issue48 十二月高强组第五周周五作业, 请拍!

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题目：ISSUE 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."
字数：621          用时：0:43:47          日期：2006-12-22

Does the study of history place too much emphasis on the famous few rather than the groups of ordinary people as the speaker claims? I basically concede with this claim that though prominent figures are important in the process of human development, the masses could not be neglect since masses are the main constituent of human history.

To begin with, our study of history has actually extremely concentrated on the historical celebrities. Form the commercial historical books to the academic papers on history, the famous people are focused in many aspects. There are many books on the biography of the greatest presidents, the famous scientists, and other leaders or significant person in many fields. The thoughts and ideas of historical heroes are recorded and analyzed.  However, the ordinary people are rarely observed and studied. It is always said that the condition of the society could be reflected by the eminent in that time. To some extent, those famous people in history indeed made great contribution to the evolvement of human beings and study the historical figures could enhance the understanding of the historical issues. The famous people obtain their fame not by chance but mostly through their great influence to the society. Gandhi, the famous Indian political leader, lead the Indian people achieving independence through the nonviolence and noncooperation movement, Though the study of Gandhi, we could know better about the circumstances in India those times.  Since their ability to influence the society, such as power or the advocate of the masses, or their creative accomplishments that changed the former opinions, they could alter the direction of social development. In science field, some great scientists have advanced the scientific level through by means of their discoveries or innovations.  In the area of arts, some genius has originated many new genres and led the trend of expression. By studying those famous people in history, we could seize the great achievements in different era and therefore help us to understand the situations at past.

However, though famous people could somehow represent the features of the past society, it is the masses that illustrate the whole vision of history. Famous people are only part of the human history, the ordinary groups that actually realize the evolvement of mankind. In the first place, the anonymous multitudes in history are the practitioners who have accomplished either significant or trifle historical issues. For example, all  the great historical sites, such as the great wall, the forbidden city or the pyramid of Egypt, despite indented to meet the needs of the famous people, including the emperor or high officers, and also representing the will of those famous individuals ,  are all completed by the groups of normal people. Without the contribution of the masses, no great will can be realized. Even in the field of scientific research, the greatest achievements though acquired by some famous scientists, are rooted in the works of myriads of other researches unknown to public.

In the second place, the masses in history could describe some historical realities. The famous individuals are only a small segment compare to the whole mankind, thus the study of them could only provide some certain aspects of the history. For example, the famous people are generally consisted of scientists, politicians, emperors and artists, and lives of those people are always distinctive from the normal people and such distinction partly lead to their fames. Whereas, when comes to comprehend the entire situation of the past, including the living standard, the level of technology, the social ideas and the like, the information obtained form famous individuals is inadequate. It is necessary to resort to the ordinary people living in that time in order to sustain a comprehensive and profound understanding of the past.

In sum, though historical celebrities are important in the study of history, it is necessary to pay some certain attention to the unknown multitude to get a accurate and comprehensive knowledge about history.