issue6 拍砖必回~~~~

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6. "The most effective way to understand contemporary culture is to analyze the trends of its youth."

了解当代文明最有效的途径就是去分析当代年轻人的潮流。

文明潮流和年轻人潮流的关系。

题目分析：年轻人的潮流和当代文明的关系是怎么样的，如果题目成立，则年轻人的潮流应该是当代文明的浓缩和体现，为什么不是老人或者儿童？那么看来要说明。还有没有其他途径？为什么是最有效的？就要知道了解一种文明的途径有哪些。
准备采取肯定态度，先排除那些特立独行的特殊例子，分主流群体和其他小群体来分析，主流群体可以代表主流文化表现，其他群体是否能体现自己的特色也能反映当代文明的开放程度。
1 从人的喜好和表现能够知道他的背景文化
2 年轻人是具有文化传承及更丰富的创造力的，他们对文化的走向最敏感，且最富创造力
3 当然，了解文化只用这一个手段还是不够的，还有其他。

Is analyze the trends of society's youth the most effective way to understand contemporary culture? The author claims so, and I strongly agree that except for some special cases analyzing the trends of society's youth provides wealthy information about contemporary culture.

Admittedly, an adolescent with strong personality can be easily picked out in each youth group. They want to show their difference from others-admit or not, sometimes they can’t clearly explain why they do that. In some extent, they desire to get respects from others, or just wish to be "cool". If the observers focus on these special individuals, they would be confused and achieve no ideas about any signal symbols of contemporary culture.

Asides from these conditions, I do believe that it is an effective way to understand contemporary culture by analyzing the inclination of its youth.

First of all, since comprehend a culture is a complex task-sometimes no easier than solve a burdensome scientific problem, we could pay attention to its people. With close look to the appearance and behavior of persons, who are more or less influenced by the culture, a picture of culture becomes clear and clears in our mind. Trough the fragments of people's words actions and appearances, the spirit of a society may be figured out. Common sense tells us that youth group, not like children or adults, is a typical group which is most sensitive to tideway changes in culture. And youth's trends, parts of which are inherited from traditional culture, indicate many symbols on this particular group-their appealing images, talking topics, and even the games they prefer. Through these appearances-no matter outside images or inside belief inclination, one is able to catch some information about contemporary culture. There are plenty of examples in history to illustrate it. One needs to look no further than youth in China. One the appealing image level, unlike their parents wearing similar clothes during the whole year, they prefer dissimilar cloth styles according to their mood and circumstances around them. That facts mirror the appearance of individualism in contemporary culture, dislike the period of overstating the collectivism. One the inside belief level, they are taking part in the drastic discussions, not only focusing on globally facing difficulties but also significant political issues happened in their own country. It is the opening culture in contemporary that encourages youth to freely debate the social problems they interest in, even seriously deprecate the questionable policy.

In addition, youth have congenital ability in absorbing the inherent culture as well as adding they own experiences to it. Culture, expect interrupted by the wars or disasters, is a continuous form which is inherited from one generation to another. Youth, with their parents, share some conjunct attitudes toward jobs, lives, and traditional arts, let alone many details like fond foods. Besides that, why choose the youth group as a target one to understand contemporary culture is because they have congenital abilities to creating new trends. For example, the widely speeded culture-hip hop-was, at first time, produced by a group of youth enjoying themselves along the New York street corner. But now, hip hop has become an indispensable part of the globally fashionable culture.

Admittedly, only by analyzing the trends of the youth is not enough for deeply understanding contemporary culture. Visiting the formal families and traveling along the blocks of the city are two meaningful alternative means. Basically speaking, the formal family, regarded as a part of the society, respects the details left by culture turning-its members aging from seven to seventy, along with its decoration and etc. Another effective way is, although seems doleful, traveling along the blocks in the city. For instance, one who is willing to know Chinese philosophy can get a rough idea during his walking along the streets of Beijing, meanwhile, glancing at typical building style called " Si He Yuan". Moreover, the composition of the blocks in the city also shows the ideas of the designers, usually speaking, who are representative delegates of their own culture.

In sum, although there are numerous ways to approach to the contemporary culture, admit or not, analyzing the trends of its youth is the most effective one. By doing so, one is not only able to catch the core value of a culture but also able to master the transforming directions of it.

[ Last edited by staralways on 2005-8-24 at 00:18 ]