GRE考試argument范文及參考譯文

The following is a memorandum from the director of personnel to the president of Get-Away Airlines.

"Since our mechanics are responsible for inspecting and maintaining our aircraft, Get-Away Airlines should pay to send them to the Quality-Care Seminar, a two-week seminar on proper maintenance procedures. I recommend this seminar because it is likely to be a wise investment, given that the automobile racing industry recently reported that the performance of its maintenance crews improved markedly after their crews had attended the seminar. These maintenance crews perform many of the same functions as do our mechanics, including refueling and repairing engines. The money we spend on sending our staff to the seminar will inevitably lead to improved maintenance and thus to greater customer satisfaction along with greater profits for our airline."

[Sample Essay]

The director of personnel for Get - Away airlines has not made a very persuasive argument for sending the company's employees to the Quality - Care Seminar in his or her letter to the president of the company. Maybe the personnel director has not thoroughly investigated this particular seminar, as there are holes in the logic used to try to persuade the president to pay to send the mechanics to this two-week seminar.

First of all, the personnel director has stated that the seminar "is likely to be a wise investment" but then bases that assumption on a report from the automobile racing industry that their maintenance crews' performances had improved after attending the seminar. The letter does not state exactly what the seminar entails or whether it is specific to the proper maintenance procedures of any particular type of machine. It would be helpful had the personnel director explained in more detail the content of the Quality - Care seminar and whether it is aimed at automobiles or whether aircraft are included at all. The mechanics must learn something of value that will help them inspect and maintain the airline's fleet of aircraft. For the seminar to be a wise investment, the net productivity and income gains must outweigh the cost of the seminar. There is no evidence to show that this is the case.

Secondly, because the personnel director refers only to a report by the automobile racing industry, it seems probable that the seminar is specific to only that highly specialized industry. It is likely that there would be no clear correlation between the duties of the maintenance crews of an airline and the maintenance crews of an automobile built for racing. The fundamental purposes behind the two types of maintenance crews are clearly different. An automobile racing maintenance crew strives to create and maintain the fastest machine possible to enable its driver to cross the finish line in first place. An aircraft maintenance crew is devoted to ensuring that the airplane can fly safely in an efficient manner to transport people and cargo crew from one place to another. Speed is the main focus of the racecar industry while cost and safety are the main focuses of an airline.

Additionally, the personnel director suggests that the automotive racing industry maintenance crews perform many of the same functions as do the airline's mechanics, "including refueling and repairing engines". Although in name these functions are similar, they are in actuality performed in very different manners with different purposes in mind. For example, refueling in the racing industry is done as quickly as possible in order to get the racecar driver back on the track immediately. Certainly care is taken to ensure safety but again it is speed that is the number one priority. Refueling an airplane does not have to be done in the shortest time possible. The safety of passengers and cargo is the top priority. Similarly, the repairing of engines differs in that the faulty repair of a car engine may lead to losing the race, but the faulty repair of an airplane engine may result in an aircraft falling from the sky with disastrous consequences. Chances or shortcuts that might be taken with an automotive engine cannot be performed on an aircraft engine.

Finally, the personnel director refers to the inevitability of improved maintenance thus leading to greater customer satisfaction and therefore greater profits. This is a possible chain of events, certainly not an inevitable progression. In addition to the previously noted flaws in logic, merely spending money to send the staff to the seminar will not guarantee the stated "inevitable" benefits. It is possible that even if the seminar directly addresses aircraft maintenance and repair, the company's mechanics may already know everything that is presented, thus no improvement in maintenance will be gained. Maybe the mechanics will spend more time at the nightclubs in the area and not learn anything from the knowledge that is presented.

Furthermore, there is no direct correlation between improved maintenance and increased customer satisfaction, let alone an increase in profits. Aircraft maintenance is necessarily a "behind the scenes" activity that customers rarely notice, barring some catastrophic failure. It is doubtful that improved maintenance would lead to any recognizable increase in customer satisfaction. Additionally, customers may already be completely satisfied with Get - Away's services, thus no greater profits are possible from increasing customer satisfaction.

It is entirely possible that the personnel director's commitment to send the airline company's mechanics would indeed lead to the benefits that he or she has stated in the letter to the president. If the seminar does directly address maintenance and repair issues that actually would help the mechanics to improve the performance of their work duties, it is possible that the airline would see an increase in their efficiency and productivity. But barring some extrinsic evidence that is not included in the personnel director's letter, there are not enough facts stated to allow the president of Get - Away Airlines to make an informed decision on whether to send the mechanics to the Quality - Care seminar.

(847 words)

漢譯對照

[題目]

下述內(nèi)容為Get-away航空公司人事主任向總裁呈上的備忘錄中的一段文字：

"既然我們的機(jī)師負(fù)責(zé)檢查和維修我們的飛機(jī)，Get-Away航空公司應(yīng)該出錢讓他們參加"關(guān)心質(zhì)量"培訓(xùn)班，一種為期一周的講授正確保養(yǎng)程序的培訓(xùn)班。我之所以推薦這一培訓(xùn)班，因?yàn)檫@有可能是一項(xiàng)甚為英明的投資，其依據(jù)是賽車行業(yè)最近稱，其維修保養(yǎng)小組參加該培訓(xùn)班之后，其技術(shù)水準(zhǔn)顯著改觀。這些維修小組所從事的許多職責(zé)與我們的機(jī)師相同，包括補(bǔ)充燃料和修理引擎。我們花錢將我們的員工送去參加該培訓(xùn)班，必將導(dǎo)致維修水準(zhǔn)的提高，從而在為本公司帶來更多經(jīng)濟(jì)效益的同時(shí)獲得更高的客戶滿意度。"

