Lesson 16 More Issues for Debating

1. Lesson 16 More Issues for Debating —Tourism & Other Issues

2. The following tips are oriented towards making preparations for greater effectiveness

3. How to construct effective arguments? There are many techniques that each speaker can use in their speech but there are three main areas that you will be marked on. They are language, content and delivery. 1) language Language is important since contestants must be understood. Judges look for accurate pronunciation, enunciation and articulation as well as the ability to vary the pace and pitch of the voice when speaking. Vocabulary use must be appropriate, correct and interesting. Try to avoid being too informal but don’t go overboard the other way. 2) content Content is what you say, it is the substance of your speech. You should divide your content into arguments and supporting materials. An argument is a statement “the topic is true/false because of x”, where the argument fills in for the x. For example in the topic论点 “that the zoos should be closed” an argument论据 may be: “the zoos should be closed because they confine the animals in an unnatural environment” . 3) delivery To bring the topic alive, you can use the following tips: • Cue cards: use them the same way you would use a prompt in a play. They are there for reference if you lose your spot. • Eye contact: if you look at the audience you will hold their attention. When you’ve got them by the eyeballs their hearts and minds will follow. • Voice: you must project your voice so as to be heard clearly. Adjust your volume, pitch and rate of speaking to emphasize and catch the audience’s attention. • Body language: your body is a tool for you to use.

4. How to refute arguments? • Refutation驳斥 is the process of proving that an argument or a series of arguments, or the conclusions drawn from that argument or arguments, is false, erroneous, or at least doubtful. In a debate, effective refutations are key to success. Refutations should be handled systematically. Here are guidelines that you can follow: • Anticipate what your opponent will say. • Take careful notes of what your opponent says and note your reactions to what is said. • Find your opponents’ fallacies谬误、谬论 in arguments and attack on that basis. • Organize your arguments effectively.

5. Debate topic 1: Do you think “Golden Week” should be cancelled? China’s “Golden Week” has begun to lose its glitter due to the pressure it imposes on public transportation and scenic spots. The possibility of canceling the seven-day Labor Day and National Day holidays, usually called “Golden Week” has become a widely discussed topic.

6. Arguments 1) Golden Week has been very effective in introducing the idea of vacation travel to Chinese from the very beginning. After seven years of Golden Weeks, the number of Chinese travelers has increased to a point that little room for further growth remains. On the 1st of the golden week in Oct. 1999, 40 million people went traveling around the country. By 2004 the number had increased 2.5 times to 101 million, according to statistics from the National Holidays Coordinating Office. 2) Golden Week has the potential to promote the development of airlines and travel agencies, since it was a period when the average expense of travel increased by up to 30% compared to the rest of the year. 3) Golden Week provides an opportunity for a family to go on vacation together at the same time.

7. Counter-arguments Due to the growth trend in domestic tourism, scenic spots and transportation system are placed under growing pressure from Golden Week. • It’s definitely challenging for smaller stations to receive four or five times the usual number of passengers during the week-long holidays, far more than any other time in the year excepting only Chinese Lunar New Year. The railway authorities have to add temporary trains during Golden Weeks for the wave of travelers heading out of the major scenic spots throughout the country. And the authorities noted that resources are wasted during the period because most of the trains carrying passengers only one way, “trains coming back from scenic spots are empty (at the beginning of the Golden Week).” • As for the scenic spots themselves, the sudden rush of visitors swarming into them at the same time causes damage and environmental stress. According to one professor, “Each place has a certain capacity for tourists, so scenic spots hope to see a regular flow of visitors every day, not just on holidays.”

8. Judge: “Golden week” does have so many benefits, but it is also true it brings problems, because people are becoming unwilling to travel during holidays. I think there are possible alternatives: one is called “small Golden Week”, shortening weekends to one day and postponing the other four days off to the end of every month, thus providing more opportunities for vacations and removing some of the Golden Week pressure. The other is to introduce paid leave in all the workplaces in China.

