issue136 天无绝人之路+退一步海阔天空+GOOGLE为例 求拍！

starshaneUID: 2616355

TOPIC: ISSUE136 - "The absence of choice is a circumstance that is very, very rare."
WORDS: 474
TIME: 00:45:00
DATE: 2010/4/6 23:59:14


在少数情况下，我们可能“have no choice but to”
绝大多数情况下都是有选择的

I generally agree with the speaker that the absence of choice is rather rare. To analyze this issue, we must define "no choice". If choices are clearly defined by certain supreme power or regulation, then it is possible that we may be faced with "no choice but to choose…". However, in most cases, we can always choose to do things the hard way or easy way, or when we cannot change the circumstance that confined us to limited choices, we can choose to change ourselves.

用GOOGLE的例子，个人认为很恰当……
Admittedly, when people think they are cornered with "no choice", they usually mean that they have no other choices but to choose a presumed one which may not be favorable to them but is dictated by an authoritarian entity, namely regime, institution, laws and such. In an authoritarian regime, for example, where citizen rights are not well protected, the dominant powers tend to make decisions for the people thus leaving them with "no choice". Recently Google retreated from mainland China because the government refused to reduce internet censorship which led to the frequent intrusions on Google client's private information. The consequence is that Chinese netizens "have no choice but" to use Baidu as their primary search engine. However, this kind of absence of choice is largely due to institutional design and is rather rare. In many aspects in Chinese society and in other democratic countries, people are given a wild variety of choices concerning their lives. We have lots of choices in terms of interests, spouse, commodities and service, etc.

天无绝人之路，自己创造选择
On the other hand, even if we are limited to "no choice", we can still expand the choices pool by actively changing the circumstance and creating choices. Let me continue to analyze the case of Google's retreat. It seems that Chinese netizens have no choice but to abandon “Google.cn”, actually we can still find and access to “Google.com” through VPNs or other tools---which may be a difficult but feasible task. This indicates that we can find new choices by working hard and improving the status quo. Some thieves assert that they have no choice but to steal in order to make a living. To me they are just making excuses which do not fit persons with sound body and mind in the slightest sense. With their hands and head, they could find a decent or demanding job anyway. “Heaven will always leave a door open.” This traditional Chinese proverb teaches us to work and think to find new choices.




(For example, an undergraduate caught up in limited career choices, principally labor work, can improve himself by attending higher education or job training so that he is able to find more satisfactory and rewarding intelligence jobs. ) 本来想用这个例子，发现和下一段的找工作例子重合了……

退一步海阔天空，转变观念就有选择
Furthermore, viewing things from a different prospective would provide us with new choices. when we really feel like running out of choices, maybe it is time for us to adjust our attitude. Sometimes people are limited to choices only because they are too narrow-minded believing they have no other choices or too stubborn to achieve certain goals. Take myself experience for instance, I used to think that I had no choice but to be a doctor because both my parents are doctors and they would like me to be one as well. But latter in high school I discovered my interest in arts and was glad to know that my parents supported whatever I chose, even it was not an optimal choice to them. “Fall back a step then a brighter world appears”. This old Chinese proverb fully expresses the essence of changing attitude.



In sum, since authoritarian dictation is not so common in this world, and people can always find ways to expand their choices, I am positive that generally speaking, the absence of choices is very rare.

参考了pooh姐的文，发现对“choice“定义很重要……但还是觉得很难定义
而且感觉那篇文得6分写得好固然是原因，好像有点意识形态倾向，表扬american democracy啊……难道说？