Writing Feedback / GRE ISSUE221 The chief benefit of the study [5]

TOPIC: ISSUE221 - "The chief benefit of the study of history is to break down the illusion that people in one period of time are significantly different from people who lived at any other time in history."

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Two hundred years ago, a famous Germany poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, wrote these lines in Faust:
Sitting at the doom of nations
Here before the pyramids.
War and peace and inundations
Watch we with unwinking lids.

Although time and tide elapsed, these inspiring words of Sphinx can still be seen as a picturesque portray of historian who has faced up with numerous spectaculars in the study of history. Given the genuine essence of historical study, perhaps the most significant benefits historical study will endow us is ever-lasting enlightenment on our minds, to put it in other words, profound thoughts, sympathy, idealism, and the like.

To begin with, the study of history can reveal the otherwise underlying rules and laws that govern the human society, which may be covered by complicated facts and events. After delving into the history of communication, we discover that the ultimate driving force for newspaper is the demand of information which has emerged in the modern times as a consequence of market-oriented economy, rather than superficial elements such as political goals of parties. Further, by pondering on the long history of media metamorphosis, we can find out that media such as language, writing, printing, electronic media, and the like, whose evolution follow such a law that the latter ones often serve as a supplement and combination of the previous media forms, rather than take place of the former at the first sight. Thus we can predict that in the future e-papers will not substitute newspapers, nor will newspapers be disappearing as a famous U.S. professor asserted.

Secondly, without historical study, some mistakes will repeat themselves at great expenses. The study of history can help us gain a better future by tell us right from wrong, as well as wisdom from foolishness. A typical example is the Chernobyl nuclear leaking incidence, which has alarmed us that nuclear power is a double-edged sword, if not carefully utilized, it would conduce to tragedy. Besides, study of history can render us sharp minds and broad horizon in solving current problems concerned with the regional conflicts and unrests, which may have originated from history long ago.

Thirdly, to a large extent, history study can benefit people in their spiritual level as well as intellectual level. A historian will be tolerate and sympathetic to human race itself, knowing the inherent flaws and strengths of human nature and that every one has his own destiny beyond his control. Moreover, since history is replete with examples of heroes unyieldingly pursuing their dreams, a historian will be greatly inspired to exceed ritual life and adhere to his own sublime ideals.

Admittedly, among those advantages of historical study, it is true that people live in different times virtually share a great deal in common. For human nature, namely, intelligence and morality has undergone negligible improvement. And people value virtues such as modesty, honesty, respect to others and the like regardless of times. Moreover, one perpetual theme of the human race is the pursuit of truth and freedom. However, on the other hand, we cannot ignore the fact that people in different times are significantly different in most ways. The study of history also has disclosed a radical reform in living existence and values. Specifically speaking, social patterns have dramatically shifted from the agrarian society, industrialized society, to post-industrialized society according to the futurist Alvin Toffler.

In summary, as human being, we need to know who we are, where we come from and where we go. Otherwise we will be in fear and ignorance. And historical study is the very discipline that can render us wisdom and revelation of the truth, which outweighs far more than the oversimplified assertion that people living in different times share a great deal of similarities.

Writing Feedback / "How people look, dress & act reveals their attitudes and interests" -GRE ISSUE [5]

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TOPIC: ISSUE208 - "The way people look, dress, and act reveals their attitudes and interests. You can tell much about a society's ideas and values by observing the appearance and behavior of its people."

WORDS: 577 TIME: 00:45:00 DATE: 2010-3-22 12:19:58

The speaker's allegation is actually threefold: (1) People's appearance, such as look, dress, and act can reveal their attitudes and interests. (2)By paying attention to the appearance and behavior of people in a society, one can comprehend its ideas and values. (3)And obviously, the author assumes that one person's attitude and interest will serve as a mirror of the whole society's ideas and values, upon which the causal relationship of the two above rest.

First of all, it might be appealing to agree with the author that the appearance and behavior of people might be a significant index of their own attitudes and interests. However, when it comes to the clothes in formal occasions, especially in offices, armies, ceremonies and the like, perhaps it is not the case at all. For those people are obliged to wear identical clothes to comply with the regulations, which absolutely cover their own interests and characteristics. This example may imply some information such as unity and efficiency stemming from the corporate culture, and yet, they cannot be on behalf of the holistic society.

Lucky enough, people have the right and freedom to dress what they like in informal occasions such as travelling, shopping, at home, etc. Under such circumstances, one's preference and attitude can be precisely reflected by what he/she dress and behave. For example, pop singers, such as Lady Gaga, may dress bizarre clothes, dye her hair in shining colors and behave entirely unlike the majority. Additionally, for mass populace, it is fairly clear that their clothes will undoubtedly symbolize their temperament and interests. In light of different behaviors and clothes varying according to color, styling, material, price and the like, both of these examples can reveal those people's own characteristics and tastes in clothes as well.

Further, to fully appreciate the issue, the premise made by the author should be examined as followed: whether the individual interests and attitudes can be representative of the ideas and values of whole society? Apart from those unique ones above, perhaps the majority are more inclined to abide by the social conformity to acquire a sense of security. Therein lies an interesting law that appearance and behavior of people might be viewed as indications of spiritual dimension of society, which hinges on time periods and places.

Firstly, there are a great deal of examples as to that the appearance of people may embody the societal values and thoughts. To elaborate, the ancient Chinese-style dress serves as a symbol of aristocratic identity of women by manifesting their dignity and grace. And yet, in current times, it has been phased out gradually and now mostly appears in formal occasions to accentuate the aroma of graveness and decency. On the contrary, in these days, females dress in a way to be attractive and exceptional by emphasizing their own individualities with the guidance of fashion magazines disseminating diverse brand-new ideas of clothes matching, which means an open attitude and tolerance toward different individuals. Additionally, compared Beijing with Paris, the stylish city, one can realize that how dresses differ from one country to another.

Secondly, one can also infer the values and ideas from the behavior of people in one society. The fledging behaviorists using their own bodies as the media of art, keeping stationary all day in a strange pose in order to attract people's attention, may be regarded as wrong behaviors and rightly condemned for their defiance of the social norms. Another instance is the funny body language in different countries and religions, in China touching the head of a child is regarded as affectionate behavior, while in America, it is probably an offense to the child.

However, despite the merits stated above, the second claim may not hold water based on the following reason. As is generally appreciated, the ideas and values may be deep underlying in the traditional culture and social conventions and cannot be perceived at the first glance. Therefore, the appearance and behavior only represent the tip of the iceberg, and hence could not be overrated when evaluating a society's value and ideas.

Overall, to fully understand the ideas and values of a society, the outside performance of people might not be the solely ingredient. Other alternative ways such as study the customs and traditional religion and so forth would be more important.