issue208 求拍

jhr_hitUID: 2540810

The speaker asserts that one can tell much about a society's ideas and values by observing the way its people look, dress, and act. I agree with the author insofar as the appearance and behavior of people can reveals some respects of the society's ideas and values. However, to fully understand a society's ideas and values, we need to refer to other information such as works in the field of literature and art.

Admittedly, how people look, dress, and act does reveal certain respects of a society. To a large extent, appearance and behavior of people are indicators of a certain culture. For instance, in Arabia, men always wear white Alba and women use head cloth, black gauze. The way they dress reveals Arab must be a comparatively conservative country. Conversely, in the country of France, we could see people kissing almost everywhere-in the center of the plaza, on the street, in the restaurant, and so forth. This kind of behavior reveals that French people are more open in expressing their emotions. Besides, the way people act is usually as a mirror of the society's ideas and values. If people in a society are always polite to others and willing to help others, it may reveals the society are concerning about its education.

However, by merely observing the ostensible facts such as appearance and behaviors, we cannot precisely understand the essence of a society's ideas and values. Sometimes further observation such as reading literature works and appreciating paintings should be made to better assess the values and ideas of a certain society. These works are reflection of the author's deep thinking. Through reading and understanding them, we can know how a certain society begins, develops, and goes to the end. They always reveal the society's ideas and values through different people and different events. Moreover, paintings also play a vital role in expressing people's ideas and values of a society. If most painters in a society tend to use bright colors, then we could possibly predict that the values of society are more optimistic. Conversely, it would indicate a pessimistic outlook of life when dark colors are preferred by most painters in a society.

Besides, observing the ceremonies and ritual is also indispensible for us to understand the society's ideas and values deeply. Take the way to celebrate the Thanks Giving Day for example. On that day, people in American always eat turkey to thank the Indian people to teach them the technique to live. The ceremony reveals their owing to the Indians.


In sum, I concede that by observing the appearance and behavior of people in a certain society one can get a brief understanding of the society's values and ideas. However, the speaker unfairly overlooks other important ways in which people could get further information about the interior values and ideas of a society. Reading books, appreciating paintings and paying attention to the ceremony can also be effective ways for us to understand a society's ideas and values.