第二篇issue 207 好像是超高频...跪求！跪求！跪求往死里拍！

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TOPIC: ISSUE207 - "Rituals and ceremonies help define a culture. Without them, societies or groups of people have a diminished sense of who they are."
WORDS: 524          TIME: 02:15:36          DATE: 2011/2/8 20:17:53


Rituals and ceremonies are beneficial to define a culture, according to the speaker's argument that this is for the reasons that societies or groups of people would have a tendency to having a declined sense of who they are. I disagree with the writer, albeit the indication with good legs to stands on, and in my point of view, the statement, said the speaker, is relatively one-sided and oversimplified.


To begin with, it is worth noting that so many examples around us to prove that the diminished sense of who we are incompletely results from the missing rituals and ceremonies. People foster their identity, the sense of who they are, through the existance in the sense of social belonging all the time. Whether rituals and ceremonies have effects on the sense of belonging depends on the distinction of social environment. For example, the big modern city, beijing, which is the economic, political and cultural center of China, lives thousands of  well-educated residents who are more concerned about cultural introspection and critical consciousness. In their daily lives, there might be few rituals and ceremonies, while in the small village of Changpin near the city of beijing, residents attach improtance to the traditional festivals such as Mid-Autumn Festival and Dragon Boat Festival probably due to their ways of thinking. The example strongly supports my point that only rituals and ceremonies cannot determine the the sense of who they are.


For another perspective, the assertion, the functions of rituals and ceremonies comes to define a culture, is somehow unconvincing. Firstly, there are amounts of elements when considering really understanding a culture. Different culture in different regions would contact with each othr and be influenced by others. A culture is the fruit with the transforming nature by human beings in the long-term history, and contradiction between human and nature is also the factor influencing a culture. Merely a single aspect cannot come to the conclusion as mentioned above. Secondly, There exist differences in diverse societies on the use of rutuals and ceremonies. America is a modern country and a state with an adequate legal system where people are required to behave in legal ways, while the traditional societies such as countries in Africa may pay more attention on rituals and ceremonies. Therefore the influential power of cerenomies has big distinctions in different places.


Of course, it might assume that rituals and ceremonies, on certain condition, contribute to let societies or groups of people enhance their senses of belongings. The spring festival is the most important one for Chinese, where every family would get together to celebrate the lunar new year. But for overseas students who miss their motherland, they could find who they are through the festival. As a result, we can actully build a relationship between ceremonies and the identities.


In short, it would seem self-evident that the definition of a culture is an complex issue, and there exist a number of factors to think about. Societies or groups of people do not reduce their senses of who they are without rituals and ceremonies. The whole communities need make efforts to build a human society in harmony.