【天下无G askme习作】第3次作业

askmeUID: 2264776

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."
历史研究过于关注个人。历史上最有意义的事件和潮流能够成为可能不是因为几个少数的名人而是一些身份早就被淡忘的人群。
1、历史对个人十分关注
a)         科学历史中，some theories bear the name of the person who first published them
b)         历史记录的重大事件时，如战争、革命，重点记录的是famous persons.
c)         艺术中的关注的是大师及其作品
2、Famous persons deserve the emphasis for their causing the trends and events.
a)         科学的发现改变历史，Einstein’s  theory of relativity; Newton’s theory of gravity.
b)         艺术家的创作改编艺术史，Beethoven made a shift from classical music towards romantic music.
c)         Political leaders change the appearance of a country, a nation, even the world. Roosevelt, Genghis Khan.
3、However, in essence, 历史是由groups of people造就的。
a)         Scientific finds are owned by all people over the world.
b)         战争是人民的战争。Multitude participates in wars.
c)         艺术是多少代人积累的结果。
4、Famous persons and groups of people collaborate to make history.

54. "History teaches us only one thing: knowing about the past cannot help people to make important decisions today."
历史只教会了我们一件事：了解过去无助于人们今天做出重要的决定。
1、时过境迁，很多过去的经验不能直接套用到今天。
a)         Conduct of wars.
b)         Laws.
c)         Agriculture.
2、今天和过去有着紧密的联系，今天是历史的延续。
3、很多历史经验依然可以在今天借鉴。
a)         Many strategies in history apply to business.
b)         Methods in history are still used in science.
c)         Ancient art forms inspire modern arts.
d)         Experience from history help political leaders avoid mistakes.

70. "In any profession—business, politics, education, government—those in power should step down after five years. The surest path to success for any enterprise is revitalization through new leadership."
在任何领域中——商业、政治、教育、政府——掌权者应该在五年后就让位。这是任何机构获得成的最好的方式：通过更新领导者而保持活力。
1、Stepping down every five years bring more creative ideas to a group.
a)         Business, especially in IT(信息产业).
2、It could avoid misusing power.
a)         Absolute power leads to corruption. Absolute power leads to absolute corruption. ---Sir. Acton
b)         Watergate scandal.
3、In some fields, leaders should step down after five years.
a)         Education.
b)         Research center.

103. "The study of history has value only to the extent that it is relevant to our daily lives."
103. 只有在历史研究与我们的日常生活相关的前提下，历史研究才有价值。
1、时过境迁，很多过去的经验不能直接套用到今天。
a)         Conduct of wars.
b)         Laws.
c)         Agriculture.
2、今天和过去有着紧密的联系，今天是历史的延续。
3、很多历史经验依然可以在今天借鉴。
a)         Many strategies in history apply to business.
b)         Methods in history are still used in science.
c)         Ancient art forms inspire modern arts.
d)         Experience from history help political leaders avoid mistakes.
e)         Environmental problems.
4、历史还有很多其他的用途
a)         文化认同  culture identity.
b)         Heroes exemplify high moral purpose.
c)         Know why things occur.
d)         Helpful to citizenship.


127. "Facts are stubborn things. They cannot be altered by our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions."
127. 事实是是固执的（不容改变的）。它不会因为我们的愿望、倾向或激情而改变。
1、科学研究中的事实不容改变。
a)         地心说 与日心说。
b)        Galileo
2、历史事件貌似可以随人叙述不同改变，实际上是不能改变的。
3、日常生活中也不是的。

138. "Only through mistakes can there be discovery or progress."
138. 只有通过犯错误才会有发现和进步。
1、   很多情况，通过犯错，确实会会进步。
a)         Edison’s invention of the light bulb.
2、   相反，害怕犯错会停滞不前。
a)         Businessman 担心赔本，不敢创新技术，错失良机。
3、   犯错并不能直接导致进步，要吸取经验才行。
a)         机器不会吸取经验，如果错会一直错下去。
4、   犯错不是唯一的途径，还有很多。
a)         Sharing experience with others, such as reading, talking.
b)         Learn experience from similar things. 发明从动物身上学经验，决策时从历史中吸取经验。
5、   这些途径相结合才能更好的进步。

144. "It is the artist, not the critic,* who gives society something of lasting value."
a person who evaluates works of art, such as novels, films, music, paintings, etc.
144. 是艺术家而不是批评家，带给社会一些具有持久价值的东西。
1、如果这个永恒价值指的是艺术品，那么这个价值就用艺术家创造的。
a)         Monet的canvas.
b)         Beethoven的Symphony.
c)         Michelangelo的sculpture.
2、如果永恒的价值是指艺术品的涵义(meaning)，那么就是批评家给的。
a)         Literature critics develop profound meaning in works of writers.
b)         Critics point out the significance of works of arts.
3、Artist 为 critics提供素材， critics 为艺术家提供建议和方向。

