TOPIC：ISSUE 218 - "In order for any work of art-whether film, literature, sculpture, or a song-to have merit, it must be understandable to most people."
提纲：
1 通俗的艺术作品能给很多人带来欢乐，因此能够被大多数人理解和接受，因此大众的喜爱反映了它们的价值。比如 Chaplin’s silent films
2 高雅的艺术作品往往包含深刻的哲理，它们是艺术家的self-expression因此尽管它们不被大多数人所理解，仍然有很高的艺术价值比如Van Gogh’s paintings
3 通俗和高雅的艺术作品都有其价值，不能通过是否被大众接受来决定。衡量其价值有两个方面：1） 它是否能带来pleasure, new ideas, 是否能inspire people or change their minds
2）它是否能被人们所理解无论少数还是多数，是否能传承下来影响艺术的发展和人类文明的进步
Is it the truth that the merits of an artistic work merely depends on whether they can be accepted by most people? I consider that this is a controversial issue by which we should discuss in two different facets-that is, from the popular works of art and the graceful ones.
The popular works of art, as we define them the so-called mundane art, are created by the artists for the purpose of pleasing the general population. They bring pressure, funs and wonderful thoughts to the majorities and are easily comprehended and accepted by the public. Even more, compared to the grateful ones, they exert their influence on a large scale of people who come from different layers-in other words, no matter how they have been educated or what kinds of status they possess in the contemporary society, they can enjoy the happiness and ease from the mundane arts. Consider Chaplin's silent films as a simple example, all these old or seemingly out-fashioned films still make us laugh and find a ease away from the pressure of busy work. Thus, there is no denying that this mundane but popular style of arts plays an essential role in our daily lives and moreover, all the praise from the critics and the favors from the generals reflect their inherent values.
On the other hand, unlike the popular style of arts, the graceful arts also have their inherent merits even though they are not penetrable or accepted by the majorities at times. The graceful arts, according to what Freud has said, in essence, is a strong release of individual lust, converting the potential or hidden libido from the bottom of their creator's heart to the unbelievable creativity and originality. They are the tremendous self-expression of the artists, especially their passions, emotions, desires. The artists gave them to birth, from certain angles, with consciousness or unconsciousness and thus they can be a reflection of their deep-hearted minds. When we take a look at the paintings of Van Gogh, we will find that all these paintings such as the typically famous canvas-" Heliotrope" are the greatest works of school of impressionism even though they have ever been regarded as worthless even by the connoisseurs at its time. Therefore, compared to the mundane artistic works whose overriding merits rely on the popularity and the pleasure to human beings, the graceful works of art focus their virtues on the expression of artists' values and ideas. Perhaps they will experience a comparatively long period of time after their values being recognized, nonetheless, the artists pin their hopes on these remarkable works and make them priceless even when they were generated.
Therefore, we cannot determine any work or art simply through whether they are understood or accepted by the general population in that, no matter what they are mundane artistic work or the graceful masterpiece which essentially contain the great philosophy, both have inherent merits. To evaluate whether a piece of artistic work is valuable or not, we should look further into their contributions and permanence: for one thing, we should completely learn what an artistic work can bring us, with the commercialized process of the modern art, we might regard a Hollywood big movie, for instance, the Star War, could bring us visional enjoyment equivalent to the pleasure and ease which some literal masterpieces such as Shakespeare’s play could benefit us, however, the key point is that, no matter a wonderful film or a literal work, both have its unique merits if they can inspire us or change our minds significantly. For another thing, common sense informs us that no artistic works would survive unless the inheritance or impartation of them, the pictures of Picasso, though elusive at its appearance, contributed a lot to the development of cubistic style. From this standpoint, we should redefine the values of an artistic work and only by the notice and comprehension of people either the majority or minority can their merits avoid the fate of being buried under the fleeting of time. Eventually, the existence and thriving of any style of art actually hinge on the cognition of human beings
To sum up, as discussed above, I turn to my agreement with the speaker insofar as the prevailing among the general populations to some extent reflects the superficial values of one artistic work. However, when it comes to the inherent merits of both mundane works of art and the grateful ones, we should consider their dedications to the development of both the art and human civilization and more importantly-whether they can be recognized and inherited from generation to generation.
