ISSUE 147 我的作业

gromwell66666UID: 2707998

TOPIC: ISSUE147 - "Tradition and modernization are incompatible. One must choose between them."
WORDS: 550
TIME: 0:50:00
DATE: 2009-11-25


The statement mainly points out the controversy between tradition and modernization. Yet, my perspective is that the speaker's point is too superficial to accept, the reasons as follow.

No one can deny the fact that most people are eager to catch up the plane to modernization. The skyscrapers in New York City, Toronto, Tokyo, Shanghai and so forth; the younger generations' preference to pop music, blockbusters and other fashion shows; all the phenomena represent a irrepressible trend of people's desire to the new alternatives and the passion to modern culture. Meanwhile, the traditional culture constitutes a minuscule part of the current trend. To be specific, the Beijing Opera and the Sichuan Opera are the representative Chinese traditional culture. Ironically, compared to Jay-Zhou, Jason Mraz, Taylor Swift and others pop stars, there are few people pay attention to the traditional styles. After all, most people believe the modern culture far outweigh the traditional culture. Also, there are a lot of traditions are disappearing as well, such as the old buildings are removed from our landscape gradually, the regional languages and dialects are replaced by the common languages, especially in China, the governments encourage people to speak Mandarin, and numerous dialects will disappear in the near future for sure.
The speaker claims that the tradition and modernization are incompatible, in fact, it is important to point out that the modern culture is the compromise between tradition and modernization. On the one hand, human being have been transcending themselves all the time, and the modernization is the result of people's hard work, creative thinking and great efforts. Yet, all the achievements have been done step by step, most important of all, they are based upon the traditions. For instance, mankind first lived in the caves, then built their own one floor house, then began to build five floor houses, at last the skyscrapers become to reality; the film industry also experiences the traditional black and white screen and the current widespread colorful screen. Obviously, in most cases, the tradition is the solid foundation of modernization.

On the other hand, the traditions can instruct the direction of modernization. For thousands of years, people have made extraordinary achievements, also huge amount of mistakes. Without taking the traditional experiences and lessons, the modernization will replay the tragedy of history. Nuclear weapons, racial discrimination, religious disputes and other serious problems still are the flaws and loopholes of either tradition or modernization. Fortunately, the mistakes and lessons of the past can teach us how to avoid and solve those conflicts, and lead all the human beings to better lives.

In addition, the speaker asserts that one must choose tradition or modernization, but it seems that the combination of those two sound more reasonable and rational. In modern time, our lives are more convenient and comfortable. We can fly to every corner of the world; we can notice what is happening around us or beyond us, modernization is the answer to people’s imagination, hard work and unyielding hope. Nevertheless, when we are enjoying the prosperity of modernization, paying attention to the tradition is necessary, because the development of a society is a long process. It is the tradition that keeps us to be introspective and look forward the future. As there is a saying, a journey of thousands miles, begin with a single step. Modernization, in fact, consists of numerous steps of tradition.

All in all, tradition and modernization supplement each other, and we need to remember the virtues of tradition and realize the loopholes of modernization.