157. "There is no such thing as purely objective observation. All observation is subjective; it is always guided by the observer's expectations or desires." [69]
157. 纯粹客观的观察是不存在的。所有的观察都是主观的；它总是被观察者的期望或意愿所左右。
1、观察同一件事情，确实会随人的主观感觉不同而不同。
a)         历史事件。日本教科书，Iraq战争。
b)         日常生活中，两人闹矛盾，总只看到别人的不对。
2、不过，有些领域中，如科学中的观察是客观的。
a)         科学家观察数据要客观
b)         对实验过程、结果、现象的观察要客观。
3、即时在那些主观观察，但都有一定客观成分。综合大家意见就会得到可观观察结果。
a)         法律中要多方取证。
b)         体育比赛中要设置多个裁判

159. "The human mind will always be superior to machines because machines are only tools of human minds."
159. 人类思维会一直都胜过机器，因为机器只不过是人类思维的工具而已。
1、机器是人类的工具，给人很多帮助。
a)         蒸汽机
b)         电脑
2、有些时候，机器也改变着人，一定程度上主导了思维。
a)         电脑程序改变程序员思维方式。
b)         人们辛苦工作，维持机器运转，成为机器的奴隶。
c)         千年虫问题。
3、即时这样，人类依然会优于机器。
a)         人类有创造思维。
b)        机器毕竟是人生产的，它做的都是人教它的。
218. "In order for any work of art—whether film, literature, sculpture, or a song—to have merit, it must be understandable to most people."
218. 艺术作品要有价值，无论是电影、文学、雕塑还是歌曲，都必须让大多数人能够理解。

askmeUID: 2264776

TOPIC: ISSUE29 - "Public figures such as actors, politicians, and athletes should expect people to be interested in their private lives. When they seek a public role, they should expect that they will lose at least some of their privacy."
WORDS: 474          TIME: 0:45:00          DATE: 2007-1-27

There is a growing controversy on the issue of whether public figures should expect people to be interested in their private lives. I agree that they should lose at least some of their privacy, insofar as, their privacy could, to a certain extent, exhilarate and encourage a number of people. However, public figures should have some rights to protect part of their privacy; otherwise, they might live miserable lives, which are, of course, unfair.

First of all, public figures should expect lose some privacy, because the nature of human is curious of everything about distinctive persons. As an old saying goes, "love me, love my dog." And this saying is used to point out that relative to something one loves deeply, all other things are attractive to him or her, too. If, for example, one seeks on the internet to find information about some star, the most detailed articles are always about the star's privacy such as, the romantic stories or favorite food and clothes. These greatly satisfy people's curiosity, and if the way to pursue these does not resort to illegal methods, I believe that it is reasonable to poke into stars' privacy in most cases, because the nature of human beings can hardly be coerced.

Furthermore, some privacy of public figures could lend some credence to a person's self-improvement and society's prosperity. For example, Jordon's experience, which can be classified to privacy, in senior school encourages many people to strive against their miserable lives. At that time, Jordon did not play basketball as good as today and was understudied every time. One day, he makes up his mind to be the best basketball player. From then on, he was practicing over 12 hours every day and therefore his progress in skills and strength astonished the coach, who admitted Jordon as a formal player to the senior school team and gave  him a hand to be a super star in NBA. Hearing the story, many people might also decide to spare no effort to be the best, such as the best salesman, the best teacher, or the best doctor. All of these will better service our society in the end.

However, public figures should have rights to protect some privacy. Today, there are some annoying people who always track public figures and take photos when public figures are in some embarrassing situation. Not only are such deeds unfair to public figures, nor are helpful to the development of society. Supposed one of political or religious leaders is always pursued by such evil people, their prestige might slump and, as the even worse, may bring about social commotion. In short, our legislators should protect some necessary privacy of public figures to some extent.

To sum up, without the cost of privacy, public figures are difficult to be celebrated, while without necessary privacy, they can not live normal lives.

askmeUID: 2264776

The argument is well-presented, but not thoroughly well-reasoned. By considering the success in promoting ecologically sound tourism in the nearby country of Bellegea, the argument for hiring the current director of Bellegea's National Tourism Office as a consultant to begin an advertising campaign seems logical.

