Issue208 二月机经 自己觉得还比较满意的

louchen1984UID: 172975

208. The way people look, dress, and acts reveal their attitudes and interests. You can tell much about a society's ideas and values by observing the appearance and behavior of its people.


The text:
The speaker claims that people's attitudes and interests can be demonstrated by the way they appears and acts, thus  we are allowed to tell much about the ideas and values of that society. In my point of view, the speaker unfairly generalizes the matter. In most cases, people's appearances and customs are accurate indicators of their intrinsic ideas otherwise they are not.

First, I fundamentally agree with the speaker insofar as it occurs in democratic societies. Generally speaking, a person's characters and interests can be roughly told by his outward appearance at the fist glance, which is called "First impression". Though this may give a biased judgment, since never has there been any justification to judge a person merely from his exterior, yet this method is effective and the judgment can be proved or revised through further observation and review. Also his interests and characters are revealed to some extent by the way he talks to others, he deals with problems and he treat the disabled. For example, an individual who wears neat and tidy, speaks politely, devotes to charity and assists the disadvantaged kindly will usually be regarded as a cultured, warm-hearted person, and we may arrive at the presumption that he should be interested in golf, serious readings and classical music. By contrast, the one who dresses poorly, speaks vulgarly and abuses others is marked as a rude person, with no cultivated interests. In the same spirit, we can be informed of a society's values and ideas by means of watching its people's appearance and behavior, which is not abstract to understand. In a society most people look portly and strong may suggests that the whole society puts emphasis on gastronomy and indulgence, while neglects physical exercises at the same time. On the contrary, if a people appreciates high-class, hand-made dressing and also is obsessed with the ideas of keeping fit, then that society places high value on exterior and pursue for a gentler and posh life.

However, sometimes people's appearance and behavior do not necessarily amounts to their intrinsic ideas, or even belie them, especially in a feudal society or an fascist one or any undemocratic one, where freedom was abused and human rights were unsecured. In such a society where common people's ideas were neglected even oppressed, where speeches and actions were monitored and restricted, how can we get an true idea of the whole society? A good case in point is the Moslem peoples of Middle East, where women are terribly oppressed and deprived of basic human rights, such as their education and political rights. What is more inhumane is that they are imposed to live in purdah. We can imagine their daily life through the veils they wear, which are meant to keep women in seclusion and sex segregation, and thus unable to know women's intrinsic desires and attitudes.

To sum up, in a democratic society we can judge a society's value system by how its people appears and acts, just as we judge a person's value system by his appearance. I am in favor of the speaker's claim, since it is reasonable in most cases, except when it comes to a society where common people's behavior is restricted.

poohUID: 146994

请不要一天发两篇和两篇以上的帖子，否则版主照应不过来的

还有，，帮其他人看一下吧

louchen1984UID: 172975

不好意思因为上网不方便只好几天写的一起发 下次不会了
昨天改了两篇，今天继续努力