issue 36 MM处女作 大家使劲拍

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36"The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries."
   Can the  greatness of a person just be assessed by those who live after him,as the speaker maintains? As far as i can see,there is no doubt that the speaker overlooks some special situations.In other words,the time needed to prove wheather a person great or not varies from case to case. In some areas ,greatness is often recognizable by their comtemporaries.However,there are still other areas in which greatness must be tested over time,such as physical sciences . In still other cases, the greatness fo individuals can not be appreciated instantly in that their outstanding talent have been above the  normal cognitive level.
    Ahead of the discussion on the specific example, the defination of greatness should be taken into account. Just when the idea or productor theroy is not only of great use but can promote the era development immediatly also,at the same time,is
consistent with mainstream, thecomtemporaries will admit that the individuals who bring about them are great.
    Unfortunatly, in the sciences it is difficult to identify greatness without the historical perspective. Take for instance,when Copernicus bring out theory of heliocentricism, there is nearly no person supporting for him because his great discovery contradicted the traditional and inpowered theological canon which dictated geocentricism. It was not until several years his  book published in other countries did Copernicus first express his ideas to populace.Nowdays, there is no denying that we who live after him appreciate his theory as a great achievement in astronomy. The same case happened on another person.Albert Einstain, who developed a brand new theory, which expands the frontier of physics tremendously, relative theory. Although it has been proved the most significant discovery in 20th century, it was understood andaccepted by no more than ten people at that time.So, what these great individuals contribute cannot be judged by their contemporaries,only by us who live after them.
   On the contrast, Bill Gates is lucky.His products have been put to full use on almost everyone's PC.The tremendous change he and his products bring to the world has made him the great person who is admitted by the comtemporaries.Of course,the DOS and Windows operating systems and even Gates' monopoly ,might eventually become historical relics,Yet his greatness is already secured.
    In summary, it is obvious the speaker don't consider thoroughly before giving this issue. Whether the person great or not can not only be decided by those who live after them, also their contemporaries. In the some cases of business,whose achievement are recognized generally even during their heyday.Nevertheless, other great work,particularly in the science,need time to testify its significance so that the greatness can be decided only by those who live after them.