GRE写作成为横在中国学生的理想和现实之间的一大障碍，因此，如何攻克写作这道屏障，成为摆在我们面前的首要任务。
Argument 111
The following appeared as an editorial in a local newspaper.
"In order to attract visitors to Central Plaza downtown and to return the plaza to its former glory,
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the city should prohibit skateboarding there and instead allow skateboarders to use an area in
Monroe Park. At Central Plaza, skateboard users are about the only people one sees now, and
litter and defaced property have made the plaza unattractive. In a recent survey of downtown
merchants, the majority supported a prohibition on skateboarding in the plaza. Clearly,
banning skateboarding in Central Plaza will make the area a place where people can
congregate for fun or for relaxation."
This editorial concludes that the city should ban skateboarding from its downtown Central
Plaza in order to attract visitors to that area, to return the area to its "former glory," and to make
it "a place where people can congregate for fun and relaxation." To justify this conclusion the
editorial points out that skateboarders are nearly the only people one sees anymore at Central
Plaza, and that the Plaza is littered and its property defaced. The editorial also points out that
the majority of downtown merchants support the skate boarding ban. This argument is flawed
in several critical respects.
First, the editorial's author falsely assumes that a ban on skateboarding is both necessary
and sufficient to achieve the three stated objectives. Perhaps the city can achieve those
objectives by other means as well--for example, by creating a new mall that incorporates an
attractive new skateboard park. Even if banning skateboarders altogether is necessary to meet
the city's goals, the author has not shown that this action by itself would suffice. Assuming that
the Plaza's reputation is now tarnished, restoring that reputation and, in turn, enticing people
back to the Plaza might require additional measures--such as removing litter and graffiti,
promoting the Plaza to the public, or enticing popular restaurant or retail chains to the Plaza.
Secondly, the editorial assumes too hastily that the Plaza's decline is attributable to the
skateboarders--rather than to some other phenomenon. Perhaps the Plaza's primary appeal in
its glory days had to do with particular shops or eateries, which were eventually replaced by
less appealing ones. Or perhaps the crime rate in surrounding areas has risen dramatically, for
reasons unrelated to the skateboarders' presence at the Plaza. Without ruling out these and
other alternative explanations for the Plaza's decline, the editorial's author cannot convince me
that a skateboard ban would reverse that decline.
Thirdly, the editorial's author might be confusing cause with effect--by assuming that the
skateboarders caused the abandonment of the Plaza, rather than vice versa. It is entirely
possible that skateboarders did not frequent the Plaza until it was largely abandoned--and
because it had been abandoned. In fact this scenario makes good sense, since skateboarding
is most enjoyable where there are few pedestrians or motorists to get in the way.
Fourth, it is unreasonable to infer from the mere fact that most merchants favor the ban that
the ban would be effective in achieving the city's objectives. Admittedly, perhaps these
merchants would be more likely to help dean up the Plaza area and promote their businesses
were the city to act in accordance with their preference. Yet lacking any supporting evidence
the author cannot convince me of this. Thus the survey amounts to scant evidence at best that
the proposed ban would carry the intended result. 感谢您阅读《GRE作文范文大全（147） 》一文，出国留学网(liuxue86.com)编辑部希望本文能帮助到您。