issue207

sweetbettyUID: 2359460

Do rituals and ceremonies the only ways help us define a culture? The speaker contends so. For that matter, he asserts that without the rituals and ceremonies, we will gradually lose the sense of identity. I agree that one of the purposes of the rituals and ceremonies is to preserve cultural identity. However, the strong sense of identity is not only resulted from the rituals and ceremonies. Without them, many other factors will continue this function.
To begin with, every culture is characterized by a set of rituals and ceremonies. Actually, rituals and ceremonies help define a culture. For example, when it comes to the spring festival, China will come into our mind. By contrast, while referring to the Christmas and the Thanksgiving Day, some western countries such as the USA are the representatives. Besides, the way to celebrate the ceremonies differs with the culture. In Chinese spring festival, the custom to celebrate it is to explode firecrackers, make dumplings and enjoy a family get-together. The eldership in the family gives money as a lunar New Year gift to children. In Christmas Day, people will celebrate mass to commemorate the Christ. Moreover, rituals and ceremonies are representative of their psychic believes of the religion, their hopes and so on. Moreover, the ceremonies put people on the way to find the culture identity. For example, the ceremonies of the Christmas represent their religion of Christianism; the thanksgiving day held to thank god for the harvest and health, to commemorate their friendship with Indian; the spring festival of China shows a traditional emphasis on the family welfare and an optimist attitude to the future life.
Secondly, although rituals and ceremonies are an essential part of the culture, still, many other factors such as clothes, native languages, arts, lifestyles and so on contribute to the sense of identity. Without rituals and ceremonies, the culture of a country will still be identified. For example, from the behaviors and thoughts, the Chinese are usually quite conservative and modest. By contrast, in the culture of the USA, people usually put more emphasis on candor and are eager to exhibit the ability. When it comes to the clothes, the people wearing clothes such as cheongsams and some clothes with the bohemia style, respectively, come immediately into our mind, undoubtedly, you can figure out where they are from. Thus, the way we think, the things we value, the way we solve problems, detail of our behavior could also help define a culture.
Thirdly, in the era of rapid social and technological change leading to the modern trends of secularization and globalization, traditional rituals and ceremonies are declining in every culture of the world. Culture exchanges and communications in the world are more frequent than ever before. With this change, the rituals and ceremonies originated from some country are likely to become the culture of the world, in another word, it seems meaningless to say the culture is defined by certain ceremony. For example, the Christmas Day, which represents the culture of western world, is now celebrated by a considerable amount of people from eastern countries. And we can often see people from Japan or South Korea enjoying their Valentine’s Day on television, which is impossible to imagine in the past few centuries.
In sum, although there are no denies that rituals and ceremonies help define a culture in some degree, that to maintain the sense of identity, lacking rituals and ceremonies will lead to lose the sense remains unfounded for without them, more factors will be involved. In fact, some rituals and ceremonies are homogenized through the culture exchange.

PudingUID: 2364107

Do rituals and ceremonies the only ways help us define a culture? The speaker contends so. For that matter（好像这种表达不很地道，可用hence,thus,concequantly）, he asserts that without the rituals and ceremonies, we will gradually lose the sense of identity. I agree that one of the purposes of the rituals and ceremonies is to preserve cultural identity. However, the strong sense of identity is not only resulted from the rituals and ceremonies. Without them, many other factors will continue this function.

To begin with, every culture is characterized by a set of rituals and ceremonies. Actually, rituals and ceremonies help define a culture. For example, when it comes to the spring festival, China will come into our mind. By contrast, while referring to the Christmas day and the Thanksgiving day(Day), some western countries such as the USA are the representatives. Besides, the way to celebrate the ceremonies differs with the culture. In Chinese spring festival, the custom to celebrate it is to explode firecracker, make dumpling and enjoy a family get-together. The eldership in the family gives money as a lunar New Year gift to children. In Christmas Day, people will do the Missa to commemorate the Christ. (此句说完后应该再加一句例子与主题的联系会比较好) Moreover, rituals and ceremonies are represent of psychic believes, their hopes and so on. They put people on the way to find the culture identity. for example, the ceremony of the Christmas represent their religion of Christ; the thanksgiving day held(？？？) to thank god for the harvest and health, to commemorate their friendship with Indian; the spring festival of China show a traditional emphasis on the family welfare and an optimist attitude to the future life.

