issue120 FLY AW 第四十二次作业

xmbjowlUID: 2182375

TOPIC: ISSUE120 - "So much is new and complex today that looking back for an understanding of the past provides little guidance for living in the present."
WORDS: 699         TIME: 上午 12:58:56          DATE: 2006-7-14

Ever since our humanities come to the earth, we began to experience, learn, and record nearly all the things around us, through various manners. And it is those documentation, which constitute the so-called past, that leads us to the modern era. Living in the present, as for most fields, it is necessary to understand the past, which exerts an irreplaceable role in boosting our social development, in face of the endless emergence of fresh innovatoins today.

Look into the field of natural science, nearly every new theory or fresh invention does have something to do with the past. Views of others may contradict the statement, claiming that it is the creation that contributes to the emergence of new inventions. As a matter of fact, a combination of factors contribute to a great breakthrough in the development of science, and the opposed statement is just based on partial judge. History is replete with scientific events in favor of our belief. Copernicus paved the way for coorborating the observations of Galieo a centruy ago, and ultimately for Newton’s principles of gravity upon which  modern science depends. After all, all the theories are based on the achievements of the prodecessors in the specific field or some other relevant ones. The evidence mentioned as well as other similar cases throughout the history demonstrate that close connection between the past and the present, and everlasting evolution throughout the scientific history.

Aside from the natural science, as for the market place, the past also exert its irreplaceable role in guiding our modern vivid and complicated markets. When it comes to a certain company facing the fierce competition and close operation in the global market, to win in the complex and interconnection, interdependent markets, all the employees in the company must have a proficient mastery of the past cases, relevant business knowledge in the markets they focus on. And only through the process of studying, absorbing the essence of the past, and avoiding the similar mistakes made by the descendants, could the business go toward a brighter future, thus comes the profuse profits. Again, we should not forget the past’s strong power in influencing the current stock market. Either the individual behavior, and inclination in investing, or the performance of the company in the past makes the prices in the market fluctuate. As stockholder or a would-be investor, our responsibility is to grasp the hidden rule lies behind the fluctuation. And from where could we obtain the rules? Obviously, we have to resort to the past data, as well as other similar information. Hence, we see that only by good understanding of the past, employing the experience, knowledge, and typical cases, could the success of the company as a whole be achieved.

Nevertheless, in the realm of arts, the assertion hold by the author may not work, to some extent. After all, arts require boundless imagination as well as creation, which to a large part derive from the artists' inspiration and intuition. And the inner power which has little to do with the history directs and makes a great influence in mirroring the objective world. When the herald of Inpressionism, Claud Monet, display his artworks with a quirk fashion, and the special perspective toward the world, who can discern the trace of the past from his work? As a matter of fact, not only did he receive a formal education regarding the tradition manner in painting, the talented artist also detested the hidebound means of interpreting and reflecting the world. Again, Sherry Levine’s eery fashion of documenting the woman’s life by means of the camera, goes to another extreme opposite to the former realism. Thus, whether an artist has a good understanding of the past cannot steer his thoughts, and determine the attainments in the endeavor.

In the final analysis, in arts fields the creations of artists have little connections with the past, sometimes even reject and deviate from the past, while in most other fields, such as natural science as well as the marketing, looking back for an understanding of the past, either the relevant experience, or the knowledges, could direct and orient modern individuals, and contribute to the success to a large extent.

[ 本帖最后由 xmbjowl 于 2006-7-14 21:38 编辑 ]