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Issue36
------题目------
The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries.
------正文------
Whether an individual's greatness is decided by their contemporaries, or by those who live after the individual is difficult problem full of complexity and controversy. I concede that many great individuals have won praise for what they have contributed by their contemporaries, however, I tend to agree the speaker's claim.
Admittedly, a myriad of preeminent individuals have received respect from their contemporaries and been appraised high by people living at the same time for what they have contributed to the contemporary society. For example, Bill Gates's greatness is already secured for his great contribution of lifting American technology out of the doldrums during the 1970s and restoring America to the status of economic powerhouse and technological leader of the world. Also a myriad of scientists , such Marie Curie, Bohr, won the Nobel Prize for the prominent contribution to science and technology. Moreover, considering George Washington for example. When he died the Nation mourned him for months. These examples illustrate that the significant contribution made by numberous great individuals from different areas can also be judged by their contemporaries.
In restrospect of history, the judgement of populace tends to follow the mainstream, which often involves political factor and does with interest of the government. Many great individuals were misunderstood by contemporaries. Mahatma Gandhi, a great man who never wavered in his unshakable belief in nonviolent protest and religious tolerance led India for independence from Britain, was killed by an assassin as he walked through a crowed garden. Martin Luther king, a great man who worked for racial equality and civil rights in the United States of America, was also assassinated. Although one is now regarded as the father of India, and the other written into history, both of them were unfairly treated by the contemporaries for politcal reasons rooting in human narrow range of knowledge and nature of greedy and prejudice.
However, those whose greatness was belittled can be reverdicted with time passing by people living after them, and those whose contributions were overevaluated can be fairly judged again. Nowadays we mourn Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King with all our respect and thank them for what they do without which lots of us would still suffer from oppressure and discrimination. In the realm of natural science, it is difficult to identify the greatness without history perspective. Any new knowladge and technology may be disaproved tommorrow. For example, DDT which was once largely used as presticide today have been prohibited from using by most countries for its accumutative poison in animals' body and undisposal pollution to environment. The reward for its inventor, Paul Muller, was regarded as a shame and mistake in the history of the Nobel Prize. Thus, some judgments from contemporaries would be limited, even false. A good example in political realm is Mao Zedong, the key founder of the People's Republic of China, who was once unduely regarded as the Red Sun among the contemporaries. Today people in China reconsider him as a great leader for his contribution and wrongdoings of lauching the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward. In this case, the greatness of individuals can be comparative verdicted by those who live after them.
In sum, although the speaker overlooks many great individuals whose achievement were broadly recognized as great event during their times, the greatness of individuals can be comparative fairly verdicted with the benefit of historical perspective. |
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