同主题写作第三期

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"Tradition and modernization are incompatible. One must choose between them."

The relationship between tradition and modernization is always opened to debate. Many people hold the opinion that they are incompatible and we must choose between them. However, as far as I am concerned, tradition and modernization are always an inseparable pair. They are inherent interrelated and can help each other to pregress.

It is true that, sometimes, tradition and modernization seem to be totally different and contradictive. An apt example to illuminate this point is the different educational concept hold by people in ancient time and contemporaries respectively. According to the tradition, which is the beliefs of our ancestors, only boys need to be formally educated and then acquire certain social status to support his family when they grow up. What girls should do is just staying at home and learning some housework skills. Some girls who want to break this rule would be looked down upon or even condemned by others. Nowadays, this phenomenon has become obsolete. Everyone has a right to go to school if he/she likes. Education is compulsory for both boys and girls. In some places, schools only designed for girls can be found. This is a reflection of modernization which goes against the tradition.

Yet, in most occasions, modernization is derived from the tradition. As we all know, some innovations are obtained through revising something which has already existed, put it another way, tradition is the foundation of modernization. As a scientist and mathematician, Sir Isaacs Newton ever said:"If I have been able to see further, it was only because I stood on the shoulders of giants." Just as he said, Newton's classical mechanical laws are based on the research of his predecessors such as Galileo. Also, we developed our contemporary physical theory which is the extension of Newton's thoery. Without these foundations, hardly can we achieve so many great accomplishments in the field of science as well as many other fields today.

Furthermore, tradition is also promoted by the modernization and therefore has more chance to survive in today's society with a high speed development. By adding modern elements of high technology, many of the traditional things find new lives in today's world. For supporting examples, one need not go any further but to check the common things around us. Nowadays, people become more and more willing to send E-mail to communicate with friends ,relatives who live far away from us. It not only makes the communication more convenient and economical but also protects the limited source of woods. Besides, Chinease traditional medicine has also become better adaptive today by changing its dosage form which can be prepared more easily than before. With the help of modern technology and science, tradition has successfully kept its importance in people's lives.

In sum, although some discrepancies still exist between tradition and modernization, we can see them coexist well which makes a harmonic and advanced world.