Issue147 [jet小组] 第九次作业，恳请大家修改！

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ISSUE 147，"Tradition and modernization are incompatible. One must choose between them."

There are no fixtures in the world and our society is fluid and volatile. Humans proceed with new notions shattering old ideas and burgeoning creations replacing traditional ways. Most of the Greek architectures have been vanishing in the erosion of nature, and old communities should give their way to the expansion of a new city. Therefore, there is a trend to argue that tradition and modernization are incompatible, as indicated in the title statement. However, according to my understanding, tradition and modernization are not absolutely distinctive from each other, and the best choice is striking a balance between them rather than choosing only one.

In the first place, certain so-called "modernization" is actually an extension or new iteration of tradition, or a small variation on it. Each new step we take in our procession of civilization actually reconciles the two seemingly discordant factors. Taking the field of art for example, it seems that new arts destroy the old, however our current arts are still show their pursuing for the beauty, ration and love, which established as the ultimate principle from the Age of Ancient Greek. Neoclassicism, a new type of art, is virtually the renaissance of the style of Greek and Roman classical antiquity. As for the field of fashion, we are always seeking new style of costumes with new colors and new materials, however we may still feel fantastic at the first glance at the model who wear a skirt printed on Greek letters. In this sense, tradition is not a state of permanence, it could be revitalized as a new type of modernization. It often occurs that it is the utilization of tradition rather than hastily throwing away that ensures the success of the innovators. Singapore, a nation located in the south-eastern Asia, has achieved significant economic success by applying the traditional Confucianism into the management of business.

However, the society would never develop if it clings to the obstinate conservation of tradition without innovative change. Tradition, as the remains of the former institutions and thoughts form our ancestors, has inevitably retained both the wisdom of permanence and the weakness of that time. For instance, even in the gold age of Ancient Greeks, slavery and aristocracy existed, which guaranteed the inequity of different people. Such platitude should never be inherited when we advocating utilizing the Ancient Greeks for better modernization, which are based on the principles of liberty, equality, and democracy. So what we need to inherit from the tradition is the valuable and essential fraction by picking out and deleting the obsolete dross. The fact aptly illustrating the terrible harm of sticking to the banal tradition is that the superstition hold by villagers in distant districts finally costs many precious lives by excluding the modern technology of medicine.

In conclusion, although the process of modernization has been undertaken by breaking through the limit of tradition to some extent, it does not indicate that modernization needs to completely abandon tradition. Actually the valuable and essential fraction of tradition is where the soul of humans inhabit and where the wisdom of our ancestors leaved to us, retaining and revitalizing of which would ensure us a better way of modernization. Who will still cling to the antitheses between tradition and modernization when he or she sees the opening ceremony of Athens Olympics, in which the modern technology brought about the fantastic harmony of Ancient Greek civilization and modern spirits of competition.

[ 本帖最后由 ljc-dream 于 2008-2-21 14:56 编辑 ]