ISSUE207求拍~~~2月8号北京考~~有拍必回~~~

xujichen1989UID: 2527209

207． "Rituals and ceremonies help define aculture. Without them, societies or groups of people have a diminished sense ofwho they are."


  Will societies or groups of people losethemselves without the help of rituals and ceremonies to define a culture? I donot think so. I agree with the statement that rituals and ceremonies help todefine a culture. However, I think it is too groundless to say that the absenceof rituals and ceremonies will make people have a diminished sense of who theyare.


Admittedly, rituals and ceremonies could help to define a culture. Manyrituals and ceremonies were started to serve the functions to build theconnection between groups of ancient people and their gods and were passed asprecious traditions by generation and generation. For instance, during theSpring Festival, the most important holiday for Chinese, people gather aroundwith their family and have rituals and ceremonies to entreat their god to give themsafe, health and good luck in next year. In western society, everyonecelebrates Christmas, the most important festivals to the western culture, tobless the birth of Jesus. These two rituals are so distinctive that no one willconfuse them with each other. When it comes to dumplings, Chinese firecrackers,couplets, everyone will think about Chinese Spring Festival. Christmas trees,Santa and presents in socks remind people about Christmas. In this point of view,the Spring Festival helps to shape the Chinese culture, while Christmascultivates the Western Culture.


However, it is the different time now and rituals and ceremonies' effectto define a culture has been weakened by time. Rituals and ceremonies are notas important as they were for people in their daily life. Even if people do nothave some certain rituals and ceremonies, nothing would change in their lives.There are two major reasons that people would not feel lost without rituals andceremonies. First, most people have much more rapid-pace lives and withstandmuch more serious pressure than before, so they have less time and mood fortraditional rituals and ceremonies. For instance, to accomplish some certainwork, people who skip Christmas are not rare in Western society. People whocelebrate Christmas usually do not celebrate it as long as they did in thepast, especially during the great depression of economy. Secondly, mostcontemporary people do not believe in superstition anymore because they aremore open-minded than people in the ancient times. As a result, many ritualsand ceremonies, like the Spring Festival, does not serve their originalfunction and just become a holiday which people could relax and hang out withtheir friends and families. Groups of Chinese maybe feel uncomfortable withouttraditional rituals, like the Spring Festival, but it is unfounded to say thatthey have a diminished sense of who they are, after all, for modern Chinese,the Spring Festival seems like a longer weekend than an indispensable ceremonywhich could decide their lives in the nest year.



Furthermore, there are many other factors to define a culture, sosocieties or groups of people will not have a diminished sense of who they are,even without rituals and ceremonies. For example, China suffered extreme painin the massive earthquake in Wenchuan. After the tragic earthquake, all Chineseshowed off considerable courage and the whole country united to overcome thiscatastrophe. I believe that this "Wenchuan" spirit is now a critical partof Chinese culture and it is in every Chinese heart. Take Confucius as anotherexample. Although there is a memorial for him every year in his hometown, mostpeople regard his theory as an indispensable part of Chinese culture and learnit rather than participate into the memorial ceremony. In fact, Confucius’stheories are much more important than his memorial ceremony to the Chineseculture. As stated above, since rituals and ceremonies are not the only waythat a culture can be defined, it is unnecessary to worry that people wouldlose themselves without rituals and ceremonies helping to define a culture.


In sum, the speaker's claim is partiallyright. It is reasonable to indicate that rituals and ceremonies help to definea culture. However, they are not the only way to do this and their function maybe weakened by time. There are other factors to define a culture, such ashistorical events and great persons and all of these factors make the speaker'sclaim become invalid.