Issue54--07.10G同主题写作第7期 作业帖

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TOPIC: ISSUE54 - "History teaches us only one thing: knowing about thepast cannot help people to make important decisions today."
WORDS: 707          TIME: timing failed ==…         DATE: 2007-8-25

Outline:
1. Intro: Modern technology has shaped human society a lot that isquite different from any time in history, that be the cause of theconcern in the topic. 但是，这个观点不仅狭隘，而且不正确。
2. The other functions of history.
3&4. The function of history as a guide for decision making,examplied in three scopes: academic, global economic, and personal life.
5. History cannot offer the precise answer to our question. We should add our own reasoning.
6. Conclusion.

As modern technology has shaped human society in every possible waythat the world we are now living in is of tremendous differences withany given period in history, concerns arise that acknowledgement of thepast things may shed little light on the crucial choices and decisionswe are facing now. But is this necessarily the case? I contend with thespeaker that by offering the very grain for human wisdom and virtue,history not just helps us while facing important decisions, but hasmore other functions than informing us of the past.

First I turn to the speaker's allege that the only function provided byhistory is teaching us about the past. Indeed, history is constitutiveof people living in the past, of their deeds whatever good or evil, oftheir beliefs and hope for the future. These things, provides the veryraw materials for us to contemplate, to refer to, to contrast, and toconclude. The life of Mother Teresa spurs the moral contemplations fromus, and encourages us to be humanistic and determined in the course ofhelping the people suffering from poverty, diseases and disabilities.The firm belief of Gandhi, which sustained his life to fight againstthe colonists and liberating the people of India, inspires us to bepersistent and courageous of our own belief in the pursuit of happy andmeaningful life. What's more, the history of a nation, of its ups andowns through times of cultural and economic prosperity and times ofcrises, encourages us to examine the danger of both hegemony andextreme anarchism, to inspire us to determine for ourselves the rightsand wrongs, to incite the love for peace and equality in us. That'sexactly the reason schools of different levels offer history classes ofvarious sorts.

As one of its functions, history does provide the cross-reference forus while making our own judgments and decisions. The current practicesin the field of academic and economics worldwide, and even our mundanepersonal life illustrate this point.

The threshold work of any project taken in the academic field is totake a thorough survey of the historical relevant works; otherwiseresearchers may not even persuade their sponsors of the significance oftheir project, or they will get lost in their research initiativethemselves. On the other hand, the history of the past works done buildthe fundamentals for the research undertaking now. Therefore thedenying of the function of history in the field of academic is implyingconstructing a castle in the air. The same is true of the globaleconomic market. No company executive can confidently ignore thehistorical statistics and analysis as a guide in their crucialdecisions. They fully grasp the idea that history advances in a upwardspiral, that settings of the now and the history are alwayssurprisingly similar, if not precisely the same. History, with itsbroad definition of incorporating the experiences of the past, is evenbeing unconsciously used when we do our personal financing, decide upona place for dinning, or choose a brand for toothpaste. Thus the notionthat history doesn't help us making important ideas today flies in theface of current practices in many fields.

While embracing the merits of history in many facets, it is alsoworthwhile to notice that history substitutes us in making choices.Sometimes our quests for definite answers in history just cannot besatisfied. However we claim to be cherishing the freedom andindependence, we are stressed out in this fickle and paced-up worldthat one miscalculation might end up in a fiasco. Thus many of us areforce to, or in other ways "wish" to find sound bites and preciseanswers from history, without our own reasoning of the differentsettings between ours and history, without the time-consuming andlaboring critical thinking. Nonetheless, we must remember that historyjust provides the grains for wisdom, without proper digestion it cannotproduce nutrients.

To sum up the above analysis, however history is influential andimportant in our nowadays life especially in decision making, it isequally important to note that the now is in the grip of own hands;that by our critical thinking together with the historical accountsthat we shape our future.

[ 本帖最后由 wizjo 于 2007-8-25 12:26 编辑 ]