ISSUE103 & ARGUMENT223求拍。后天考试。谢谢帮忙！

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TOPIC: ISSUE103 - "The study of history has value only to the extent that it is relevant to our daily lives."
WORDS: 615
TIME: 00:45:00
DATE: 2009-8-8 12:06:39

Does the study of history have value only insofar as that it is relevant to our daily lives? I would say definitely not. Admittedly studying history serves to enhance our everyday living in many aspects. But the speaker neglects some more important functions of histories and this assertion is biased in evaluating the value of studying history.

To me, studying history has three functions: reflecting the past, introspecting the present, as well as guiding our endeavors in the future. Through studying history of human beings -- the social conventions, the religious belief, the scientific and technological progress, the development of arts, the alternation of dynasties, as well as wars -- we can get a clear and full picture of the evolvement of civilizations, and under the rationales behind each historical phenomenon which reflect the nature of the people at that time. It is generally believed that the natures of human beings haven't changed significantly during the recorded history, though the exterior appearance and value systems have shifted somehow; therefore given the knowledge of what our ancestors think and behave, we can introspect what we have done recently and think about what to do in the future. This does not only guide the value orientation of each individual in his or her daily life but also the society as a whole.

When we study the history of why the empire collapsed and why those governors were not supported by the public, we can objectively judge what our government has done so far and judge whether the social value system is developing toward a right direction. By studying the "Literal Prison" of the Qing dynasty in Chinese history we may better understand and reasonably criticize the correctness media censorship in our democratic society. Especially nowadays the information technology has enjoyed significant development which makes accessing to knowledge about history more convenient, and we all witness the dramatic changes it has brought to our lives and value system, we become more rational and intellectual on certain social issues. Therefore we have the pulse to drive our society toward a more democrat direction. By studying the history of wars, particularly the usage of mass weapons such as nuclear weapons and their astonishing damaging effect on people's lives and the environment, we are more concerned about the current military technology development and advocate for peace in an unprecedented scale, which in reality play an important role in restricting the recurrence of the future nuclear war that can easily destroy our planet.

However, we should not ignore the importance of the impact of studying history on our daily lives. By learning the achievements of historical figures who made great contribution to the society and technology development, we are more motivated to improve ourselves both on a theoretical level and practical level. Newton and Einstein's stories have inspired many generations to explore new areas in the academic fields and become more brave to challenge the authorities and status quo in those fields. The charisma of Ronald Reagan encouraged a lot of people to devote tremendous of their times and even the entire lives to political careers. Even by studying the flaws of those historic figures, we become more careful about our own behaviors in the routine lives and get accustomed to them, which in turn contribution to the improvement of overall welfare of our society when everyone else is doing the similar.

In summary, studying history not only has value to out daily lives but also to the society as a whole. Only by understanding this, can we have a more rational and positive attitude toward studying history and more often introspect our current behaviors while better guide our future endeavors.




TOPIC: ARGUMENT223 - The following appeared as an editorial in one of Coleville's city newspapers.

"Even though a high percentage of Coleville City's businesses failed last year, we who live in Coleville City should keep in mind the fact that the Coleville region has attracted a great many new businesses over the last three years. It is well known that new businesses are, on average, much more likely to fail than are long-established ones, so the business failures should not be considered a sign of poor economic health. Indeed, many analysts regard the presence of a significant number of new companies among a region's businesses as a sign of economic health. Thus Coleville City appears to be in good, not poor, economic shape."
WORDS: 464
TIME: 00:30:00
DATE: 2009-8-8 12:06:39

In this editorial, the speaker argues that Coleville City seems to be in a good economic shape, though a high percentage of businesses in the city failed last year. The speaker cited analysts' opinions and the so-called "well-known" sense about the positive meaning of significant number of new companies among a region's businesses to the region's economic health. To me, this argument is based on ungrounded assumptions and fails to convince me about the good economic situation in Coleville City.

First of all, the speaker fails to provide concrete evidence on the assertion that Coleville region has attracted a great many new businesses over the last three years, which is too vague statistically to draw a fair conclusion. What is the percentage of market values of new businesses over all businesses in the Coleville region? If this percentage is significantly low, we cannot judge that the failure of many businesses last year was new businesses. It is possible that those failures were mostly among long-established businesses in the region.

Secondly, the statement that new businesses are on average much more likely to fail than long-established ones is ungrounded. Without provided statistical evidence, we cannot make this judgment. As we know long-established businesses are usually at the downward period of their entire life cycle while new businesses are often at their upward and fast-growing stage. Therefore it is possible that new businesses are more likely to survive in the competitive environment. It also depends on the circumstance of the place they operate in. If the Coleville region has provided great policy tilt and funding support towards new businesses in this region, the failure of businesses be mainly new businesses, as argued in the above paragraph.

Finally, even if the businesses failed last year were mainly new businesses, the speaker fails to establish a causal relationship between the significant number of new companies among a region and the economic health of the region. Multiple factors may affect the economic health, such as the environments, the local policies such as restrictions on businesses, the quality of personnel, etc. A large number of new businesses may be only one factor contributing the health economic position but definitely not the essential one. Without considering other factors, we cannot easily reach the conclusion about the economic shape.

In summary, the argument in this editorial fails to convince us that Coleville City seems to be in good, not poor, economic shape. To strengthen the argument, more statistical evidence on the number of new businesses as well as all businesses in the Coleville City is needed. In order to better evaluate this argument, we know need sound evidence to establish relationship between the number of new companies and the economic health whole considering other factors which may contribute to the economic situation.