ISSUE 48 写的最好的一篇，要是考试能遇到，考完了给大家拍砖。

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48"The study of history places too much emphasis on individuals. The most significant events and trends in history were made possible not by the famous few, but by groups of people whose identities have long been forgotten."

Does the study of history place too much emphasis on individuals and the most significant events and trends in history were made by groups of people rather than the famous few, as the speaker claims? As far as I am concerned, I disagree with this assertion. In the following discussion I would like to present evidence to support my standpoint.

Admittedly, as an old Chinese adage says “the power of the mass is infinite.” we must confess common people played an important role in the most significant historic events and trends. The individual’s ability is finite, without the participation of common people in the historic events and trends, these events and trends would possibly not happened in most cases no matter how strong the famous few ’s will was and how hard they tried. Could George Washington erect the U.S.A by himself? Could Abraham Lincoln save the Union from disintegration and eliminate slavery in America with his own ability? Or could Deng Xiaoping prosper the Chinese economy by hard working? The answer is definitely not. These elites erected great targets and set down the proper policies for accomplishing them, but it is the mass to carry out those policies and to achievement those targets.

However, confessing the important role the mass played in historic events and trends does not imply that we should gainsay the status of the famous few in these events and trends. In fact, they played the core role in them. Without the elites’ lead the mass would not know what their abilities should be contributed to. Before Deng shifted China from planned economy to market economy, although the Chinese had devoted their time and energy in economy construction, the economy of China still dropped behind the world. It did not begin booming until Deng introduced market economy into China and put forward a series of economic policies. If a historian wants to record the huge change in Chinese economy from 1980s to now, he will surely play more emphasis on Deng than the ordinary Chinese. If we could understand this historian’s choice, we will have no difficult to understand why historians had played so much emphasis on individuals when they recorded the most significant events and trends in history.

Furthermore, sometimes the objective conditions compel historians to play more emphasis on the famous few than ordinary people. For example, lacking sufficient materials force historians to do so especially when they record old events and trends. When a significant event or trend happened, there must be many people participated in it. For objective reasons the historian in that period could only chose the most important individuals in that event or trend to record. Even if the posterior historians want to owe that event to other people they are unable to do so because the prior historians did not provide enough materials for them.

In conclusion, for the leading role the individuals played in the most significant events in history and for other objective reasons, it is reasonable for the historians to play much emphasis on individuals. But at the same time we should not ignore the power of the mass, without their help the famous few could not accomplish those significant events by themselves. If possible the historians should mention the feats of the ordinary people in their literatures.

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自己顶

dvdwormUID: 168213

不能沉啊，不能沉，28号就考了，帮忙看看吧，打个分也行，bow