Is it the truth that the merits of an artistic work merely depends on whether they can be accepted by most people? I consider that this is a controversial issue by which we should discuss in two different facets-that is, from the popular works of art and the graceful ones. （开头非常简洁，学习~~~，但是我有个小小的问题：关于controversial， 有争议的，我不记得在哪篇文章的修改中看过说是用这个词不好，我觉得挺有道理的，issue这种东西本来就是很controversial的啊，要不然一堆人在这里还争什么呢？那这里用这个词相当于什么都没说啊。我觉的开头段还是应该表明自己的观点。后一句稍加改动就好啦~~~）
The popular works of art, as we define them the so-called mundane art（可以改成defined/described as the so-called mundane art）, are created by the artists for the purpose of pleasing the general population. They (These works) bring pressure, funs and wonderful thoughts to the majorities and are easily comprehended and accepted by the public. Even more, compared to the grateful ones, they（the popular works of art） exert their influence on a large scale of people who come from different layers(试想描述各个阶层的人么？layer我好像也见过，但是刚才查了一下，没有发现这种用法，保险起见，改用caste吧！呵呵, in different castes或者干脆就写social classes呗)-in other words, no matter how they have been educated or what kinds of status they possess in the contemporary society, they can enjoy the happiness and ease from the mundane arts. Consider Chaplin's silent films as a simple example(去掉), all these old or seemingly out-fashioned films still make us laugh and find a ease away from the pressure of busy work. Thus, there is no denying that this mundane but popular style of arts plays an essential role in our daily lives and moreover, all the praise from the critics and the favors from the generals（general是形容词吧，作名字是将军，应改成the general public） reflect their inherent values.
On the other hand, unlike the popular style of arts, the graceful arts also have their inherent merits even though they are not penetrable or accepted by the majorities at times. The graceful arts, according to what Freud has said, in essence, is a strong release of individual lust, converting the potential or hidden libido from the bottom of their creator's heart to the unbelievable creativity and originality.(果真用上了，好长的话，似乎跟我的版本还不一样，呵呵，用的不错！) They are the tremendous self-expression of the artists, especially their passions, emotions, desires.（句意不明，而且与上一句缺乏过渡） The artists gave them to birth, from certain angles, with consciousness or unconsciousness and thus they can be a reflection of their deep-hearted minds.（有这个词吗？网上的字典里没有。这句话你的意思是说：艺术家有意或下意识的创造了高雅的艺术，因此他们是艺术家**思想的反映，建议改成The graceful art，created by the artists, serves as a reflection of their**minds） When we take a look at the paintings of Van Gogh, we will find that all these paintings such as the typically famous canvas-" Heliotrope"(,with the canvas Heliotrope being a famous one,) are the greatest works of school of impressionism even though they have ever been regarded as worthless even by the connoisseurs at its(这个its指代什么？) time. Therefore, compared to the mundane artistic works whose overriding merits rely on the popularity and the pleasure to human beings, the graceful works of art focus their virtues on the expression of artists' values and ideas. Perhaps they will experience a comparatively long period of time after their values being recognized, nonetheless, the artists pin their hopes on these remarkable works and make them priceless even when they were generated（？generated？）.
