【红尘笑看沧桑】互改小组第八次

forevarsenalUID: 2737856

TOPIC: ARGUMENT137 - The following appeared in an editorial in the Mason City newspaper.

"At present, Mason City residents seldom use the nearby Mason River for any kind of recreational activity, even though surveys of the region's residents consistently rank water sports (swimming, fishing, and boating) as a favorite form of recreation. Since there have been complaints about the quality of the water in the river, residents must be avoiding the river because they think that it is not clean enough. But that situation is about to change: the agency responsible for rivers in our region has announced plans to clean up Mason River. Therefore, recreational use of the river is likely to increase, so the Mason City council will need to increase its budget for improvements to the publicly owned lands along the Mason River."
WORDS: 450
TIME: 45:00:10
DATE: 2009-12-22 19:35:19

In this editorial the author recommend that the Mason City council will need to increase its budget for improvements to the publicly owned lands along the Mason River since recreational use of the river is likely to increase. To support his conclusion, he refers that Mason City residents seldom use the nearby Mason river for any kind of recreational activity even though surveys of the region's residents consistently rank water sports as a favorite form of recreation. Moreover, the author also cities that the agency responsible for rivers in our region has announced plans to clean up Mason River which has been complained of its bad quality of the water. At first sight, the argument seems to be logical, but further reflection shows that it is lack of several logical flaw preventing it from invulnerable.

The flaw involves in the unwarranted assumption that recreational use of the river is likely to increase.
Since we are not informed of the details of those surveys, we cannot admit that the result is reliable. If all the respondents are required to choose their favorite form of recreation from alternatives, the result is probably distorted when these alternatives fail to include the very form of recreation. Even though water sports are their favorite, it is also possible that people prefer enjoying these sports in other places rather than Mason River even though the water has been cleaned.

The second flaw of the editorial is that the author believes the water will be surely clean if the agency responsible for rivers in our region has announced plans to clean up Mason River. When a river is polluted, the attempt of recovery requires a well designed plan, enough money, cooperation and quite a long time. If the plan isn't designed scientifically, the clean program is short of investment, or different departments of the government fail to cooperate well, the plan would probably end up with a failure.

Last but not the least, the author hasn't offered any information that the publicly owned lands along the Mason River need any improvements. It is entirely possible that the facilities along the Mason River have been updated recently. Besides, if we are not sure whether the recreational use of the river will increase, it is irresponsible to improve the publicly owned lands along the Mason River with the money from taxpayers.

In summary, to make the proposed opinion more reasonable, the author need to conduct a survey to make sure the reason why citizens seldom use the Mason River. Moreover, he is also expected to have an actually prediction of the plans. Finally, the author has better ensure that the publicly owned lands along the Mason River deserve improvements.

forevarsenalUID: 2737856

提纲：
1、
首段：heroes确实对于对了解社会有益，但要全面了解一个社会，这是不够的。
2、
hero 代表了一个社会所看重的或者所缺乏的东西。
3、
hero不能总让人得到这些信息或者仅仅得到片面的信息。
Hero可能是被过分夸大了，理想化了，或者出于政治目的塑造的
Hero 往往只能反映积极的方面而不能反映消极的方面
Hero往往与众不同，不能反映社会的大多数人的情况
4、
要全面认识社会，我们还应该从其他方面着手。比如，文化、风俗、宗教等
TOPIC: ISSUE203 - "The best way to understand the character of a society is to examine the character of the men and women that the society chooses as its heroes or its heroines."
WORDS: 479

It is naturally to focus on the extraordinary actions of the heroes or heroines or their impacts of the society when it comes to the study of the character of a society. I concede that it seems to be logical method, but it is hard to conclude that this method is the best. The character of a society is quite a complex subject and thus requires the coordinate interaction of various ways rather than just examine the character of the heroes and heroines.

We cannot deny that the men and women that the society choose as its heroes or its heroines indeed represent the character of a society. In fact, the reason why they are chosen is that they have the qualities that are approved or required by the society. When society is on the edge of revolution in 18th century, Napoleon Bonaparte became the label of that society; when Americans were struggling in the morass of the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt acted as the role of hero and rescue the whole country through the New Deal, and when the society is divided into pieces because of racism, the life of Martin Luther King,Jr. turn into a lighthouse dispelling the shadow in those confused hearts. So through examining the character of the heroes and heroines, we indeed receive some basic character of a society.

However, those information we receive from the study of heroes and heroines is inescapably one-side or even incorrect. Since the characters of those heroes or heroines are mostly belong to extraordinary persons, it's hard for us to conclude the general characters of the mass just from the them. Moreover, some heroes and heroines is overstated and idealized, and some of them are even created with political intentions. For instance, Stalin, the leader of ex-Soviet, is overstated in his age by the citizens of ex-Soviet. We couldn't say those magnified materials describing him reflect that age correctly. What's more, heroes and heroines are often representing the positive side of the society, but we cannot ignore that the understanding of the negative side is also helpful for us to grasp the character of a society.

Apart from observing the heroes and heroines, we have plenty methods to approach the character of the society. Through observing customs and culture of a society we can get acquainted with the general character of the society. Thanks Giving Day, for instance, reflect the quality of thanksgiving of the society. We also get the information of the social characters through religion, the way people dress, talk and dong things.

In summary, we will indeed get some information of the social characters through the examine of the heroes and heroines. However, this information maybe distorted and one-side for unavoidable reasons mentioned above. If we want to receive an overall information of the social character, we need the coordinate interaction of various ways.