本地服装店报告说从8月1号到10月31号的3个月里他们的平均利润下降。销售家庭用品的商店却报告同期的平均利润上升。很明显，顾客正选择为他们的家里购买用品而不是买衣物。为了利用这个趋势，我们应该缩减我们的服装部规模而扩大家庭装饰和家务用品部
范文：Based upon sales reports over a three-month period that indicate an increase in profits for stores that sell products for the home and a decrease in profits for clothing stores， the business manager of a department store concludes that consumers are choosing to purchase home furnishings rather than clothing. On the basis of this conclusion， the manager recommends a reduction in the size of the clothing department and an increase in the size of the home-furnishings department. This recommendation is problematic in two critical respects.
In the first place， the author’s conclusion that consumers are choosing to buy products for their homes instead of clothing is based upon too small a sample. Data gathered from a three-month period is insufficient to establish the conclusion drawn from it. It is quite possible that the three-month period chosen is idiosyncratic and not representative of entire year’s sales. If so， reducing the size of the clothing departments and enlarging the home-furnishings departments may be a costly mistake.
In the second place， the data collected during the three month period may be biased. The fact that the data reflects sales in local stores is cause for concern. It is possible that the sales trend in a particular location is not representative of sales in other regions. For example， sales of clothing in Florida during the winter months are likely to be quite different from sales of clothing in Alaska during the same period.
In conclusion， this argument is not persuasive as it stands. A more convincing argument must provide additional sales data， collected at different periods of the year and at different locations， that substantiates the trend in question.
16. AA：
No.32 “A recent review of the West Cambria volunteer ambulance service revealed a longer average response time to accidents than was reported by a commercial ambulance squad located in East Cambria. In order to provide better patient care for accident victims and to raise revenue for our town by collecting service fees for ambulance use， we should disband our volunteer service and hire a commercial ambulance service.”
提供观点：
1. 对事故的反映时间诚然是评价服务质量的一个因素但并不是的因素。所以仅仅因为东区的商业救护班的反映时间短就认定商业救护办的服务更好是gratuitous的。
2. 就算东区的商业班的服务质量更好也并不意味着，西区用商业班就会有一样的成效。因为东西区的情况是不同的。很可能西区的志愿者更有服务，献身意识。
3. 此外除非商业班收十分昂贵的服务费用或者有十分多的事故事实这些都是不可能的， 改成商业是不见得就可以给该镇增加很多税收的。所以把这一点作为理由是不正确的。
considerable revenue significant significance consequently consequence 。.. is insufficient evidence for the claim that this will be the case for 。.. ambulance-crew proficiency training emergency