（这段例子前的说理逻辑性不太好，句子之间基本上不连着，而且好像都表达同一个意思，精简一下为好）
Therefore, we cannot determine any work or art simply through whether they are understood or accepted by the general population in that, no matter what they are mundane artistic work or the graceful masterpiece which essentially contain the great philosophy, both have inherent merits.（both mundane artistic work and the graceful masterpiece which essentially contain the great philosophy, have inherent merits.还有个问题great philosophy从哪里里冒出来的？） To evaluate whether a piece of artistic work is valuable or not, we should look further into their contributions and permanence: for one thing, we should completely learn what an artistic work can bring us, with the commercialized process of the modern art, we might regard a Hollywood big movie, for instance, the Star War, could bring us visional enjoyment equivalent to the pleasure and ease which some literal masterpieces such as Shakespeare’s play could benefit us, however, the key point is that, no matter a wonderful film or a literal work, both have its unique merits if they can inspire us or change our minds significantly. For another thing, common sense informs us that no artistic works would survive unless（without） the inheritance or impartation of them, the pictures of Picasso, though elusive at its appearance, contributed a lot to the development of cubistic style. From this standpoint, we should redefine the values of an artistic work and only by the notice and comprehension of people either the majority or minority can their merits avoid the fate of being buried under the fleeting of time. Eventually, the existence and thriving of any style of art actually hinge on the cognition of human beings（这段写的好长，想法是好的，表达很郁闷，建议重新整合）
To sum up, as discussed above, I turn to my agreement with the speaker insofar as the prevailing among the general populations to some extent reflects the superficial values of one artistic work. However, when it comes to the inherent merits of both mundane works of art and the grateful ones, we should consider their dedications to the development of both the art and human civilization and more importantly-whether they can be recognized and inherited from generation to generation.
1 可以改成defined/described as the so-called mundane art）
晕，my poor语法 defined as the so-called mundane art
2 呵呵, in different castes或者干脆就写social classes呗
有道理，in different castes or in different social classes
3 as a simple example(去掉),
为什么，是不是要写的简单些呢？还是语法错误？
4 the generals（general是形容词吧，作名字是将军，应改成the general public）
汗！the general public
5 .(果真用上了，好长的话，似乎跟我的版本还不一样，呵呵，用的不错！)
谢谢，想知道你的版本是怎么样的？
6 They are the tremendous self-expression of the artists, especially their passions, emotions, desires.（句意不明，而且与上一句缺乏过渡）
Likewise, they (the grateful arts) are definitely the self-expression of......
7 建议改成The graceful art，created by the artists, serves as a reflection of their**minds）
and thus the grateful arts can serve as a reflection of their innermost mind 我想用的是内心深处的思想，但是写的时候不会就创造了这个词，sorry!
8 "(,with the canvas Heliotrope being a famous one,)
这个修改不理解，请教！
9 its(这个its指代什么？)
应该是their指代这些艺术作品
10 （？generated？）.
这句我想表达的是其实艺术作品在它们诞生的那一刻起已经具有了一定的价值，表达不好，请教！
11 这段例子前的说理逻辑性不太好，句子之间基本上不连着，而且好像都表达同一个意思，精简一下为好）
诶，我正为此发愁呢
12 .（both mundane artistic work and the graceful masterpiece which essentially contain the great philosophy
我前面有个in that 然后是插入语，整句意思是我们不能由它们是否被大众理解来决定它们是否有价值，因为不管是通俗作品还是蕴涵深刻哲理的高雅作品都有其固有的价值，我可能没有表达好，请教！
非常感谢小花，其实我想说的是，你的文章我都看的，不过有lawrence给你评，所以，就偷个懒，没有给你改，很惭愧，I am so sorry!作者: bunnymz2005 时间: 2006-2-3 14:01:09
3．我觉得有点啰嗦，举个例子说明白就行了啊，不过你要是写成这样比较顺，就不要改了^-^
5. 我的版本是这样的，忘记从哪里抄来的，也不知道对不对。Art，in essence, is a kind of release of individual lust, converting the human libido into plentiful creativity.
7. 我有个问题，什么是内心深处的思想，思想不是靠脑子的么？
我看POOH的百宝箱里有这么句话，正好是这个意思。Express their deepest private feelings and their vision of the universe.
8. 我是当时觉得那句话很别拗，你写的是all his paintings such as… 这里的all跟such as 放一起总觉得怪怪的，我觉得保留all就像我改的那样写，保留such as 就把前边的all。但我当时觉得是保留all更顺一些，就那么改了，呵呵~~
10．Since its emergence可不可以呢？
11．我也烦着呢，怎么都想不出来，好歹你还能写出来，只要精简一下就好啦
12．We cannot judge the works of art merely from understanding and acceptance of the public in that, no matter what they are like—mundane or graceful, pleasant or philosophic, both have inherent merits. 不知道这样写行不行。作者: jingjingtous 时间: 2006-2-3 16:08:49