issue208 大家请狠拍

molly1984UID: 2123299

Issue208 The way people look, dress, and act reveals their attitudes and interests. You can tell much about a society’s ideas and values by observing the appearance and behavior of its people.

No matter how much we emphasize that we do, or should not judge people by their appearances or superficial behavior, the way people look, dress, and act does affect our impression and judgment about a person. This is because people’s appearance and behavior inevitably reveal their attitudes and interests. Consequently, when we observe all the people of a certain society as a whole, we can also draw some conclusions about the society’s common ideas and values, provided both comprehensive observations and in-depth analysis have been objectively made.  

Turn first to people’s appearance for example. We know that in Asian countries such as Japan and Korea, traditional values are well preserved and regarded highly even in the modern world. One of the values they cherished is to show great reverence to the senior people. So on their important days such as weddings, family get-togethers, national holidays or parent’s birthdays, people always wear traditional clothes which are complex and inconvenient, yet formal and appreciated by the seniors of the family. Meanwhile, Americans are well known for their easy-going and practical character which is the direct result of the independent American spirit. Accordingly, they prefer casual style of clothing: except for formal occasions, people seldom wear clothes like suit and tie—a t-shirt and a pair of jeans will do most of the times.

Next let’s see how the behavior of people implies the values of a society. I still remember the Disney movie Mulan, an adaptation from a Chinese legend in which the girl decided to join the army herself so that her aged father could be spared. The director’s tact of representing the details of Mulan’s leaving by night is really one of the highlights: the picture just shows the old father picking up a hairpin left on the table the next morning. It may seem a little confusing to a  westerner, but every Chinese instinctively knows that this is an implicit farewell, which represents the typical Chinese way of expressing emotion—euphemistic and esthetical. From a subtle behavior, the values that represent the eclectic philosophy advocated by the Chinese throughout thousands of years is revealed. To sum up, it is most of the times the fastest and most convenient method to obtain a general idea about the ideas and values of a society.

On the other hand, however, we still need to be very cautious when judging what the ideas and values of a society are, for it is always a profound and complex problem when it comes to the issue of ideology. For example, globalization has made the international metropolitans and its dwellers all look the same: all over the world there are similar sky scrapers and hurried people in shirts and suits. It is common that in most societies, occupations costume requirements have eliminated the distinctive cultural differences. At the same time, the values of modern societies keep changing: due to the developed means of communication, people become more flexible and generous towards ideologies. As a result, the prevailing values might be a mixture of foreign and indigenous ones. So it can be misleading sometime if you try to figure out the society’s ideas by just looking at its people’s exteriors. To judge objectively, all aspects of the social realities should be taken into consideration.

In sum, it is a feasible idea to tell a society’s ideas and values by observing its people, for after all it is them who are the holder and conveyer of these ideologies. Yet in the meantime, we should also bear in mind that to learn about the ideologies of a society, both well rounded knowledge and in-depth understanding about the culture are needed.

[ Last edited by molly1984 on 2005-8-21 at 23:29 ]

one way streetUID: 194590

写的不错啊！例子举的很有代表性，语言也很流畅，值得学习。

唯一一点是正文最后一段的论述有些单薄，通过这种表面的鉴别不仅仅是会在ideologies上造成误解，很多深层的东西它也体现不出来啊！建议再把这方面论述一下，对例子的分析可以相对减少。

gzj123UID: 192680

Issue208 The way people look, dress, and act reveals their attitudes and interests. You can tell much about a society’s ideas and values by observing the appearance and behavior of its people.

No matter how much we emphasize that we do, or should not judge people by their appearances or superficial behavior(+s), the way people look, dress, and act does(do) affect our impression and judgment about a person. This is because people’s appearance and behavior inevitably reveal their attitudes and interests. Consequently, when we observe all the people of a certain society as a whole, we can also draw some conclusions about the society’s common ideas and values, provided both comprehensive observations and in-depth analysis(analyses) have been objectively made.  (缺连词,动词打架)

Turn first to people’s appearance for example.(和开头比简单了些,比如First of all, no one can deny the fact that people have much more inclination to learning about the  ideas and values  aspects appearance from one  ) We know that in Asian countries such as Japan and Korea, traditional values are well preserved and regarded highly even in the modern world. One of the values they cherished is to show great reverence to the senior people. So on their important days such as weddings, family get-togethers, national holidays or parent’s birthdays(only this example is related to reverence), people always wear traditional clothes which are complex and inconvenient, yet formal and appreciated by the seniors of the family. Meanwhile, Americans are well known for their easy-going and practical character which is the direct result of the independent American spirit. Accordingly, they prefer casual style of clothing: except for formal occasions, people seldom wear clothes like suit and tie—a t-shirt and a pair of jeans will do most of the times.

Next let’s see how the behavior of people implies the values of a society(同上). I still remember the Disney movie Mulan, an adaptation from a Chinese legend in which the girl decided to join the army herself so that her aged father could be spared. The director’s tact of representing the details of Mulan’s leaving by night is really one of the highlights: the picture just shows the old father picking up a hairpin left on the table the next morning. It may seem a little confusing to a  westerner, but every Chinese instinctively knows that this is an implicit farewell, which represents the typical Chinese way of expressing emotion—euphemistic and esthetical. From a subtle behavior, the values that represent the eclectic philosophy advocated by the Chinese throughout thousands of years is revealed. To sum up, it(说清楚behavior)  is most of the times the fastest and most convenient method to obtain a general idea about the ideas and values of a society.

On the other hand, however, we still need to be very cautious when judging what the ideas and values of a society are, for it is always a profound and complex problem when it comes to the issue of ideology. For example, globalization has made the international metropolitans and its dwellers all look the same: all over the world there are similar sky scrapers and hurried people in shirts and suits. It is common that in most societies, occupations costume requirements have eliminated the distinctive cultural differences. At the same time, the values of modern societies keep changing: due to the developed means of communication, people become more flexible and generous towards ideologies. As a result, the prevailing values might be a mixture of foreign and indigenous ones. So it can be misleading sometime if you try to figure out the society’s ideas by just looking at its people’s exteriors. To judge objectively, all aspects of the social realities should be taken into consideration. (但是，要对一个社会的价值观和理念有全面了解，光凭借衣服等appearance是不够的。还要看一个社会的其他方面：法制，社会是否安定等)



In sum, it is a feasible idea to tell a society’s ideas and values by observing its people, for after all it is them who are the holder and conveyer of these ideologies. Yet in the meantime, we should also bear in mind that to learn about the ideologies of a society, both well rounded knowledge and in-depth understanding about the culture are needed.

[ Last edited by molly1984 on 2005-8-21 at 23:29 ]

gzj123UID: 192680

白拍了

fishwater00UID: 182063

不错