Secondly, although rituals and ceremonies are an essential part of the culture, still, many other factors contribute to the sense of identity such as clothes, native languages, arts and so on. Without rituals and ceremonies, the culture of a country will still be identified. For example, from the behaviors and thoughts, the Chinese are usually quite conservative and modest. By contrast, in the culture of the USA, people usually put more emphasis on candor and are eager to exhibit the ability. When it comes to the clothes, the people wearing clothes such as cheong-sam and some clothes with the bohemia style, respectively, come immediately into our mind, undoubtly, you can figure out where they are from. Thus, the way we think, the things we value, the way we solve problems, detail of our behavior could also help define a culture. moreover, It is culture that makes American open-minded and aggressive and Chinese implicative and modest; and it is culture make there are a lot of artists in France and a lot of philosophers in Germany.（段后再总结一下会比较好）

Thirdly, in the era of rapid social and technological change leading to the modern trends of secularization and globalization, traditional rituals and ceremonies are declining in every culture of the world. Culture exchanges and communications are more frequent than ever before. With this change, the rituals and ceremonies originated from some country are likely to become the culture of the world, in another word, it seems meaningless to say the culture is defined by certain ceremony. For example, the Christmas Day, which represents the culture of western world, is now celebrated by a considerable amount of people from eastern countries. And we can often see people from Japan or South Korea enjoying their Valentine’s Day on television, which is impossible to imagine in the past few centuries.

In sum, although there are no denies that rituals and ceremonies help define a culture in some degree, that to maintain the sense of identity, lacking rituals and ceremonies will lead to lose the sense remains unfounded for without them, more factors will be involved. In fact, some rituals and ceremonies are homogenized through the culture exchange（本段没有和开头相对应啊，少了一些）

总结：

1．             语言还是有点不太流畅

2．             例子有些普遍

zhangjing106UID: 2157010

Do（Are）rituals and ceremonies the only ways (to) help us define a culture? The speaker contends so. For that matter, he asserts that without the rituals and ceremonies, we will gradually lose the sense of identity. I agree that one of the purposes of the rituals and ceremonies is to preserve cultural identity. However, the strong sense of identity is not only resulted from the rituals and ceremonies. Without them, many other factors will continue this function.
To begin with, every culture is characterized by a set of rituals and ceremonies. Actually, rituals and ceremonies help define a culture. For example, when it comes to the spring festival, China will come into our mind. By contrast, while referring to the Christmas day and the Thanksgiving Day, some western countries such as the USA are the representatives. Besides, the way to celebrate the ceremonies differs with the culture. In Chinese spring festival, the custom to celebrate it is to explode firecracker, make dumpling and enjoy a family get-together. The eldership in the family gives money as a lunar New Year gift to children. In Christmas Day, people will do the Missa to commemorate the Christ. Moreover, rituals and ceremonies are representative of psychic belief, their hopes and so on. They put people on the way to find the culture identity. (这一句有点多余)For example, the ceremonies of the Christmas represent their religion of Christ; the thanksgiving day held to thank god for the harvest and health, to commemorate their friendship with Indian; the spring festival of China shows a traditional emphasis on the family welfare and an optimist attitude to the future life.
Secondly, although rituals and ceremonies are an essential part (改成复数好一点)of the culture, still, many other factors contribute to the sense of identity such as clothes, native languages, arts and so on. Without rituals and ceremonies, the culture of a country will still be identified. For example, from the behaviors and thoughts, the Chinese are usually quite conservative and modest. By contrast, in the culture of the USA, people usually put more emphasis on candor and are eager to exhibit the ability. When it comes to the clothes, the people wearing clothes such as cheongsams and some clothes with the bohemia style, respectively, come immediately into our mind, undoubtedly, you can figure out where they are from. Thus, the way we think, the things we value, the way we solve problems, detail of our behavior could also help define a culture. Moreover, it is culture that makes American open-minded and aggressive and Chinese implicative and modest; and it is culture make there are a lot of artists in France and a lot of philosophers in Germany.
Thirdly, in the era of rapid social and technological change leading to the modern trends of secularization and globalization, traditional rituals and ceremonies are declining in every culture of the world. Culture exchanges and communications are more frequent than ever before. With this change, the rituals and ceremonies originated from some country are likely to become the culture of the world, in another word, it seems meaningless to say the culture is defined by certain ceremony. For example, the Christmas Day, which represents the culture of western world, is now celebrated by a considerable amount of people from eastern countries. And we can often see people from Japan or South Korea enjoying their Valentine’s Day on television, which is impossible to imagine in the past few centuries.
In sum, although there are no denies that rituals and ceremonies help define a culture in some degree, that to maintain the sense of identity, lacking rituals and ceremonies will lead to lose the sense remains unfounded for without them, more factors will be involved. In fact, some rituals and ceremonies are homogenized through the culture exchange.
总的来说，这篇I的意思和行文结构都不错。我感觉在论述的时候例子需要再重新组织一下，虽然不影响对文意的理解。如在第二段中，春节和圣诞节的例子有些交叉出现，整理顺了应该是篇好文章