Issue72 【戮力5次】by Dacy

DacyUID: 2272369

72"One can best understand the most important characteristics of a society by studying its major cities."

Partly agree
对有些社会，了解他们的主要特征的最好方法是可以通过了解主要城市，对一些文化多元的城市，比如美国
但是对于有些社会，却不能这样。

I partly agree with the speaker’s assertion that by studying the major cities, one can best understand the most important characteristics of a society. In my point of view, to some societies, this statement might right, but to the others, it is not suitable.

       Firstly of all, we need to know what the “characteristic” means. In dictionary, this vocabulary means a distinguishing mark or trait. Therefore, the most important characteristic of a society amount to a feature that other societies don’t have.

According to the definition of the characteristic, we can conclude that only the major cities contain the unique features of a society, studying of them will be effective. Admittedly, in some countries, the major cities have the distinctive features to reflect the country’s social characteristics. Take America for example. Diverse culture and developed economic are some of the main features of United States. Looking into New York City, its prospered districts such as Wall Street, New York Stock exchange and Madison Avenue all reflect American developed business and economic. Moreover, the New York City can also reflect the diversity of culture. It attracts large numbers of immigrants from over 180 countries, who bring their own custom traditions and distinctive cultures to America. Because of this, New York has a nickname: “the Big Apple”. Through the example of America, we can safely conclude that for best knowing American society, one can look into its major cities. However, in addition to America, there has another condition to discuss. If a country’s major cities do not have features which distinguish with other countries, how could we understand their social characteristics?

For these countries, the distinctive traits of their society are preserved not in major cities but in small cities or towns. We all know that nowadays major cities among many countries are all like, as the result of the assimilations of the culture. For example, many Asian cities are being westernized and they are very similar at all, and actually, they are essentially multicultural cities which are replete with other nation’s culture traditions. Without their unique cultural traditions, these major cities cannot help us to find social characteristics. Consequently, to understand the characteristics of these societies, we should look into their other cities instead. For instance, if one wants to understand the Chinese social characteristics, one cannot know through studying Chinese major cities which are more or less modernized. Instead, if one looks into some small towns or cities, one may find Chinese distinct traditions – folk arts, customs, tradition songs or crafts – which I think is most important characteristics of China. Therefore, studying major cities of a nation to understand its social characteristic might be not suitable for every nation. Some unique features of society might abide in small cites or towns instead of major cities.

In the final analysis, the contention of the speaker cannot fit for all societies. For some nations, studying its major cites could not help us to best understand its social characteristics, and we should study their other cities or towns to reach our purpose.

地球的小星星UID: 2345848

I partly agree with the speaker’s assertion that by studying the major cities, one can best understand the most important characteristics of a society. In my point of view, to some societies, this statement might be right, but to the others, it is not suitable. (开头简洁，观点明确)

Firstly of all, we need to know what the “characteristic” means. In dictionary, this vocabulary means a distinguishing mark or trait. Therefore, the most important characteristic of a society amount to a feature that other societies don’t（不要缩写） have.

According to the definition of the characteristic, we can conclude that only the major cities contain the unique features of a society, studying of them will be effective. Admittedly, in some countries, the major cities have the distinctive features to reflect the country’s social characteristics. Take America for example. Diverse culture and developed economic are some of the main features of United States. Looking into New York City, its prospered districts such as Wall Street, New York Stock exchange and Madison Avenue all reflect American developed business and economic. Moreover, the New York City can also reflect the diversity of culture. It attracts large numbers of immigrants from over 180 countries, who bring their own custom traditions and distinctive cultures to America. Because of this, New York has a nickname: “the Big Apple”. Through the example of America, we can safely conclude that for best knowing American society, one can look into its major cities. However, in addition to America, there has another condition to discuss（表达不准确）. If a country’s major cities do not have features which distinguish with other countries, how could we understand their social characteristics?

For these countries, the distinctive traits of their society are preserved not in major cities but in small cities or towns. We all know that nowadays major cities among many countries are all like, as the result of the assimilations of the culture. For example, many Asian cities are being westernized and they are very similar at all, and actually, they are essentially multicultural cities which are replete with other nation’s culture traditions. Without their unique cultural traditions, these major cities cannot help us to find social characteristics. Consequently, to understand the characteristics of these societies, we should look into their other cities instead. For instance, if one wants to understand the Chinese social characteristics, one cannot know through studying Chinese major cities which are more or less modernized. Instead, if one looks into some small towns or cities, one may find Chinese distinct traditions – folk arts, customs, tradition songs or crafts – which I think is most important characteristics of China. Therefore, studying major cities of a nation to understand its social characteristic might be not suitable for every nation. Some unique features of society might abide（be preserved） in small cites or towns instead of major cities.（这个论点很新颖，我当时没有想到，不过我觉得你这里所说的应该是这个社会的历史，如果想了解历史的话，因该去那些历史城市，而不仅仅是主要的大城市。另外，你可以举个具体城市的例子）

In the final analysis, the contention of the speaker cannot fit for all societies. For some nations, studying its major cites could not help us to best understand its social characteristics, and we should study their other cities or towns to reach our purpose.

总的来说，我觉得文章思路层次很清晰，但是受了研究城市这个方法的局限，你可以打开思路，比如，我们也可以通过研究一个国家的偶像，大众舆论，新闻媒体，来了解这个社会，这个other solution相比你的研究 other city 可能要好些。

另外，我看到上次你给我评述里有一句关于表达方法问题的话，那个句子其实是从wiki上直接扒下来用的。。不知道那上面说法是不是权威。

一起加油！！！

[ 本帖最后由 地球的小星星 于 2007-8-1 14:23 编辑 ]

jiangzuodongUID: 2371192

我大体看了一下，我觉得主要特征应该分为多方面，比如经济，文化和政治，大部分的首都城市都是政治中心，大城市也是经济中心，但是文化的主要特点可能小城市也有自身特点， 大城市不能代表所有主要特点，这是我对此题目的看法