關鍵字彙：
buttress/ contention/ contentious/ controversial/ controversy/ deduction/ dichotomy/ forum/ incontrovertible/ inference/ moderator/ polemical/ postulate/ premise/ presumption/ quibble/ rationale/ rebut/ rebuttal/ refutation/ refute/ repartee/ retort/ substantiate/ tenable/ untenable
1. 立論「站不住腳的」用untenable，「站得住腳的」叫tenable，「無法反駁的」、「不能爭辯的」可用incontrovertible：
•Those experts found his theory untenable.
•He withdrew the argument as untenable.
•The theory he advances is tenable.
•Essentially, he proposed little incontrovertible evidence to support his main argument.
2. 「反駁」可用動詞rebut與refute或名詞rebuttal與refutation。如果強調反駁內容的風趣詼諧，用repartee或retort：
•If you want to rebut the argument of the other team in a debate, you must collect as much evidence as possible.
•His argument was so untenable that I refuted him easily.
•I refuted his claim that human beings were inherently evil.
•The employee issued a point-by-point rebuttal of the employer's accusations.
•I will wait until I hear the refutation before deciding whom to favor.
•The mayor is quick at repartee when heckled by the city councilmen.
•Nicknamed as "Shorty," John made a retort by saying that small was beautiful.
3. 「爭議性的」、「引發爭議的」用contentious或controversial；指演說或文章「激烈討論的」、「打舌戰或筆戰的」用polemical（正式）；「爭辯」、「爭論」可用名詞contention或controversy；「為小事或瑣事爭辯」用quibble：
•He has some contentious views on religion.
•The government has recently formulated some contentious policies.
•Same-sex marriage seems not to be so contentious an issue as it used to be.
•Euthanasia may still be a controversial issue until now.
•The Internet celebrity's behavior is very controversial.
•There have been so many polemical books about the topic, but only the fewest of them are well-argued.
•The editor was trying to find experts to write passionate and polemical essays on each topic.
•This is no time for contention; we are in severe trouble and must help each other.
•The incoming government appointments have caused much controversy.
•The point in controversy is not whether we should do it, but whether we can do it.
•Don't quibble about unimportant things with me.
4. 用證據和資料「強化」論點可用buttress或substantiate：
•She buttressed her argument with lots of solid facts.
•The defendant had to substantiate his statement by producing more witnesses.
5. 「假定的事實」、「前提」可用postulate、premise或presumption，「基本原理」、「理論基礎」叫rationale，基於證據和推理分析所作的「推論」叫deduction 或inference，討論事情時可能採用的「二分法」叫dichotomy：
•We must accept these statements as postulates before pursuing our discussions any further.
•Please take into consideration the premise that he will reject our offer.
•He based his picnic plan on the premise that Sue would come, but she didn't in the end.
•Your presumption that I would share the apartment with you is false.
•There may be no philosophical rationale for her argument.
•He tried to explain the scientific rationale behind his work.
•The deduction that she was guilty was unwarranted.
•The inference was based on incomplete evidence.
•Your demand that I respond either with a "yes" or "no" presupposes a dichotomy of choice on the issue that I don't accept.
6. 會議或協商談判時，幫助不同立場各方達成協議的「調解人」、「仲裁人」叫moderator，「供討論的園地或場所」叫forum：
•A moderator should be appointed to oversee the negotiations.
•The school provides a forum for students to express their various opinions.
•The Internet may be seen as the largest forum in the world.
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