ISSUE208=August Rush= 第七次作业 by Mason.PD

Mason.PDUID：2592013

208. "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."
208. 人们的眼神、穿着和动作都反映出他们的态度和兴趣。你可以透过观察一个社会中人们的外表和行为来获知该社会的很多理念和价值观。

【中心】
部分支持作者观点，但指出observing the appearance and behavior只是直观的，并不是最客观的方法
【正】
外观确实反映人们的态度和爱好-----Hip-hop cheongsam bikini
【正】
行为确实表现社会的价值---英国人 chivalry
gentleman
【反】
并非客观的观察角度----全球化会使这些表象趋同化

Mason.PDUID：2592013

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: 465+88（结尾）
TIME: 01:00:00+5
DATE: 2009/8/6 14:52:50

Does the appearance and behavior of a society's people reflect a society's ideas and values? The speaker asserts what people look, dress and act reveals their attitudes and interests and we can tell much about a society through their appearance and behavior with which I fundamentally agree with for the reason that in spite of some other meticulous objective observation, people's appearance and behavior are the intuitive symbol of a society's culture.

To begin with, the way people look, dress can, more or less, reveal their attitudes and interests. People are inclined to choose their favorite style and patterns according to their temporary fashion and appetite. And the fashion trend is somehow rested with the society core----culture. For instance, the fans of Hip-hop music tend to wear baggy jeans slung low along the waist which is the contemporary Hip-hop fashion. People who favor classical literature in China may be inclined to dress cheongsam in banquet. While the swimmer in Hawaii like to wear bikini for their exoteric enthusiasm. These facts show the different culture in different society: the black in American tends to be cynical while the yellow race in southern China likes to be traditional, and the white in Pacific islands is considered to be more open.

Meanwhile, the behavior of people reveals what the society encourages and advocate. Take the English man as an example. In the middle age, male tends to be more aggressive and brave, which is recognized as "chivalry". Thus in the time of Industrial Revolution, their sense of movement reflect the culture of gentlemanly spirit. The differences happened in behavior of English people can be ascribed to the different English cultures in different times: the former ones' action can be regarded as a symbol of England culture of aggression and expansion, while the gentlemen's behavior can be attributed to industry civilization.

However, although appearance and behavior of people can reflect a society's ideas, there are still some more objective elements people can acquire do observe a society's ideas and values. First, it should be noticed that with the development of globalization, people' appearance and behavior tend to more accordant. So it is not amazed to see different races wear the similar evening wears in dinner parties, acting in the similar way. So it is easily detected appearance and behavior can not be always useful to understand a society's value. Second, other approaches tend to be more objective and rational to observe a society's ideas and values, like studying history and learning local customs. These observations may be a little more difficult to achieve, but these treasures are left by the ancient predecessors. Because a society's values can not be changed easily and can be stored along the history river forever, the records from forebears are usually more real and equitable to reflect the society core. So observing appearance and behavior may be an effective way, but it is not the rational and objective one.

To sum up, the way people dress and conduct could reveal the attitudes and interests to some extent. Moreover the observation of people's behavior is one of the efficient approach to find out what the society values. Yet other facts may influence the styles of appearance and behavior such as globalization and so it is not the best way to observe social values objectively.