9. Debate topic 2: should we develop tourism? Ever since the reform and opening to the outside world, tourism has developed very quickly in China. We have seen a large inflow of foreign tourists. So is it a good thing to develop tourism? A: We are now living in an age which encourages communication. From this point of view, I strongly believe that it is necessary to develop the tourist trade, for it contributes a lot to increasing understanding between nations. As the saying goes, “Seeing is believing.” only a trip to an unfamiliar land can help us understand the people and culture there. Since tourism helps increase understanding between people, it will finally wipe out prejudice against other nations, and make the world a more peaceful one.

10. B: We would not accept that. On the contrary, we find that tourism cannot increase understanding between nations because tourists are often trapped in big hotels and chances are that they only gaze at the natives from a distance. Thus, tourist business prevents people from making foreign friends. Foreign tourists cannot have a full view of the local culture because they simply don’t have time to mix with the local people. Speaking of prejudice, we find that tourism does not help wipe out prejudice,; on the contrary,it may lead to the persistence of national stereotypes because when traveling, people are likely to notice only characteristics which confirm their preconceptions.

11. A: We certainly do not expect tourists to see everything. The amount of knowledge you gain about the country you visit vary from person to person. But you can not deny that tourists can gain some knowledge about the place they visit if we do not care how much they do. For example, once upon a time some Americans believed that the Chinese still wore plaids. A trip in China would completely change the image of the Chinese in their eye even though they might only gaze through the windows of the hotels. Besides, tourism contributes significantly to the countries’ GNP. The economy of some regions is based on the tourist industry. For instance, tourism helps develop a region’s commerce because tourists are most likely to buy souvenirs wherever they go. Tourism also provides jobs for many people and helps solve or ease the social problem of unemployment. Tourism helps improve the transportation system of a region. Tourism helps accelerate a city’s construction and its embellishment. China is a developing country. But we have very good tourist resources. If we can put them to very good use, they will add a great deal to the national revenues.

12. B: That’s a good point, but tourism makes some parts of the country and the world as well too crowded a place to live in . We can find that tourism creates pollution and has destroyed many beautiful scenic spots.

13. A: That’s true. It’s always the case. When you introduce good things into a county, the bad things also follow along. But we should not throw out the baby together with the bathing water. What we should do is to take preventive measures. The tourist resorts are the common wealth of the mankind. The tourist business gives people a chance to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the world and the wonders of mankind.

14. B: You must admit that tourists, sometimes, cannot have a full enjoyment of the beautiful scenery because the places they visit are restricted by organizers.

15. A: That’s why we should develop tourism. If tourism is well developed, the services will be better, there will be more places to see and life will become more interesting. Contact with tourists from afar widens the horizon of the local people, and travel widens tourists horizon and make them more open-minded in the meanwhile. • B: However, it is not always the case. As the saying goes, “Travel makes a wise man better, but a fool worse.” and we find that contact with and assimilation of other cultures will reduce the uniqueness of one’s own culture and make the world less colorful than before.

16. A: There is no danger of that. It is natural for different nations to learn from each other. But tourists only make a very small proportion of the population in the country. We certainly do not expect them to be so influential as to change their own culture by just making a trip to another country.

17. judge • I can make a generalization from your comments that tourism can increase our national revenues, promote the understanding between peoples but it may also bring in a lot of problems. But my feeling is the advantages sure have outweighed the disadvantages. Perhaps we should develop tourism but in the meantime try our best to solve the problems you have just mentioned.

18. Homework • More topics for debating exercises( Use the skills summarized in the beginning of the lesson to work out the possible outline for arguments on the following five issues.) • Is it advisable to allow college students to get married? • Should the supermarkets provide plastic bags for wrapping? • Do you think short message is a good way to communicate with other people? • Freshmen are not allowed to take their PCs into the dormitory. Is this a good rule or not? • Is cosmetic surgery a good thing or bad thing? Give your reasons.