Issue147 【Persistence小组】第9次作业

iamstoicUID: 2294314

147"Tradition and modernization are incompatible. One must choose between them."

Do we have to choose between tradition and modernization? The speaker claims so, for they are “incompatible”. I concede that in this era of rapid social and technological change, hosts of traditional methods have been replaced by modernized ones. However, in my view the relationship between tradition and modernization should be a dialectical and eventually a harmonious one.

Admittedly, under some circumstances tradition has given way to modernization. Rarely would people nowadays who wish to travel long distances rather choose traditional means of transport such as the horse-drawn vehicle than select modernized ones such as the train, the plane, and so forth. It is evident that traditional transportation is more time-consuming and less efficient compared with modern one, although the latter may give rise to environmental pollution. Further, modernized transportation is a pillar of the national economy for it can decrease the time, increase the reliability of transit, and therefore make the business more competitive. Additionally, the new century has bid farewell to the traditional agrarian society and greet a highly developed industrialized era full of modern technology. In short, if we resisted modernism that is concerned with recent techniques, methods, or ideas and with the increase in the effective of means, our lives would remain stagnant and stop moving forward.

Apart from that, however, how to accommodate and reconcile tradition and modernization is a question that almost every nation and every people has to face today. Some people may embrace the notion that tradition represents the outmoded and stereotyped and only when tradition is broken through is change possible. Nevertheless, I will argue that various traditions, far from withering away, have flourished in the atmosphere of modernization in some fields of our society.

While electronic mails enable people all over the world to get in touch instantly, the old-fashioned hand-written mails are still enjoyed by some people for they are inexpensive and are much more personal than typed ones. While the video camera provides an accurate and convincing record for the purpose of documenting temporal, spatial events and experiences, certain legal matters, such as a complex contractual covenant, and documenting personal subjective state of mind are best left to written documentation which has evolved thousands of years. While modern medicine with advanced facilities and equipment has saved innumerable patients’ lives, traditional herbal preparations still account for 30%-50% of the total medicinal consumption in China these days.

In sum, the speaker’s threshold claim that we must choose between tradition and modernization violates my intuition for they are not irreconcilable. It is right for people to absorb the essence and discard the dross in the traditional heritage. Meanwhile, we should take full advantage of modernization and therefore obtain maximal benefit from it.

[ 本帖最后由 iamstoic 于 2007-2-11 16:47 编辑 ]

Andy85UID: 2250503

Do we have to choose between tradition and modernization? The speaker claims so, for they are “incompatible”. I concede that in this era of rapid social and technological change, hosts of traditional methods have been replaced by modernized ones. However, in my view the relationship between tradition and modernization should be a dialectical and eventually a harmonious one.

Admittedly, under some circumstances tradition has given way to modernization. [Rarely would people nowadays who wish to travel long distances rather choose traditional means of transport such as the horse-drawn vehicle than select modernized ones such as the train, the plane, and so forth.]这句话有点晦涩 It is evident that traditional transportation is more time-consuming and less efficient compared with modern one, although the latter may give rise to environmental pollution. Further, modernized transportation is a pillar of the national economy for it can decrease the time, increase the reliability of transit, and therefore make the business more competitive. Additionally, the new century has bid farewell to the traditional agrarian society and greet a highly developed industrialized era full of modern technology. In short, if we resisted modernism that is concerned with recent techniques, methods, or ideas and with the increase in the effective of means, our lives would remain stagnant and stop moving forward.

Apart from that, however, how to accommodate and reconcile tradition and modernization is a question that almost every nation and every people has to face today. [Some people may embrace the notion that tradition represents the outmoded and stereotyped and only when tradition is broken through is change possible. 这句话语序是不是有点儿问题？] Nevertheless, I will argue that various traditions, far from withering away, have flourished in the atmosphere of modernization in some fields of our society.

While electronic mails enable people all over the world to get in touch instantly, the old-fashioned hand-written mails are still enjoyed by some people for they are inexpensive and are much more personal than typed ones, which is a warm and evocative way to see another little part of someone. While the video camera provides an accurate and convincing record for the purpose of documenting temporal, spatial events and experiences, certain legal matters, such as a complex contractual covenant, and documenting personal subjective state of mind are best left to written documentation which has evolved thousands of years. While modern medicine with advanced facilities and equipment has saved innumerable patients’ lives, according to the statistics from World Health Organization, traditional herbal preparations still account for 30%-50% of the total medicinal consumption in China these days. 例子举的很好啊！

In sum, the speaker’s threshold claim that we must choose between tradition and modernization violates my intuition for they are not irreconcilable. It is right for people to absorb the essence and discard the dross in the traditional heritage. Meanwhile, we should take full advantage of modernization and therefore obtain maximal benefit from it.
这篇文章总的来说，写的很不错，语言方面的错误很少，论述也从反到正，很全面。