[范文]

Get-Away航空公司的人事主管在其致公司總裁的信中，沒能就派遣該公司雇員前去參加"關(guān)心質(zhì)量"培訓(xùn)班提出令人信服的論點(diǎn)�；蛟S，該人事主管沒能對該培訓(xùn)班作出充分調(diào)研，因?yàn)樵谟糜谠噲D說服總裁花錢派遣機(jī)師前去參加為期兩周的培訓(xùn)班的邏輯推理中，漏洞百出。

首先，該人事主管陳述道，此培訓(xùn)班不失為一項(xiàng)"明智的投資"，但隨后又將這一假設(shè)基于來自賽車行業(yè)的一份報(bào)告，稱其維修隊(duì)的表現(xiàn)在參加該培訓(xùn)班之后顯著提高。信件既沒能確切地說明培訓(xùn)班涵蓋哪些方面，也沒說明它是否特定針對某一具體機(jī)械類型的恰當(dāng)保養(yǎng)程序。該人事主管如果較詳細(xì)地解釋"關(guān)心質(zhì)量"培訓(xùn)班的內(nèi)容，以及它是否針對汽車，還是也囊括飛機(jī)，這樣便更加有用。機(jī)師們必須學(xué)習(xí)到有價(jià)值的東西，能幫助他們檢查和維修航空公司的全部飛機(jī)。要想使培訓(xùn)班成為一項(xiàng)明智的投資，凈生產(chǎn)效益和收益必須超進(jìn)培訓(xùn)班的成本。信中無證據(jù)證明情況會如此。

其次，由于人事主管僅提及賽車行業(yè)的一份報(bào)告，則該培訓(xùn)班很有可能僅專門針對這一高度專業(yè)化的行業(yè)。在航空公司維修人員與賽車行業(yè)維修人員的職責(zé)之間，可能毫無明顯的聯(lián)系。這兩類維修人員背后的根本目的顯然不同。賽車維修人員力圖去造就并維護(hù)一部最大限度快速行駛的機(jī)器，以便使其駕駛員第一個(gè)沖進(jìn)終點(diǎn)。飛機(jī)維修人員致力于確保飛機(jī)能以一種有效的方式安全飛行，將人與貨物從一地運(yùn)輸至另一地。速度是賽車的主要目標(biāo)，而成本與安全則是航空公司的主要目標(biāo)。 此外，人事主管表示，賽車業(yè)維修人員所從事的許多職能與航空公司的機(jī)師相同，"包括加油和修理引擎"。雖然從名稱上看，這些職能相似，但實(shí)際上它們是以極為不同的方式完成的，目標(biāo)也全然不同。例如，賽車業(yè)中的加油需盡快完成，以便讓賽車手立刻重返賽道。當(dāng)然，人們會小心行事以確保安全，但速度在這里再度成為壓倒一切的因素。給飛機(jī)加油無須在最短時(shí)間內(nèi)完成。旅客和貨物的安全才是重中之重。同樣，兩者修理引擎也不盡相同，因?yàn)槠�車引擎修理失誤，所導(dǎo)致的是比賽的敗北。但飛機(jī)引擎修理失誤，將會導(dǎo)致飛機(jī)自高空中墜毀，造成災(zāi)難性后果。在修理汽車引擎時(shí)可能采用的碰運(yùn)氣或走捷徑的做法，是斷不能在飛機(jī)引擎上上演的。 最后，人事主管提到維修水平將不可避免得以提高，從而導(dǎo)致更大的客戶滿意度，并因此增加利潤。這只能算是一種有可能的事件之鏈，但肯定不是一種不可避免的事態(tài)演變。除了上述所指出的邏輯缺陷以外，僅僅花錢派遣人員前去參加培訓(xùn)班并不能保證人事主管所陳述的那些"理所當(dāng)然的"益處。即使培訓(xùn)班有可能是直接針對飛機(jī)的保修與維修，但公司的機(jī)師可能就早已掌握了培訓(xùn)班所要講授的知識，因而不可能實(shí)現(xiàn)維修水準(zhǔn)的提高。機(jī)師們也有可能將更多的時(shí)間耗費(fèi)在當(dāng)?shù)氐囊箍倳�里，從所教授的知識中一無所獲。

此外，在提高保養(yǎng)水平和提高客戶滿意??飛機(jī)保養(yǎng)無疑是一種"幕后"活動，除了發(fā)生某種災(zāi)難性的故障，客戶一般是很少注意到的。保養(yǎng)水平的提高將導(dǎo)致客戶滿意度的顯著提高，這是令人頗為懷疑的。再則，客戶可能早已對Get-Away的服務(wù)完全滿意，故提高客戶滿意度并不可能造成更多的利潤。

人事主管致力于促成派遣航空公司機(jī)師參加培訓(xùn)，這是完全有可能帶來在其致總裁的信中所陳述的那些益處。假如培訓(xùn)班所直接針對的確實(shí)是那些實(shí)際有助于機(jī)師們提高其工作責(zé)職表現(xiàn)的保養(yǎng)及修理問題，那么，該航空公司有可能發(fā)現(xiàn)其效率和生產(chǎn)能力出現(xiàn)一種增長。但是，除了某些外部證據(jù)以外，人事主管的信中沒能陳述足夠的事實(shí)。足以讓Get-Away航空公司總裁就是否派遣機(jī)師參加"關(guān)心質(zhì)量"培訓(xùn)班一事作出明智的決策。