ISSUE221 History 快考试了,请各位牛人帮忙看一眼

夏の末UID: 2603892

ISSUE 221

The chief benefit of the study of history is to break down the illusion that people in one period of time are significantly different from people who lived at any other time in history.

(开头)

In this rapidly changing society that quite expects study to serve useful purposes, the benefit of history studying may be less tangible than that of other disciplines, but actually studying history is very beneficial. Through studying history, people will find that people change with the time, but a close examination will reveal that some basic elements persist despite the tremendous changes in society. In addition, the benefits of studying history are much more than breaking down illusion. History also serves as our laboratory for people to form their decisions and offer people precious experience and lessons from which people can better deal with present problems.

(研究历史会发现,不同时代的人确实有很大不同)

It is not difficult for people to find that they have many differences with people in other times. For example, when seeing an old film, one may feel surprised by the appearance of actors taking part. Their hair-style, dress and make-up are entirely different from people in today’s world. The development of technologies has accelerated this changing speed and expands the differences among people from different times. For example, students used to study in conventional classroom with only blackboard and chalks. But now, there is a growing application of computers in the process of education and students can now enjoy multimedia teaching even at home. Apart from education, the automation of industrial production has replaced many manual workers in factories, with machines dominating the manufacturing process. By studying history, it is unfair to consider the opinion as illusion that people in one period of time is different from people who live at any other time.

(但是仔细探究历史,还会发现,在表象的变化和不同之下,不同时代的人还是有共同点的,主要是人的本质方面)

In addition, the study of history will reveal that under the superficial differences, something persists. The very essence of human nature---the curiosity about the unknowns, the pursuit of truth and more importantly, the desire to live a better life--remain constant over the course of history. And it is these constant human virtues that keep the world changing and progressing. For example, human have long been troubled by various diseases caused by infections. Countless doctors and pharmacists, driven by the human’s very essence and strong desire to improve life quality, devoted their life into the research of new medical facilities and methods to help people enjoy longer and healthier life. Since Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the research to find effective and lasting antibiotics has never stopped, just in more advanced and sophisticated way in today’s modern society. In this sense, people in one period of time are not significantly different from people who live in other times.

(研究历史还可以帮助人们做决定)

The benefits of studying history are not just about issues discussed above. People need the data provided by the history to make their decision today. The past causes the present, and it is necessary for people to know the causes of today’s problems before addressing them. Any time people try to understand why something happened, they have to examine the factors that took shape earlier in history. For example, when a company tries to change their sale strategies due to the decline of profits recently, a historical analysis of the company’s financial condition is indispensable. The manager of the company should well know the profits in the past and the time when the decline happened. Once the company determines when the declining trend began, the company can further identify what factors present at the time contribute to the decline of profits. Sometimes, contemporary analysis may suffice to explain a problem, but obviously people can make wiser decision by analyzing history.

(人们还可以通过研究历史来吸取经验教训以更好地生活)

Also, by studying history, people can assimilate valuable experience and lessons in the past and live a better present because of them. For example, the lessons learned from the past wars, which hurt innocent people and impede economic development, raise the awareness among people about the importance of cooperation and mutual understanding. The progress of history also tells us to stop pursuing industrial development at the expense of environmental deterioration. Irresponsible human behaviors have caused a series of pollution and environmental stress ranged from acid rain to global warming. The lessons force us to develop economic and society more cautiously in the future.

(结束)

In conclusion, people’ life have changed a lot and will continue to change in the future and people in different times are actually different, except for some characters that are associated with human nature. Besides, it should not be ignored that studying history also contains other merits, and the function of history research can never be underestimated.

夏の末UID: 2603892

哈,我自己顶!!

夏の末UID: 2603892

我继续顶~~T-T