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TOPIC:ISSUE 208 - "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."
提纲:平衡观点
1 人们的衣着和行为在一定程度上反映出他们的态度和兴趣。一方面,从人们的外表我们可以了解他们的社会地位,经济状况等。此外,不同国家的人不同的服饰反映出他们不同的思想和价值观(Americans—jeans and T-shirts Arabians—black clothes and veils)
2 另一方面,我们可以从人们的行为了解他们理念和价值观。此外,人们共同的倾向反映整个社会的趋势或时尚(street dancing and R&B music)
3 虽然人们的衣着在一定程度上反映出人们的态度和价值观,但是要想全面了解社会的思想和价值观仅凭此是不够的,因为由于传统观念和习俗的影响,人们不得不照着周围的人做事。
4 要全面了解一个社会的理念和价值我们必须了解它的法制体系,主流文化以及它的历史。
Whether the way people look, dress and act can reveal their attitudes and interests? The speaker alleges so and generalizes it to embrace the argument that through observing the appearance and behavior of its people we can completely understand the ideas and values of a society. I concede that sometimes people's apparels and utterance can reflect their attitudes and interests, nevertheless, if we want to appreciate a society's values and ideas, we should further know its legislated system, the mainstream culture and its history.
If we observe carefully, we could find that people's appearance and behaviors, to a huge extent, represent their attitudes and interests. On the one hand, from people's appearance, we can tell about their social status, economical situations, habits and so forth. For example, a man who always wears the formal clothes in many occasions might be a government officer or a chief manager of a company. He may possess the active and optimistic attitude toward life and work. While a person who pay much attention on his or her health may usually wear exercising clothes or sport shoes. Moreover, different weariness among people in different countries might reflect their distinct social values and ideas. Consider the Americans and people from the Arab world. People from America prefer the casual and relaxing apparel such as the jeans or T-shirts which reveals their attitudes of neat and convenience and their extrovert racial character, while the latter-Arabians always wear the black clothes and the veils especially in case of their women-those features of appearance expose the significant role the religious doctrines play in their daily life.
On the other hand, we can learn people's ideas and values from their patterns of behaviors. If a person has great interests in politics, he would advocate most of time on the political activities such as participating the elections, giving a public speech, and acquainting with the politicians or lobbyist. In addition, the common propensity of groups of people can reflect the tendency or fashion of the whole society. For example, the prevailing of street dancing or the dominance of R&B music in American youth reveals people's attitudes of searching for stimulation and passion, enjoying leisure time and their casual life-style. From the example aforementioned, we can understand that it is the pursuit of happiness and freedom that plays a vital role in the values and ideas of Americans but not the wealth or the noble status.
Admittedly, people's apparel and utterance reflect their attitudes and propensities insofar as they have to comply with their parents, teachers, coworkers or friends, nonetheless, they do not suffice for us to appreciate the values and ideas of the society completely and precisely. For the significant influence of the traditions and conventions embedded in people's minds, they behaviors and appearance in some respects cannot accurately respond to their hidden ideas or values. Consider an interviewer as an example of point, his neat and formal appearance might conceal his laziness or indulgence in the quotidian life which will arouse the aversion of the employer. Therefore, we must take the legislated system, the mainstream culture and the history of the society into account when we evaluate a society’s ideas and values..
Common sense informs us that the stability and prosperity of a society tread on the heels of the mature legislated system. It defines the guilty and innocence by regulating people's behaviors with the relevant laws. The legislation and law system to some extent are the deflection of the society's morality and ethics. Besides, from the mainstream culture, we learn not only the contemporary trend of the society but also people’s concerning, habits and favorite life-styles. History is a mirror, it infuses us the evolution of the society and how its values and ideas formulated. With the retrospect to history, we can better understand the current tendency of the society and predict its foreseeable future.
To sum up, I concede that the speaker's allegation insofar as people's appearance and behaviors to certain degrees reflect their habits and views. However, there are aberrances revealing the uncertainty of the inherent connection of people's apparels and utterance with the society's values and ideas for they have to comply with people around them. Thus, if we want to understand the spirits and values of the society completely, we should look further into its law system, mainstream culture and history. |
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