- 最后登录
- 2013-3-15
- 在线时间
- 45 小时
- 寄托币
- 447
- 声望
- 13
- 注册时间
- 2010-3-19
- 阅读权限
- 20
- 帖子
- 20
- 精华
- 0
- 积分
- 481
- UID
- 2783477
 
- 声望
- 13
- 寄托币
- 447
- 注册时间
- 2010-3-19
- 精华
- 0
- 帖子
- 20
|
发表于 2011-2-22 20:57:30
|显示全部楼层
TOPIC: ISSUE48 - "The study of history places too much emphasis onindividuals. The most significant events and trends in history were madepossible not by the famous few, but by groups of people whose identities havelong been forgotten."
History, a word derived from Greekmeaning "inquiry"or "knowledge from inquiry", suggests that it is a discipline thataims at examining the facts or principles of the past. Thus, it's nature tounderstand why we can easily discern preeminent individuals out of countlessmass of people just because they are the obvious embodiment of the fact itself,which is what the topic asserts. However, history is never a balance that triesto weigh the importance of the famous few and groups of people, for neither issuperior in the flow of history.
Milestonesin such fields as literature, arts are usually erected by the famous andbrilliant few due to the fact that precursors in these fields are always descendentof Dionysian, who is symbol of all forms of enthusiasm, ecstasy, and rebellion.As a case in point, Percy ByssheShelley, the most noted English writer, reformed the widespread conservative ideologythat dominates Western world through nonviolence in protest and politicalactions. Heconsiders himself as a poet prophet campaigning for reform and revolution usingthe "wild west wind" to destroy everything that is old and defunctand plant new and progressive, liberal and democratic ideals in its stead. Karl Marx, who enjoyed Shelley almost as much as Shakespeare, understoodhis rebellion best. He wrote: “The real difference between Byron and Shelley isthis: those who understand them and love them rejoice that Byron died at 36,because if he had lived he would have become a reactionary bourgeois. Theygrieve that Shelley died at 29, because he was essentially a revolutionist andhe would always have been one of the advanced guard of socialism.” Undoubtedly,Shelley, admired by Thomas Hardy, George Shaw Bernard and etc., leads the trendof reform in the next few decades and thus, discerned by historians in theriver of history.
At the same time, incidence such as radical political events,meaningful astronomical explorations and valuable scientific experiment,promoting the development of a society and even the progress of a country, arenevertheless fueled by groups of people, namely, organizations, communities,unions. Examples are easy to discover. Thousands of geniuses from various kindsof field worked in the Apollo program after President John F. Kennedy’s addressdeclaringa national goal of "landing a man on the Moon",successfully landing the first man on the Moon; Liberal
politicalgroups and the
masses on the streets of Parisoverturned the absolute monarchy that rules French for centuries, transformingFrench into a republic, constitutional monarchy, which is believed to be the fundamentof modern system of French; Skilled workers and proficient craftsmen from everyspot of United Kingdom promoted the Industrial Revolution, a turning point inhuman history which is so meaningful that for the first time in history, theliving standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergosustained growth. This list can be very long, suggesting that significantevents or trend in human history are, to some extent, casted by groups ofpeople. Though some events are leaded, guided or promoted by famous individuals,they are actually fulfilled by the masses. In other words, groups of peopletruly make the events possible.
Nevertheless, wecan neither say the famous individuals are superior nor the groups of peopleare better by only examining the surface of all these events. Instead, weshould probe into the process of these events and try to understand how theyhappened. By doing that, we can naturally realize the fact that history isnever created by single part (the famous individuals or groups of people). Theyexist in a whole entity, meaning that they just like the two legs of person.With the absence of either one, the person can hardly walk well. Furthermore,only when these two legs cooperate effectively, unanimously and simultaneously, can the history developsteadily that powers the whole society.
这是本人的第二篇ISSUE,3.14就要考了,希望大牛们能指导下。 |
|