issue63 happyman来看看吧，好像贴得太靠后了大家就都没兴趣了

imongUID: 140258

63. "To truly understand your own culture, no matter how you define it, requires personal knowledge of at least one other culture, one that is distinctly different from your own."

I strongly agree with the claim that personal knowledge of at least one distinct culture is required for individual to understand his/her own culture. To justify this claim one need to investigate into one learning pattern of human being, that is, the comparative approach. For example, we learn that a skyscraper is tall in our childhood in recognizing ourselves or other buildings aside being much shorter. The term tall and short come along, without reference it is impossible to define each. And this pattern applies universally. As we grow up, we have discoveries everyday that enable us to tell light from dark, pleasant from distressed, explicit from obscure, distinct from commonplace. Therefore one day, if we are to meet people of other cultural background, at the beginning we often find it hard to communicate for we share less in common, comparing with people from our own culture. Americans may find the tonic Chinese language a nightmare. The relationship between father and child in Japan is often unacceptable for British households. And we all may be astonished that polygamy does exist in certain areas of this earth. Conscious or not, we immediately set out to probe into such differences, thereby constitute better comprehension of both. Without such process, Americans may neglect certain features of English forever, a British teenager may never realize that he/she relies little on his/her parents, and we may take monogamy for granted all the time. Only after this can we revise the perception of our own culture, which qualifies us to truly understand.

Moreover, scholars have demonstrated that learning diverse cultures can help people truly understand only if they conduct their study in a disinterested way. Cultural anthropologists are the pioneers in this field. Via the comparative approach, they identify the common and distinct traits in societies of various cultures. Yet academic circles are stuffed with anecdotes that two researcher draw divergent conclusions from the same statistics. Fortunately, these intellects finally get down to agree that every cultural anthropologist should stand unbiased so as to ensure the objectivity of any deduction. No wonder it is that hard as most of us are reared in one culture alone. Thus when it comes to the masses, in another culture they are more likely to find something queer or hard to bear. For instance, Chinese intellects are sometimes oversensitive towards western comments on their country, even if they are actually unprejudiced. Here we find the gap. The way to eliminate such gap requires us to give up some ideas that have long been upheld. When what we think right is considered wrong by others, we should sit down, look at the fact without any cultural patriotism, and together recognize that some principle in our culture is not necessarily essential for others. Truly we understand our own culture via this method.

It is equally important to mention that ignorance of cultures other than one's own can bring about consequences from embarrassment to warfare. Imagine, that an American reaches out his/her hand to a typical Japanese bow as both are trying to express respect. This is not yet the worst. Certain religious taboos prevent people from eating beef or pork and what a disastrous scene it will be if both have lunch at the same table. The precaution measures to such problems are to study different cultures. Therefore we can indeed be considerate for others and be tolerating when someone affronts us without intention.

In conclusion, one can truly understand one’s own culture only on having the knowledge of another. Further more, as for the common interest of human being, it is necessary that individual study other cultures objectively as much as possible.

越接近结尾越差

happyman2000UID: 136936

63. "To truly understand your own culture, no matter how you define it, requires personal knowledge of at least one other culture, one that is distinctly different from your own."

I strongly agree with the claim that personal knowledge of at least one distinct culture is required for individual to understand his/her own culture. To justify this claim one need to investigate into one learning pattern of human being, that is, the comparative approach（比较法，是这么表达吗？总感觉有问题！）. For example, we learn that a skyscraper is tall in our childhood in recognizing ourselves or other buildings aside being much shorter. The term tall and short come along, without reference it is impossible to define each.（这个例子举的好！） And this pattern applies universally. As we grow up, we have discoveries everyday that enable us to tell light from dark, pleasant from distressed, explicit from obscure, distinct from commonplace. Therefore one day, if we are to meet people of other cultural background, at the beginning we often find it hard to communicate for we share less in common, comparing with people from our own culture. Americans may find the tonic Chinese language a nightmare. The relationship between father and child in Japan is often unacceptable for British households. And we all may be astonished that polygamy does exist in certain areas of this earth. Conscious or not, we immediately set out to probe into such differences, thereby constitute better comprehension of both. Without such process, Americans may neglect certain features of English forever, a British teenager may never realize that he/she relies little on his/her parents, and we may take monogamy for granted all the time. Only after this can we revise the perception of our own culture, which qualifies us to truly understand. 有比较才有分析

Moreover, scholars have demonstrated that learning diverse cultures can help people truly understand only if they conduct their study in a disinterested way. Cultural anthropologists are the pioneers in this field. Via the comparative approach, they identify the common and distinct traits in societies of various cultures. Yet academic circles are stuffed with anecdotes that two researcher draw divergent conclusions from the same statistics. Fortunately, these intellects finally get down to agree that every cultural anthropologist should stand unbiased so as to ensure the objectivity of any deduction. No wonder it is that hard as most of us are reared in one culture alone. Thus when it comes to the masses, in another culture they are more likely to find something queer or hard to bear. For instance, Chinese intellects are sometimes oversensitive towards western comments on their country, even if they are actually unprejudiced. Here we find the gap. The way to eliminate such gap requires us to give up some ideas that have long been upheld. When what we think right is considered wrong by others, we should sit down, look at the fact without any cultural patriotism, and together recognize that some principle in our culture is not necessarily essential for others. Truly we understand our own culture via this method. 这一段的观点是不是学习不同文化有利于保持研究的客观、公正？感觉论述的条理性不太好！

It is equally important to mention that ignorance of cultures other than one's own can bring about consequences from embarrassment to warfare. Imagine, that an American reaches out his/her hand to a typical Japanese bow as both are trying to express respect. This is not yet the worst. Certain religious taboos prevent people from eating beef or pork and what a disastrous scene it will be if both have lunch at the same table. The precaution measures to such problems are to study different cultures. Therefore we can indeed be considerate for others and be tolerating when someone affronts us without intention. 这一段和你的主体观点关系不大!

