[i习作temp] Issue7 wingsnow第10次作业 [复制链接]

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电梯直达

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发表于 2007-8-10 18:09:25 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

TOPIC: ISSUE7 - "The video camera provides such an accurate and convincing record of contemporary life that it has become a more important form of documentation than written records."
WORDS: 551 TIME: 0:65:00 DATE: 2007-8-8

In this statement, the speaker attaches great importance to the role the video camera plays in recording contemporary life. However, is video camera a more important form of documentation than written records? I don't believe so. As a matter of fact, these two are independent forms of recording contemporary life. They are equally important.

First of all, I concede that video camera is an accurate and convincing form of recording. Just like other great inventions of the twentieth century, the video camera really has changed people's way of life. Only by easy operations of several buttons, a video camera can honestly, objectively record what is happening. Afterwards, the video tapes can be played again and again without losing its high quality. Such records are three-dimensioned. Not only are the image and movement recorded, the sound is also recorded. Such records offer viewers direct contact with the scenes. People can easily feel and understand the content of the records. For example, by viewing the video camera records made by journalists covering wars, people have such a direct and strong feeling of the cruelty of war. By investing into video camera records, the police even can find out what was overlooked on a crime scene. Video camera records are really useful as a objective form of documentation.

However, video camera alone cannot guarantee a comprehensive insight into what is being recorded. Without context, people can assign different interpretations to the same clip of video record. In this sense, its objectiveness somehow becomes its disadvantage because it is only a kind of limited objectiveness. It can lead to one sidedness sometimes.

Admittedly, written records have conspicuous disadvantages. For example, it is hard to be preserved. Flood, pests and extreme temperature can easily damage paper. Moreover, written records oftentimes contain emotions and subjective opinions of the author. It is widely accepted that in Chinese history, those emperors who did not respect the people who record life at their times were often describe as cruel tyrant no matter how great their contributions really were.

Nevertheless, written records also boast great advantages. In addition, it is a perfect compensation for video camera records. When people cannot identify the historic facts merely through video camera records, they can refer to written records. All in all, it is a method of documentation that has been proved valid through history. Why we know so much about the past dynasties? It is due to the written records. From the splendid ancient culture, to the cruelty of the expansion of emperors, written records help us know so much about our past, and thus teach us what is good for human progress. Moreover, written records contain so much intellectual activities of people. People have to describe the things happening in their own language. That is also a reason why people love reading history. The fluent and beautiful language of written records reflects such wisdom of mankind.

As is discussed above, video camera, as a highly-developed product of modern technology, have the unique advantages in recording contemporary life that mankind have never experienced. However, written records, as a form of documentation, have been tested through history. Therefore, the two forms are equally important in recording contemporary life. Only by achieving a perfect combination of the two, can we give full play of their advantages.