However, the arguer commits a fallacy of hasty generalization. Even if the number of foreign visitors arriving at Bellegea's main airport doubled this year, it does not follow that the advertising campaign has succeeded in Bellegea. It is highly possible that the visitors only pass by  the airport towards another countryand thus cannot contribute to the tourism at all. Even if they do intend to travel around Bellegea, they may not be the major factor leading to the increase by ten percent of per capita income. They might spend a little money and stay for a short time, or the number, though doubled this year, of them might be not large enough, if the number is too small in the past. Without considering and ruling out these possibilities, the conclusion is highly unconvincing.

Even if the tourists indeed greatly contribute to the tourism, it is possible that factors other than the advertising campaign might be responsible for the increase in the number of tourists. Such factors might include the fact that last year, the economic situation is better and therefore people in nearby countries have more money and free time to travel around. It leads to increase in tourists not only in Bellegea but also in other countries. In addition, it is also possible that the airport has imported more planes and thus can serve more tourists, which might lead to cheaper fare and more convenience to go to Bellegea. These are attractive for most of tourists. Without ruling out these alternative explanations, the arguer cannot confidently draw the conclusion.

Even the advertising campaign does attract more tourists in Bellegea, to hire the current director of Bellegea's National Tourism Office as a consultant does not necessarily bring about another successful campaign. Although there are points of comparison between Paraterra and Bellegea, much dissimilar remains. The assumption that Paraterra is analogous to Bellegea in all aspects is so weak. If the current director is the local citizen at Bellegea and familiar with the culture and places of interest, he would devise a set of advertising campaign about his country easily. Supposed that he comes to an unfamiliar country, how can he characterize the country vividly?

To sum up, the conclusion lacks credibility because the evidence cited here lends no strong support to what the arguer maintains. To strengthen this argument, the arguer should provide more evidence to prove that the advertising campaign is the major factor to promote tourism in Bellegea. To better evaluate this argument, we need more information regarding the advertising campaign.

askmeUID: 2264776

TOPIC: ISSUE173 - "Originality does not mean thinking something that was never thought before; it means putting old ideas together in new ways."
WORDS: 638          TIME: 1:00:55          DATE: 2007-1-28

Does originality mean putting old ideas together rather than thinking something never thought before, as the statement assert? In most cases, I agree with it because thinking something never thought is becoming more difficult and is nearly impossible nowadays. However, when it comes to revolutionary changes in some field, originality actually come from something never thought before.

There is no denying that thinking something never thought before has brought some revolutionary changes in many fields, such as physics and arts, and these changes are of course original. As a matter of fact, this kind of thinking is always recognized as creative thinking. In physics, creative thinking has made a shift from the Newtonian physics towards Einstein's theory of relativity. In the Einstein's point of view, everything appears to be shorter when moving as nearly fast as light. Obviously, this point of view radically goes against our common sense as well as anything human have thought before, and thus is undoubtedly original. When it comes to arts, Van Gogh, a famous impressionist, draw pictures not only by means of observance but also with the help of his subject feeling. As a result, the style of his drawings show much difference from other artists', whether contemporary to Van Gogh or before him. No one can deny that such idea of drawing is never thought before and original. In short, creative thinking indeed creates numerous original things, and most of them are significant in history.

However, when faced with so developed a world, human beings feel more difficult to think something that was never thought before. The nature of human to discover the unknown drives people to cover nearly every inch of both the material and the spiritual world. For example, in the Age of Discovery, people sailed everywhere in order to gain wealth. As a result, most of continents, America included, were explored by human, and thus today we can view every place of the whole world on a piece of map. In addition, with the help of philosophy, we have totally discovered the spiritual world, from the classic question "who am I" towards the ends of human lives, and thereby almost questions we can think of have been thought over and over by the early philosophists. Not only does this kind of discoveries make thinking something new difficult and even impossible, but also provide masses of information for us to try out something new.

Thanks to the masses of information, we are able to gain original ideas by putting old ideas together in new ways, one of major resources of originality. Take the greatest canvas as example, and they are made of the fundamental kinds of color by existing drawing skills developed by the early artists. In a not dissimilar way, great works of literature, although consisted of words and sentences that we use everyday, come out, when an excellent writer put them together in an accomplished way. In addition, we can find out that the tendency of the modern era is that interdisciplines are growing rapidly while traditional disciplines make little progress, because people on interdisciplines learn from several disciplines and put old but useful ideas together and eventually gain something original, such as bio-physics which lends strong credence to the gene engineering. We can safely draw the conclusion that putting old ideas together has become mother of original ideas today and we should make the best use of the wealth of knowledge which our ancestors left to us.

In sum, putting old ideas together can be a useful method to discover originality and will continually be helpful for the development of science and society. Therefore, we should learn from the forebears in order to generate original ideas. Meanwhile, thinking something never thought before is still significant for us, especially to perform a revolution in some field.

[ 本帖最后由 askme 于 2007-1-28 18:22 编辑 ]

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