TOPIC: ISSUE120 - "So much is new and complex today that looking back for an understanding of the past provides little guidance for living in the present."
WORDS: 707
TIME: 00:51:42
DATE: 2009/7/15 16:55:04
In recent years, more and more people participate in the discussion about what on earth can we gain from the study of history. There is a claim that is widely spread and accepted(,)That (is去掉) since so much new and complicated things appear in the contemporary society; we can hardly find some guidance for living from the past. Conceding that the world becomes(has became应该是完成时吧) more and more complex and different from the old times, I consent that the history helps little in some cases. However, the study of history is not a waste of time yet(这个yet好像没有必要加得). With great importance not be(ing这样的结构好像应该是动名词) realized, the history is still a mirror by which we can solve the present problems and predict the future to some extent.
Admittedly, unbelievable changes have happened in the past decades and (there are still) more (developments) are around the corner. The world sees improvement and variation everywhere (around the world可去掉) in an amazing speed which (seems) no one can stop. As a result of that(觉得At the same time要好一些，因为前面是趋势，后面是现象), many new products come into everyday life and many new businesses have (speed flourished as the growth of economy.)to be concerned at the same time(这里删掉). That means(It is believed by many people that) the past cannot explain what happens today as our world are changing too fast. For example, if you are going to(attempt to) find out what H1N1 exactly means, you may google it instead of looking it up in a history book. Or if you are going to learn to speculate in the stock market, you may turn to the stock expert rather than your grandfather(我觉得把grandfather换成old economic textbook比较好). What's more, there are so many differences in the politics, economy, (and) culture between today(present) and the past. Therefore we cannot apply the (exact same) measures which succeed in the past to nowadays and look forward to a success again confidently(这句话蛮好的). Consequently, as so much is new and complicated, (the去掉) history seems less important and provides little guidance at all(little 也可以和 at all合用吗？因为我从来没见过这样用得 也没有查到) today.
However, it(另起一段了以后it即使指带上一整段的内容也最好稍提一下) is an illusion. The history still plays a vital role in life and we(many of us) simply cannot realize it. (个人觉得在罗列要点前面要开个头，表明要开始说要点了 呵呵 个人习惯)First and foremost, the history helps us to get clear where we are from(?) and what we did( was happened) in the past so that we are able to understand the present society better, such as how the society are organized and how (does) it function well. For instance, if we forget who Watt is, we cannot tell why the machines work today. If we do not remember who Bell is, we will not understand what a telephone is. (这两个例子我不是很认同 很显然 不知道发明者并不意味着不懂机器和电话的作用原理) What's more, the study of history contributes to solve some present affairs as it provides their origin and development which is necessary reference. Take the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an example, merely the study of the status quo is not enough. We cannot solve the problem properly unless we get clear the history of the two nations and their argument. In summary, history provides much useful information in the past which helps us to get progress and (finally) solve problems.
Another fact we cannot ignore is that there are many things(直接说history就可以了) remain still no matter how many years pass by. As to these characters, the humanity is a convincing example. It is undoubted that the nature of human beings change little in the history. Greed, sloth as well as mercy and love is in every heart in the past, nowadays and future. If we claim that a war actually results from the ambition of the human nature, we may have more measures to stop a tragedy like the World War Two and save a man like Adolf Hitler from the abysm of killing. As the second emperor of Tang Dynasty in China puts it,'Take history as a mirror, one can predict the rise and fall of great power.' If we study the history carefully, we can foresee the future to some content(extent) so that we can adjust our direction and head towards the success.
（nature of human beings change little in the history, sloth as well as mercy and love is in every heart这个结论我觉得比较武断）
To sum up, the fast changes and amazing variations build a completely different world today thus the history has been not useful in many cases. However, as I mentioned above, the history helps us to find out who we are and where are we from so that we can solve many present problems and move on. Additionally, through history we learn a lot of lessons which prevent us from going astray. I believe that with the proper emphasis on history, we can get a better future.