distinct possibility that there was simply nothing left of the mammals to be found by the archaeologists. Another possibility is that the humans discarded the bones in another manner where they could not be found by archaeologists, perhaps by burning them or throwing them into the ocean. The mere lack of a site containing the bones of large mammals proves nothing. By ignoring these other very viable possibilities, the argument again fails to convince.

In summary, the arguer jumps to the conclusion that humans cannot have been responsible for the extinction of the large mammals of the Kaliko Islands based on ambiguous evidence that does not prove anything with certainty. To make the argument stronger, the arguer should include direct evidence that proves that humans did not hunt the animals to extinction, nor did they destroy the mammals’ food supplies and natural habitat. Without such information, the argument is pure speculation and nothing more than a statement of the arguer’s opinion.

(591 words)

參考譯文

人類(lèi)約在7,000年之前抵達(dá)Kaliko群島，在3,000年不到的時(shí)間內(nèi)大多數(shù)棲息在Kaliko群島森林中的大型哺乳動(dòng)物物種已宣告滅絕。然而，人類(lèi)的存在不可能是導(dǎo)致這些物種滅絕的一個(gè)因素，因?yàn)闆](méi)有任何證據(jù)可證明人類(lèi)與哺乳動(dòng)物之間有過(guò)任何重大的接觸。此外，考古學(xué)家還發(fā)現(xiàn)了多個(gè)有魚(yú)骨遭棄置的遺址，但他們卻沒(méi)有發(fā)現(xiàn)含有大型哺乳動(dòng)物骨頭的這類(lèi)遺址，故人類(lèi)不可能曾獵殺過(guò)哺乳動(dòng)物。因此，肯定是某種氣候變遷或其他的環(huán)境因素導(dǎo)致了這些物種的滅絕。

在以上述論中，論述者稱(chēng)，人類(lèi)在7,000年之前就已抵達(dá)Kaliko群島，而在不到3,000年的時(shí)間內(nèi)大多數(shù)棲息在Kaliko群島森林中的大型哺乳動(dòng)物物種便已宣告滅絕。論述者試圖讓讀者相信，導(dǎo)致這一滅絕的因素不是人類(lèi)，而是某種氣候變遷或者其他某些環(huán)境因素。為了提供依據(jù)，論述者宣稱(chēng)，沒(méi)有任何證據(jù)可證明人類(lèi)曾與動(dòng)物有過(guò)重大的接觸。論述者此外還宣稱(chēng)，考古學(xué)家已發(fā)現(xiàn)了多處魚(yú)骨遭棄置的遺址，但卻沒(méi)有發(fā)現(xiàn)含有大型哺乳動(dòng)物骨頭的這類(lèi)遺址;因此，人類(lèi)不曾獵殺過(guò)哺乳動(dòng)物。這一論斷難以令人信服地試圖用模棱兩可的證據(jù)來(lái)證明其論點(diǎn)，但卻沒(méi)能探討有可能解釋這類(lèi)證據(jù)的其他可能性。

首先，論述者宣稱(chēng)，人類(lèi)不可能是動(dòng)物滅絕的一個(gè)因素，僅僅是因?yàn)闆](méi)有證據(jù)能表明人類(lèi)曾與哺乳動(dòng)物有過(guò)重大的接觸。哪怕是最簡(jiǎn)單的邏輯推理便可表明重大的接觸有可能發(fā)生過(guò)。首先，任何一座島嶼均是一個(gè)封閉的環(huán)境，因此人類(lèi)和動(dòng)物有可能在其共處的4,000年期間的某些時(shí)候被迫發(fā)生過(guò)互動(dòng)。其次，在數(shù)千年的時(shí)間已過(guò)去之后，證據(jù)的缺乏并不意味著人類(lèi)不可能成為動(dòng)物滅絕的一個(gè)因素——這類(lèi)證據(jù)可能在如此漫長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間內(nèi)已經(jīng)很容易地消散或消失。最后，即使假定人類(lèi)和哺乳動(dòng)物之間真的沒(méi)有過(guò)重大的接觸，人類(lèi)也可以在甚至根本不觸及哺乳動(dòng)物的情況下，通過(guò)破壞其食物來(lái)源或自然棲息地而導(dǎo)致它們的滅絕。時(shí)至今日，許多物種瀕臨滅絕，不是因?yàn)閯?dòng)物正在遭到人類(lèi)的捕殺，而是因?yàn)樗鼈兊氖澄飦?lái)源和生存環(huán)境正在被毀滅。該項(xiàng)論述因沒(méi)有探討這些可能性而遭到削弱。

此外，論述者還列舉了考古學(xué)家已發(fā)現(xiàn)存在魚(yú)骨的多處遺址，但同時(shí)又指出考古學(xué)家根本沒(méi)有發(fā)現(xiàn)含有大型哺乳動(dòng)物骨頭的這類(lèi)遺址。據(jù)此，論述者指出人類(lèi)不可能獵殺過(guò)動(dòng)物。這里，論述者再度過(guò)于輕率地得出了一個(gè)有悖邏輯的結(jié)論，因?yàn)樗?或她)沒(méi)能去探討有可能解釋這一情形的其他可能性。首先，人類(lèi)有可能確實(shí)獵殺過(guò)大型哺乳動(dòng)物以獲取食物，并把動(dòng)物的骨頭一起吃掉，因此就沒(méi)有任何骨頭遺留下來(lái)可充當(dāng)證據(jù)。在當(dāng)今社會(huì)的許多文化中，人們都有吃哺乳動(dòng)物的骨頭(以及身體的所有其他部分)的習(xí)俗，因此，一個(gè)顯著的可能性便是，哺乳動(dòng)物身上就只能沒(méi)有任何東西遺留下來(lái)供考古學(xué)家去發(fā)現(xiàn)。另一種可能性是，人類(lèi)以另一種方式來(lái)?xiàng)壷脛?dòng)物的骨頭，從而使考古學(xué)家無(wú)從發(fā)現(xiàn)，可能是將骨頭焚毀，或丟入大海。缺乏含有大型哺乳動(dòng)物骨頭的遺址，純粹這一點(diǎn)不能證明什么。由于忽略了這樣一些甚為可行的其他可能性，這一論斷又一次無(wú)法令人信服。

總而言之，論述者過(guò)于草率地得出結(jié)論，說(shuō)人類(lèi)對(duì)Kaliko群島大型哺乳動(dòng)物的滅絕不負(fù)有責(zé)任，因?yàn)樗罁?jù)的是無(wú)法確鑿證明任何東西的模棱兩可的證據(jù)。若要使這段論述更具力度，論述者應(yīng)該囊括直接的證據(jù)來(lái)證明，人類(lèi)沒(méi)有將動(dòng)物獵殺到滅絕的境地，并證明人類(lèi)也沒(méi)有破壞哺乳動(dòng)物的食物供給和野外棲息地。沒(méi)有此類(lèi)信息，該段論述純屬臆想和推測(cè)，所陳述的僅是論述者的主觀看法而已。