In conclusion, one can truly understand one’s own culture only on having the knowledge of another. Further more, as for the common interest of human being, it is necessary that individual study other cultures objectively as much as possible


除了最后一段感觉可有可无外，其它的都挺好了！第二段论述更清楚些就更好了！语言还是保持了一贯特色，流畅精炼，用词灵活准确，值得好好学习！

imongUID: 140258

多谢评语，
还有，我觉得问题在这里
假如一个issue的内容在一段内我就能说<完>，那么下面的段落就很容易变得有点irrelevant
是吧？就像是没话找话

paisleyUID: 64183

如果你觉得你这么快就说"完"了, 那只能说明你研究和思考得还不够深入哦!

我一直认为，每个ISSUE题目都是可以写成一本书的,甚至还不止. 这些话题在学术界和文化界都是争论了很久而没有定论的东西。不可能一段就说完了.

imongUID: 140258

当然
问题在我自己
所以要和大家多交流喽

mondiaUID: 193825

63. "To truly understand your own culture, no matter how you define it, requires personal knowledge of at least one other culture, one that is distinctly different from your own."

I strongly agree with the claim that personal knowledge of at least one distinct culture is required for individual to understand his/her own culture. To justify this claim one need to investigate into one learning pattern of human being, that is, the comparative approach. For example, we learn that a skyscraper is tall in our childhood in recognizing ourselves or other buildings aside being much shorter. The term tall and short come along, without reference it is impossible to define each. And this pattern applies universally. As we grow up, we have discoveries everyday that enable us to tell light from dark, pleasant from distressed, explicit from obscure, distinct from commonplace. Therefore one day, if we are to meet people of other cultural background, at the beginning we often(弱弱地问：这里是不是要用will?) find it hard to communicate for we share less in common, comparing with people from our own culture. Americans may find the tonic Chinese language a nightmare. The relationship between father and child in Japan is often unacceptable for British households. And we all may be astonished that polygamy does exist in certain areas of this earth. Conscious or not, we immediately set out to probe into such differences, thereby constitute better comprehension of both. (the only reason ；一直在想除了这个还有什么强的理由可写么？)Without such process, Americans may neglect certain features of English forever, a British teenager may never realize that he/she relies little on his/her parents, and we may take monogamy for granted all the time. Only after this can we revise the perception of our own culture, which qualifies us to truly understand.

Moreover, scholars have demonstrated that learning diverse cultures can help people truly understand only if they conduct their study in a disinterested way. （方法论；弱弱的问：这种相关发散的方法是否可行，或者只是完不得已采用？）Cultural anthropologists are the pioneers in this field. Via the comparative approach, they identify the common and distinct traits in societies of various cultures. Yet academic circles are stuffed with anecdotes that two researcher draw divergent conclusions from the same statistics. Fortunately, these intellects finally get down to agree that every cultural anthropologist should stand unbiased so as to ensure the objectivity of any deduction. No wonder it is that hard as most of us are reared in one culture alone. Thus when it comes to the masses, in another culture they are more likely to find something queer or hard to bear. For instance, Chinese intellects are sometimes oversensitive towards western comments on their country, even if they are actually unprejudiced. Here we find the gap. The way to eliminate such gap requires us to give up some ideas that have long been upheld. When what we think right is considered wrong by others, we should sit down, look at the fact without any cultural patriotism, and together recognize that some principle in our culture is not necessarily essential for others. Truly we understand our own culture via this method.

It is equally important to mention that ignorance of cultures other than one's own can bring about consequences from embarrassment to warfare. Imagine, that an American reaches out his/her hand to a typical Japanese bow as both are trying to express respect. This is not yet the worst. Certain religious taboos prevent people from eating beef or pork and what a disastrous scene it will be if both have lunch at the same table. The precaution measures to such problems are to study different cultures. Therefore we can indeed be considerate for others and be tolerating when someone affronts us without intention. (和主题似乎没什么关系)

In conclusion, one can truly understand one’s own culture only on having the knowledge of another. Further more, as for the common interest of human being, it is necessary that individual study other cultures objectively as much as possible.


还有一些想法：
1）        是不是可以通过阐述语言对文化的重要性（同时作为文化比不可少的组成），将话题转移到“学外语”的意义，比方gre写作中强调的critical thinking有助于我们用来重新审视中国文化；
2）        想围绕约翰.克里斯多夫来写，他最终就法德文化出路的思考，即提出文化该向何处去—是否也可以看作了解另一个文化的得益，用来作为一个分论点
谢谢！！

wangtiaotiaoUID: 201066

呵呵，其实我上寄托也没几天. 不过，看到那个帖子发的时候我还在北京学托福,水平还差得远呢,各位可都是大虾啊.以后要多多学习了!