Issue207 【Persistence 小组】第19次作业

vinnieUID: 2104933

2.19
207"Rituals and ceremonies help define a culture. Without them, societies or groups of people have a diminished sense of who they are."
1 仪式和典礼对于同文化的人有归属感
2 仪式和典礼是不可或缺的
3 有些仪式典礼的弊端要改进

In the following statement, author says that rituals and ceremonies can contribute to define a culture. And people have the sense of ascription with them. Although some rituals and ceremonies need to be changed with the time going on, I agree with author’s point in general.

There are variety of cultures existed in the earth, and one way to define them is that all of them have their own traditional rituals and ceremonies. For example, in western countries, the wedding and funeral must be hold in the church as most of the westerns believe in Christ. In America, when Christmas Eve comes, the whole family gets together eating turkey just like what their ancestors did when they first reached America. One culture’s rituals and ceremonies have their own special meanings. Some reflect their religion, and others are to commemorate the history about their ancestors. Rituals and ceremonies are outcome of religion and history. As a result, rituals and ceremonies have become an integral part of the culture.

Second, people can strengthen the sense of identity if they own the same rituals and ceremonies. We all know that China has a largest population and Chinese are all over the world doing business or something else. But when spring festival comes, no matter where are you, whether you are rich or not, or which part of China you come from. On that day, Chinese people in one place will get together spontaneously to eat dumplings for dinner and held other ceremonies. At that time, you will feel quite warm especially when you are in other countries and will be proud of being Chinese. The traditional rituals and ceremonies make people under same culture more solidarity and remembering their homeland.

Although rituals and ceremonies are an integral part for both cultures and individuals, some still need to be abandoned if they become harmful with the time change. We still take spring festival for example, in spring festival; people usually fire fireworks for fun. But nowadays, we found that it not only disturb people’s sleeping as people get used to fire it after midnight, but also the smoke from it was quite harmful for environment. After long consideration, government enacts the law to forbid to fire fireworks. Sometimes we still miss the time when we can play fireworks for fun, but we also know clearly that it is necessary to sacrifice it in order to protect environment.

In sum, sometimes the rituals and ceremonies are unnecessary to keep or even harmful in the modern view. But the signification of them is much more than the rituals and ceremonies themselves. As author says, they are an integral part of the culture, and they are also the connection between different people from same culture.

欣馨之火UID: 2183210

In the following（following？似乎是above吧？我不太理解而已，如果你看到这种用法有出处，可以继续使用。）statement, （the，可数名词单数好像没有这样单独用时候）author says that rituals and ceremonies can contribute to define a culture. And people have the sense of ascription with them. Although some rituals and ceremonies need to be changed with the time going on,（with the time going on，不太清楚这个用法是否地道。如果你确定出处，向你学习） I agree with author’s point in general.



There are variety of cultures existed in the earth, and one way to define them is that all of them have their own traditional rituals and ceremonies. For example, in western countries, the wedding and funeral must be hold in the church as most of the westerns believe in Christ.（Christ似乎特指“基督”吧？从“信教“的角度讲，似乎Christianity更合理） In America, when Christmas Eve comes, the whole family gets together eating turkey just like what their ancestors did when they first reached America. One culture’s rituals and ceremonies have their own special meanings. Some reflect their religion, and others are to commemorate the history about their ancestors. Rituals and ceremonies are outcome of religion and history. As a result, rituals and ceremonies have become an integral part of the culture.



Second, people can strengthen the sense of identity if they own the same rituals and ceremonies. We all know that China has a largest population and Chinese are all over the world doing business or something else. But when spring festival comes, no matter where are you, whether you are rich or not, or which part of China you come from. On that day, Chinese people in one place will get together spontaneously to eat dumplings for dinner and held other ceremonies. At that time, you will feel quite warm especially when you are in other countries and will be proud of being Chinese. The traditional rituals and ceremonies make people under same culture more solidarity and remembering their homeland.（这段本身论证没有问题。实际上，一个一直困扰我的问题是对ritual和ceremony的理解。从我看北美范文和电子书的一些资料来看，似乎吃饺子，甚至春节本身不能算作ritual和ceremony，也就是说festival本身涵盖的比ritual和ceremony还多。）




Although rituals and ceremonies are an integral part for both cultures and individuals, some still need to be abandoned if they become harmful with the time change. We still take spring festival for example, in spring festival; people usually fire fireworks for fun. But nowadays, we found that it not only disturb people’s sleeping as people get used to fire it after midnight, but also the smoke from it was quite harmful for environment. After long consideration, government enacts the law to forbid to fire fireworks. Sometimes we still miss the time when we can play fireworks for fun, but we also know clearly that it is necessary to sacrifice it in order to protect environment.（这段论述好！放鞭炮可以算作一种仪式，尽管它可能已经失去了最开始所具有的意义。从源头来看，放鞭炮估计和“驱鬼神”相关。）



In sum, sometimes the rituals and ceremonies are unnecessary to keep or even harmful in the modern view. But the signification of them is much more than the rituals and ceremonies themselves.（这句话本身不错。个人的感觉是，超出rituals and ceremonies本身的是traditions or customs，某种程度上，它们才是增强了cultural identity，而rituals and ceremonies只是traditions or customs的一种表现手段） As author says, they are an integral part of the culture, and they are also the connection between different people from same culture.

1.       思想性上，没有问题。从正反两方面论述了rituals and ceremonies在keep cultural identity上的作用。有讨论的地方已在文中标出。
2.       结构和语言都没什么说的，问题不大。
3.       加油！

[ 本帖最后由 欣馨之火 于 2007-2-23 21:34 编辑 ]