Issue48 第三次作业

ghost33UID: 2267869

TOPIC: ISSUE48 - "The study of history places too much emphasis on individuals. The most significant events and trends in history were made possible not by the famous few, but by groups of people whose identities have long been forgotten."

In this topic, the speaker claims that the history study places too much emphasis on individuals. He implies that the mass who are more important in the most significant events and trends than the famous few should be paid more attention. However, I do not quite agree with him or her. For one thing, it is true that without the support of the unidentified groups of people, the famous few would not manage anything. But, the famous few outweigh the mass. And another, paying attention to those famous individuals is not in favor of them but also because of our limited materials.

Admittedly, an individual, no matter how smart he would be, cannot make any significant events and trends without the help of the mass. We cannot ignore the unimaginable power in the mass which even the king, the most powerful man, should treat carefully. We can get some support in the war between Guomin Party and Gongchan Party in Chinese history. At the beginning, Gongchan Party was in a terrible state mainly because Guomin Party dominated the big city and held the most beneficial place for requisites while Gongchan Party settled in rural village with poor supplies. But things changed quickly after Gongchan Party determined to unite with the large number of peasants who lived in rural countryside. They grew into a large party and finally won the war. At the same time, because Guomin Party left the mass farmers, they lost a large part of support which forecast their failure when Gongchan Party tried to shift their support to these farmers.

However, without those famous leaders who conducted these events, the masses are only blind tigers, possessing violent power but cannot achieve anything. To conceive a big event, great ambition is needed. To make a dream come true, persistence is in need. And without unique charisma and extraordinary personality, no support can be attracted. The so-called famous one, possessing all above, stood up to conduct the significant event, with thousands of hundreds people behind him who followed him willingly and with heart and soul. In the Warring States of ancient China, the country was split into seven kingdoms who fought with each other year after year. The king of Qin kingdom, who cherished the dream of uniting the seven kingdoms, managed to stop those warring days and become the first emperor in China history. The seven kingdoms’ people were tired with wars, but couldn’t make any change without an ambitious, powerful, and smart king.

Again, both the elite and the mass are necessary in making the significant events and trends possible. However, when coming to study the history, the elite are always placed more emphasis.

For one thing, the elite give more information which would be interesting and useful. There is no doubt that the elite are in possession of something special, otherwise, he would remain unidentified. At this point, the masses incite no interest. We can understand it more clearly if we compare the elite as the nine planets around the Sun and the mass as the innumerable stars.

For another, the abundant written materials of the elite urge us to give them more attention. Most of the time, the history was written in favor of the puissant fellow who happened to be the elite. And the nature of the writers made them prone to portray the elite as a hero who worth the whole chapters of the book.

By studying the history, we hope to admire the significant events and draw some lessons from them. Generally speaking, the studying of the elite can help us see those events clear enough. Why should we pay attention to those masses who left little information and were almost the same as the masses today just to declare that we consider them as important as the elite? Mere little attention in the study of history does not mean they played no part in those events.

菲子UID: 2311527

In this topic, the speaker claims that the history study places too much emphasis on individuals. He implies that the mass who are more important in the most significant events and trends than the famous few should be paid more attention. However, I do not quite agree with him or her. For one thing, it is true that without the support of the unidentified groups of people, the famous few would not manage anything. But, the famous few outweigh the mass. And another, paying attention to those famous individuals is not in favor of them but also because of our limited materials.

Admittedly, an individual, no matter how smart he would be, cannot make any significant events and trends without the help of the mass. We cannot ignore the unimaginable power in the mass which even the king, the most powerful man, should treat carefully. We can get some support in the war between Guomin Party(the Kuomintang，
or the Nationalist Party) and Gongchan Party（the Communist Party应该是这样子表达的） in Chinese history. At the beginning, Gongchan Party was in a terrible state mainly because Guomin Party dominated the big city and held the most beneficial place for requisites while Gongchan Party settled in rural village with poor supplies. But things changed quickly after Gongchan Party determined to unite with the large number of peasants who lived in rural countryside. They grew into a large party and finally won the war. At the same time, because Guomin Party left the mass farmers, they lost a large part of support which forecast their failure when Gongchan Party tried to shift their support to these farmers.(虽然这个例子也不是不行，但是我觉得老美可能不太喜欢共产党)

However, without those famous leaders who conducted these events, the masses are only blind tigers, possessing violent power but cannot achieve anything. To conceive a big event, great ambition is needed. To make a dream come true, persistence is in need. And without unique charisma and extraordinary personality, no support can be attracted. The so-called famous one, possessing all above, stood up to conduct the significant event, with thousands of hundreds people behind him who followed him willingly and with heart and soul. In the Warring States of ancient China, the country was split into seven kingdoms who fought with each other year after year. The king of Qin kingdom, who cherished the dream of uniting the seven kingdoms, managed to stop those warring days and become the first emperor in China history. The seven kingdoms’ people were tired with wars, but couldn’t make any change without an ambitious, powerful, and smart king.

Again, both the elite and the mass are necessary in making the significant events and trends possible. However, when coming to study the history, the elite are always placed more emphasis.（个人认为，既然考察历史，这段时态应采用一般过去时，下面两段也是。）


For one thing, the elite give more information which would be interesting and useful. There is no doubt that the elite are in possession of something special, otherwise, he would remain unidentified. At this point, the masses incite no interest. We can understand it more clearly if we compare the elite as the nine planets around the Sun and the mass as the innumerable stars.
For another, the abundant written materials of the elite urge us to give them more attention. Most of the time, the history was written in favor of the puissant fellow who happened to be the elite. And the nature of the writers made them prone to portray the elite as a hero who worth the whole chapters of the book.

By studying the history, we hope to admire the significant events and draw some lessons from them. Generally speaking, the studying of the elite can help us see those events clear enough. Why should we pay attention to those masses who left little information and were almost the same as the masses today just to declare that we consider them as important as the elite? Mere little attention in the study of history does not mean they played no part in those events.