2006-7-24 Issue147第一次...

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题目：ISSUE147 - "Tradition and modernization are incompatible. One must choose between them."
字数：530          用时：上午 01:19:24          日期：2006-7-24

When one immerses in a metropolis like New York or London, an idea that tradition and modernization converge as a culture flood will indeedly come. In the rapidly developing world we live in today, tradition and modernization, in other simple words, old and new things, are not incompatible. For one thing, modernization gets a lot from tradition without which it can not developing, that is to say, tradition is the source of modernization.  For another, our society itself is an combination of tradition and modernization. Any one prospect itself surely can not construct the world.

Admittedly, tradition and modernization has lots of deference, which may make them seem to be incompatible. For instance, elders prefer old ways of life and would not like to use Internet, ATM machine, cell phone or SMS (Short Message Service), while adolescents and youth are more enthusiastic on pursuing the fashion. But that is the life. No one will accept a society full of elders or youth only can be called a complete "society", and no one executes only new or old methods, leads a seperately new or old life, has only new or old knowledge, will be a complete ciziten in the current world. There indeed exists huge deference between roots and leaves, but only a tree which has both of them can be a tree. So as a society or an individual.

Roots and leaves should be a pretty good analogy on the relationship between tradition and modernization. Roots supply waters and nutrition to the leaves while leaves absorb sunshine for the whole body. We can not deny that tradition is the source of modernization. Take buildings in one of most modern cities in the world - Tokyo as an example. Building skills in some eastern Asian countries, such as China, Japan and Korea, approached a relatively high level hundreds of years ago, when western explorer discover them whose goals were china, silk and tea. In the late twentieth century, a prevail trend came that artitectures in Tokyo unearth many useful characters from the fertile traditional buiding existances. When you wander in the busy roads in Tokyo, modern shopping malls with a traditional roof can be seen everywhere. Inspiration and skills of builders hundreds years ago resurvives in the most modern world. Tradition and modernization come together in a mixed way.

Tradition and modernization are compatible not only because tradition are the source of modernization, but also because they can coexist and stimulate each other. In another way, tradition and modernization come together. In United Kingdom, thousands of old castles which has a history more than five hundreds years coexist with thousands of new skycrapers. In Stanford, library in old building contains the most modern books and magazines where students preceive new ideas and creative methods. In south France, old wine production procesures which exists hundreds of years with computer-controlled machines produce supreme wine of the world.

To conclude, the relation between tradition and modernization should not be underestimated. Choosing one between them will possibly lead to an undesired result. Any society, traditional or modern, if it aims at sustainable development, should endeavor to maintain a mutually enriching relationship between tradition and modernization.