Issue207【0706G－CRUSADE小组】第７次作业 by vanlucker

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Issue207   文化类“Rituals and ceremonies help define a culture. Without them, societies or groups of people have a diminished sense of who they are. “

Outline
1.      同意
2.       仪式是文化的重要组成部分，它通过反映文化来帮助定义文化。（比如结婚仪式---美国和中国的对比）
3.       虽然一个文化还包括文字,历史,特殊习俗等等各种各样方面. 但是因为全球化，民族融合，文化失去了自己的特点（包括语言，习俗），但是他们通过举行仪式来自我定义（比如美国的中国裔春节，印地安人举行的祭祖仪式）。
4.        诚然，仪式的初衷可能并不完全是为了帮助定义文化，随着社会发展和历史久远，一些古老的仪式可能被人们忘却，但是正是通过这些古老却又原汁原味的仪式，人们可以更清楚了解自己文化的定位。如中国的祭孔仪式
5.       结论


　There is no denying the fact that, along with the rapid social development, a large number of people who belong to various cultures continuingly reduce their own cultural senses. Therefore, I strongly agree with the speaker that it is the rituals and ceremonies, which help define a culture, that serve the preservation of individual cultural sense significantly.
   To begin with, rituals and ceremonies are one of the most important parts of certain culture, and by reflecting the cultural essences they play considerable roles in the definition of cultures. Accordingly, it is indisputable that different ethnic groups might be distinguished by their distinct rituals and ceremonies. To illustrate this view, one have to look no further than the diverse wedding ceremony of both American and Chinese. The American weddings are always held in local church. The bride and groom, who dress in western formal costume, holily perform a series of the western wedding formal ceremony’s actions. For most Chinese, however, formal weddings are mostly held in pairs’ house, and the bride and groom conduct a favorable banquet with their relatives and friends. In this case, the distinct details of certain ceremonies which belong to different ethnicities can serve directly to help define different cultures, and groups of people even societies might thereby better identify themselves.
   (B1的例子选的不好写，但是又想不起其他的。。。)
   As globalization continues to accelerate, and the racial melting is more and more general, rituals and ceremonies might help significantly define distinct cultures, and therefore, ever contribute seriously to retain individual ethnic cultural senses. Consider, for instance, the Chinese Spring Festival, which celebrates the spring’s arrival, is one of the most typical Chinese ceremonies. Or, consider the Indian memorials to their ancients, who are considered that their spirit will protect their offspring with safety lives. Such rituals or ceremonies might consequently maintain the ethnic cultural distinctiveness and salvage certain cultures from the globalization sea.
   Moreover, although certain culture’s definition involves its language, costume, customs, and so forth, rituals and ceremonies might still be the most important means for people or societies characterizing their own cultural identities. Take again the Chinese Spring Festival for example. The American Chinese, who wear jeans and speak English as their mother language, always, celebrate the Chinese Spring Festival as their ethnic formal ceremony. However, without such particular rituals and ceremonies, American Chinese might overwhelmingly sink into the racial melting, which will eventually diminish their own unique ethnic definition.
   Admittedly, the original purpose of rituals and ceremonies might not directly be to help conserve the distinct ethnic culture, nevertheless, they still be hold as preservations. Due to the long history and dramatic social advancement, some ancient rituals and ceremonies, such as the pray for rain, harvest and safety life, might be disappear for a long time. However, it is by hold renewably such forgotten primitive rituals and ceremonies that certain societies and groups of people might better appreciate the essences of their own ethnic cultures. Apt examples involve the Confucius memorial ceremony, which originally hold every year in China for disseminating the Confucius’s essential idea, had emerged for a long time but held again in the recent decades in order to reappear Chinese ancient culture as well as its original idea. Thus, since the rapid globalization, no matter what original purposes of rituals or ceremonies are, it is the most important that they can enlighten people to appreciate deeply their own cultural identities.
　In sum, it is the very means that by holding distinct rituals and ceremonies a culture can better display their unique heritage and further define themselves particularly, as well as help societies and groups of people identify who they are. In a word, the culture might need desirably the particular rituals and ceremonies to help preserve its individual identity and distinct heritages far outweigh other means.