【kaleidoscope】小组第8次作业 issue208 by rjyuu

rjyuuUID: 2591508

TOPIC: ISSUE208 - "The way people look, dress, and act reveals their attitudes and interests. You can tell much about a society's ideas and values by observing the appearance and behavior of its people."
WORDS: 663          TIME: 00:45:00          DATE: 2009-8-15 17:18:06

I agree with the speaker that the way people look, dress and act could serve as good indicators for their attitudes and interests--at least on most occasions. However, to better understand the ideas and values of a society, merely observing the appearance and behavior of its people is not enough.

No one can deny that we could tell a lot concerning people's attitude and interest towards life through their appearance and behavior. For example, people in North Korean always wear exactly the same clothes, indicating that in this nation conformity is encouraged and individual is ignored; In today’s China, you could witness many young woman wearing Prada suits, bringing Gucci bags, yet at second glance you will find all these luxuries turns out to be fake. This phenomenon denotes the existence of an admiration towards money and fame and a desire to show off among more and more rich Chinese people, which means this nation, more like a new richer, is not graceful enough to understand and appreciate the true beauty of luxury. When it comes to behavior, let's look at how people greet each other in different societies. In ancient China, inferior officials usually kneel down before superior officials while in Western countries people just shake hands, hug or kiss each other. This reveals the extremely uneven status people held in old Chinese society and serves as a perfect indicator to show that equality has long been a virtue in western countries.

As mentioned, above, the appearance and behavior of people could tell us many things about a society's ideas and values. However, this does not necessarily mean that merely by observing the appearance and behavior could we tell a society's value and ideas.

On one hand, observation is a process that is very, very subject. If people do not have enough background knowledge about a culture, even the most precise observation can sometimes lead to a conclusion totally contrary from the truth. To illustrate this opinion, let's look at the example. Both in developed countries and developing countries people ride bicycles. If you are a tourist from a less developed country where only rich people could afford to buy cars, you may naturally regard the fact that most people in the country you are visiting drive bikes as a sign that this nation is a poor as well. What you fail to recognize, however, is the fact that most people in this country can easily afford one, two or even more cars, yet an eagerness to protect the environment and an emphasize on physical health urge them to use bicycle as their main vehicles. This example shows that if we want to understand a culture through observing the appearance and behavior of its people, we not only need to have a sharp eye, but also an insightful mind to recognize the essence from abundant phenomena, yet this is something that the majority of people do not have.

on the other hand, when we focus on the definition of "value", which means what is cherished in a society, it is not hard to find out that individual appearance and behavior can not tell every aspect of what is admired most in the society, which means we should seek for other ways as well in order to have a better knowledge of a society. For example, when it comes to the definition of success, turning to the heroes and heroines the society choose would be more directly and effective. And if we want to know how the society treats his history, we just need to open a textbook and compare its contends with what is widely acknowledged all over the world. Obviously this method will be more efficient.

To sum up, although observe the appearance and behavior of people is a good way to better understand a society's ideas and values, we should make it clear that sometimes this approach may not be that reliable. Also, to better understand a society's ideas and values, it is recommended to use various methods at the same time.

网兜妮妮UID: 2612538

改晚了，不好意思~
ps，这么多字是规定时间内完成的么，我一般好像只能写550，汗...

网兜妮妮UID: 2612538

I agree with the speaker that the way people look, dress and act could serve as good indicators for their attitudes and interests--at least on most occasions(好像一般都用circumstances). However, to better understand the ideas and values of a society, merely( through the observation of )observing the appearance and behavior of its people is not enough.

No one can deny that we could tell a lot concerning (用这个词感觉怪怪的）people's attitude and interest towards life through their appearance and behavior. For example, people in North Korean always wear exactly the same clothes, indicating that in this nation conformity is encouraged and individual is ignored（values collectivism high but ignores the individual value); In today’s China, you could witness many young woman wearing Prada suits, bringing Gucci bags, yet at second glance you will find all these luxuries turns out to be fake. (这个例子好贬低国人啊）This phenomenon denotes the existence of an admiration towards money and fame and a desire to show off among more and more rich Chinese people, which means this nation, more like a new richer, is not graceful enough to understand and appreciate the true beauty of luxury. When it comes to behavior, let's look at how people greet each other in different societies. In ancient China, inferior officials usually kneel down before superior officials while in Western countries people just shake hands, hug or kiss each other. This reveals the extremely uneven status people held in old Chinese society and serves as a perfect indicator to show that equality has long been a virtue in western countries. （这一段例子很多，但是例子的综合分析略有欠缺，应该在断尾总结一下更好）

As mentioned above, the appearance and behavior of people could tell us many things about a society's ideas and values. However, this does not necessarily mean that merely by observing the appearance and behavior could we tell a society's value and ideas.

On one hand, observation is a process that is very, very subject.（这个观点很好啊，赞一个~) If people do not have enough background knowledge about a culture, even the most precise observation can sometimes lead to a conclusion totally contrary from (from? or to?)the truth. To illustrate this opinion, let's look at the example. Both in developed countries and developing countries people ride bicycles. If you are a tourist from a less developed country where only rich people could afford to buy cars, you may naturally regard the fact that most people in the country you are visiting drive bikes as a sign that this nation is a poor as well. What you fail to recognize, however, is the fact that most people in this country can easily afford one, two or even more cars, yet an eagerness to protect the environment and an emphasize on physical health urge them to use bicycle as their main vehicles. This example shows that if we want to understand a culture through observing the appearance and behavior of its people, we not only need to have a sharp eye, but also an insightful mind to recognize the essence from abundant phenomena, yet this is something that the majority of people do not have.(例子都挺好的，但论述可以再精简一点）

on the other hand, when we focus on the definition of "value", which means what is cherished in a society, it is not hard to find out that individual appearance and behavior can not tell every aspect of what is admired most in the society, which means we should seek for other ways as well in order to have a better knowledge of a society. For example, when it comes to the definition of success, turning to the heroes and heroines the society choose would be more directly and effective. And if we want to know how the society treats his history, we just need to open a textbook and compare its contends with what is widely acknowledged all over the world. Obviously this method will be more efficient.

To sum up, although observe the appearance and behavior of people is a good way to better understand a society's ideas and values, we should make it clear that sometimes this approach may not be that reliable. Also, to better understand a society's ideas and values, it is recommended to use various methods at the same time.

LZ的例子积累很充分。
就是段内的逻辑结构还应该再加强~

rjyuuUID: 2591508

3# 网兜妮妮


感谢点评！很精辟呢～学习啦