本帖最后由 cyci90 于 2010-4-16 20:09 编辑
TOPIC: ISSUE103 - "The study of history has value only to the extent that it is relevant to our daily lives."
WORDS: 613
TIME: 00:45:00
DATE: 2010/4/16 19:34:09
The speaker contends that historic study which focuses on what is relevant to our daily life is the study of value. However, I find this allegation to be specious. From my point of view, history provides far-reaching insights into our life, tremendous inspiration and inexhaustible lessons for us.
Admittedly, the opponent against my view may argue that history is something existed in the past and would no longer take place in this contemporary setting. Actually, even though pristine events could never recur, historic study does yield high results to many people. For instance, from studying the great conduct and propriety of the giants in history, people particularly students could learn decent mores, values and outlooks from them thus shape decent characteristics. Futhermore, as Sun Bin, the military strategist in ancient China once wrote the 'The Art of War', the strategies listed by Sun Bin in this military book could still be applied to the contemporary world, just as many Western military strategists do nowadays. From a book with the age of more than 4000 years, the experiences and practices can as well shed light upon the circumstances in the 21th century.
While on the same time, the study of history could supply more than that for us. History tells us powerfully that what happened in the past could be avoided, which thus prevents us from taking a strenuous road toward prosperity or success. Now the collapse of German Nazi regime illustrates that a totalitarian regime will never gain the heart and cooperation from the masses, and that a government without democracy is doomed to failure by any mean. Hence, the leaders nowadays can learn a lesson. For that matter, the value of the historic study reveals its instrinic value.
Moreover, more invaluable lessons lie in history. Though we have to concede that most events would never take place again, the objective law behind the pristine events shall remain unchanged and thus could enlighten human beings. Take the Great Depression and the recent worldwide economic depression as an illustration. During the 1920-30s, a severe economic slump afflicted America. As we can see from the history book, hundreds of thousands of banks went bankrupt, millions of the masses led a miserable life without adequate food and clothing. Luckily, the newly elected president Rooselve promptly put foward the famed 'New Deal', in which he advocated a sense of nationalization and stronger govermental control over economic section. Under that circumstances, thus, the overall economic environment relinquished and grew towards a thriving direction. Now, after 80-plus years, the other round of economic depression is striking the contemporary world. Fortunately, in this economic slump which was triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis in the Untied States, many capitalist governments chose to resort to the similar measures adopted by President Roosevle and moderately take a proportion of sections under governmental control. Again, we can see that quite a number of giant corporations which have been on the verge of bankrupcy are now gaining vitality, and that the economic environment does improve thanks to these measures. On the one hand, we have to admit that a sense of obsoleteness does lie in history. While at the same time, we should also reflect that the study of history could be beneficial to several parts of our lives if treated rationally, such as on the societal and political levels, or on the moral level. In sum, I do not insofar as agree with the author's claim. Thus I can assert that the value of history is not merely restricted in our daily lives. With a broader horizon, people can gain a lot from history
and history would enlighten the masses in contemporary lives.
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发表于 2010-4-16 20:04:36
发表于 2010-4-18 23:37:21
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