Issue36 我的第一篇，写了3小时，3月31日上海考，请多指教，谢谢！

小红鱼UID: 165256

Issue 36
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"The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries."
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Who can appropriately and correctly evaluate the greatness of individuals, their posterities of their contemporaries? The speaker alleges that the accomplishment of individuals can be determined only by later generations, not by those who live in the same epoch. This allegation is too absolute and unqualified to be sound. As far as I am concerned, even though in some special circumstance, the achievement of individuals can be judged by future generations, people in their age can also measure individuals’ greatness. The history is replete with such evidence in the realms of politics, science and arts.

In the first place, their contemporaries can recognize the political contribution of individuals. Historical evidence supporting this position is overwhelming, yet one need look no further than Washington, Commander of the American forces in Revolutionary War against the Briton and the first president of the United States. It is because the people in his era appreciated and acknowledges his transcendental military ability and outstanding political capability that he presided the Second Constitutional Convention and was elected president of the fledgling country. Another convincing example involves Mother Teresa, winner of the Nobel Pease Prize, dedicated the majority of her life to helping the poorest of the poor in India, thus gaining her the name “Saint of the Gutter”. The devotion toward the poor won her immediate respect throughout the world and the Nobel Pease Prize. Both examples aptly illustrated the point that their contemporaries can recognize the distinction of individuals, at least, in political field.

In the second place, there is a large portion of scientists whose influence on the world was acknowledged by the population of same generation. The first cogent example emerged from my mind is English mathematician and scientist Newton. Supposedly inspired by the slight of a falling apple, he formulated the theories of universal gravitation, which was regarded as a milestone in the advancement of physics by the people who lived in his interval. Similarly, the second example I want to take comes from Einstein, German-born American theoretical physicist whose special and general theories of relativity revolutionized modern thought on the nature of space and time and formed a theoretical base for the exploitation of atomic energy. He won a 1921 Nobel Prize for his explanation of photoelectric effect. Famous as Newton, Einstein was respected by his contemporaries as one of the greatest scientists in the history of American. Such stories are not rare, they are two of enormous examples that can demonstrate the point that the scientific eminence of individuals can be decided by the person who live in the same time.

A third reason why I disagree with the author’s statement is that a great number of greatest artists are valued by their contemporaries. Let’s take a world-famous person—Shakespeare as an instance. Shakespeare was an English playwright and poet whose body of works is considered the greatest in English literature. Almost every person in his era knew his plays, including historical works, comedies and tragedies, such as Hamlet, Othello and King Lear. People in at time admired him so much that the words and sentences in his plays became a dispensable part of language spoken by even the old woman living in the remote village. This clarifies the position that the public is able to judge the greatness of a individual in art sphere.

I concede that sometimes the greatness of individuals can be judged by posterities rather than by contemporaries because the level of social development limits the perspectives of contemporaries or the value of the great work can only be realized gradually. But such reasons cannot secure the claim that the greatness of individuals can be decided only by posterities, not by those who live in the same generation. Based on the evidence listed above, we can safely arrive at the point that contemporaries can also decide the greatness of individuals.

小红鱼UID: 165256

请那位高手帮忙指点一下，不胜感激。必定回拍！

小红鱼UID: 165256

请高手和菜鸟共同指点！十分感激。一定回拍。