Issue103 互拍

kid141222UID: 2764147

这是我的第一篇Issue,未限时之作，对Issue还没什么概念，求批改。

Issue103: "The study of history has value only to the extent that it is relevant to our daily lives."
Position: Partially agree
Words: 653
Date: 11/03/2010

The speaker asserts that studying history has value only when it comes to our daily lives. It might be tempting to agree with the basis that history is not otherwise useful and instructive. However, the speaker overlooks the benefits, such as inspiration, innumerous lessons for living, valuable perspectives, which we can earn through studying history. In response to this issue, we need to proposition systematically and comprehensively.

I concede that the speaker is on the correct philosophical side of this argument. After all, practicality seems apparently to be the litmus test for most things today and there is no exception of studying history. It is obviously that things rarely remain the same over extended periods of time. There are likely all kinds of differences between past and today, like thoughts, laws and equipments, which were useful in the history, may turn impracticable in the modern society. For example, methods to solve the complex equations, just like Navier-Stokes equations in liquid mechanics, which was significant indispensible in researches in history, but lost their importance with the increasingly development of computers. It's known to all that we can easily get answers to most equations by just pushing few buttons. That is to say, spending our valuable time on studying history that irrelevant to our daily lives is a behavior of wasting.

While we must make use of the pragmatic part of studying history, at the same time we should be circumspect about the immense influence on other respects made by history learning. After all, history amounts far more than long-term planning and protection aimed at ensuring our future life, and our very survival as a species. To begin with, learning about great humans’ achievements of the past provides inspiration. For instance, Mu Dan, a well-known poet in contemporary China, who was inspired by the tenacity and literary talent of the English great poet Shelley in his early age, decided to pursue a career in literature. This decision, in turn, profoundly affected his everyday life and instigated his big passion of composing. On the other hand, even though people would not incline to pursue these kind of career, studying historical examples of the success may still be meaningful, because we could take advantages of the characteristics, including perseverance and optimism. In a word, learning history could help us get through everyday life.

In addition, mistakes made in history always remind people that we shouldn't repeat those mistakes, and teach us how to avoid them. Take the London smog episode as an example. December 1952 brought an episode of heavy smog to London, which approximately 12,000 people, mainly children, elderly people and people suffering from chronic respiratory disease. The grievous pollution and its resulting death toll made people aware of the seriousness of air pollution. The disaster resulted in the enactment of effective laws, which contributed to a marked abatement of air pollution. We can apply this lesson by adopting environment-friendly materials, energy economical equipments and reproducible resources toward such problems as Greenhouse effect, Ozone depletion, Water crisis and Reduction in forest area.

Finally, studying human history is also able to help us understand and improve some brilliant ideas and values in the past. Based on these ideas and values, people created numerous things, such as aircraft, the marvelous invention, which grounded on Newton's laws of motion that advanced in 17th century that evolved from Galileo's elementary law of mechanics. Moreover, a heightened awareness of the evolution of people's precious thoughts could prevent us going to the wrong way, and even provide a short-cut, during the exploration of some fields.

In sum, the debate on history learning is a complex one, requiring perspective that subjective and objective. I find the claim to be an unfair generalization as it limits the values of studying history to a comparative narrow area. In the final analysis, if the assertion had included the given respects mentioned above, it would been more thorough and feasible.

kid141222UID: 2764147

拜托谁帮忙改一下，只能自己顶起来了... 1# kid141222