劉文勇GRE寫作Argument題庫 Day 2

Day 2 A recent study of eighteen rhesus monkeysprovides clues as to the effects of birth orderon an individual's levels of stimulation

The following appeared as part of a letter to the editor of a scientific journal.

“A recent study of eighteen rhesus monkeys provides clues as to the effects of birth order on an individual's levels of stimulation. The study showed that in stimulating situations (such as an encounter with an unfamiliar monkey), firstborn infant monkeys produce up to twice as much of the hormone cortisol, which primes the body for increased activity levels, as do their younger siblings. Firstborn humans also produce relatively high levels of cortisol in stimulating situations (such as the return of a parent after an absence). The study also found that during pregnancy, first-time mother monkeys had higher levels of cortisol than did those who had had several offspring.”

Write a response in which you discuss one or more alternative explanations that could rival the proposed explanation and explain how your explanation(s) can plausibly account for the facts presented in the argument.

五問：

（1）“A recent study of eighteen rhesus monkeys provides clues as to the effects of birth order on an individual's levels of stimulation”是結論，其余部分是事實，值得反駁嗎？

（2）這是一個典型的例題，請大家趁機回顧一下：一個好的實驗，應該交代哪些要素？例如：實驗的對象是否具有普遍性；樣本的代表性如何（比如，猴子是否能夠代表所有的動物）；樣本量是否夠大（一般來說， 18只猴子這個數目難以稱之為足夠）等。以上提及的這些要素都是想要加強原文中的論斷所必需的內容。

（3）刺激的表現(xiàn)形式有很多種，文中是否涵蓋或者定義了所有的方面？難道刺激在任何動物身上都表現(xiàn)為分泌激素嗎？更重要的是，在做實驗的時候，是否應該將刺激設定為統(tǒng)一的標準和表現(xiàn)形式？

（但大家不必提出新的定義，因為這個題目與個人的背景知識無關。）

（4）請問什么叫作對照組？對照組在實驗過程中的作用是什么？原文的論述是否包含了對照組？沒有。這樣會有什么缺陷？實驗結果不夠科學合理。（比如，對比不同年齡猴子的不同激素水平，對比刺激前和刺激后的激素水平，能否得出統(tǒng)一的結論？如何證明皮質醇水平的變化只與刺激有關？其他因素如猴子本身激素分泌量是否正常，其他壓力等條件變化也會影響皮質醇水平。）

（5）前后兩個分論點之間的關系如何？懷孕和刺激性情景可以形成類比嗎？文中有證據證明兩者有相似之處嗎？母猴體內皮質醇水平跟小猴體內皮質醇水平有直接關系嗎？