issue207 [0710G 戴三个表冲刺小组] 第9次作业

pinuoUID: 2328081

提纲：
    1.不同意，典礼和礼仪只是一部分。
    2.Rituals and ceremonies的重点作用。
    3.Rituals and ceremonies influence are fading.
    3.其他几种因素，如语言，历史，文学，艺术等
    4.sum。
   
    TOPIC: ISSUE207 - "Rituals and ceremonies help define a culture. Without them, societies or groups of people have a diminished sense of who they are."

WORDS: 575          TIME: 00:46:35          DATE: 2007-8-3 10:53:25

I concede that rituals and ceremonies help define a culture. However I do not agree with author's further assertion that societies or groups of people have a diinished sense of who they are withou riturals and ceremonies. I believe how strong people have a sense of who they are in the nature of culture, depends more on the intrinsic contents of that culture, such as language, history, litrue, art and so like, rather than the ostensible symbles.
Admittedly, ritural and ceremonies as a representation or symbol of a particular cultrue, can help people identify and appreciate the culture. The typical exmaple imediately coming to mind is the Spring Festival in China, which be regarded as the festival of all the Chinses of the world, no matter they living in China or living abroad. Dumplings, firecrackers, duiliang, such are the necessary parts of the ceremony. Visisting friends and relatives, sending best wish to the fiends and relatives in the coming year, thank them for what they have done to you in the past year, these are the necessary activies in this festival. Also it been regarded as the time when family members reunite. It is this ceremony which makes the people feel who they are and be pride of it just as thousands years ago their predecessors 's feelings.

Nethertheless, the influence of riturals and ceremonis fades to some degree as the world develops. Return to the example of Spring Festival, people used to send post cards to the friends and relatives to represent their best wishs or to visit them personnly  during this festival, now  they prefer another choice--sending emails or mobilephone shor message, which is especially popular among the young people thanks to the development of technologis. They have show their advantange against the tradion way because they are more convinient, faster and cheaper, thus the position of traditional ceremonies and rituals are challenged by their new methods.

Besides the riturals and cremonies, many other factors help define a culture, and are more essensial in mainting the personnal identity. Consider languge, which should be the most widely used one among the &consitutes& of culture. To know a nation's culture, you need look no farther than its languge. The develpment langugel can reflect the history of one nation, thus the language play a critical role in defining a culture and helping attach the nation's identity. History repletes with such example, when a nation was colonized by another nation, the most important parts in the invadors' plan were to force the citizens of colony to give up there own langue and learn invadors'  language. The children will be taught their own language secretely by their parents because they know that With the distinction of their language, the next generation will have a diminished sense of who they are. Other factors such as literature, arts and so like from which people can find their identitis and the soul of their nation, and encourage them to step forward.

In sum, rituals and ceremonis help define a culture along with other factors. It is far from an easy task to determine which one is so important that without the ,societies or groups of people have a diminished sense of who they are. In my viewpoint, language serve as even more critical than the riturals and ceremonies which are just ostensible symbals and their influence will fade when affected by the outter factors such as technology with the sociaty. development.

[ 本帖最后由 pinuo 于 2007-8-8 15:59 编辑 ]

pinuoUID: 2328081

I concede that rituals and ceremonies help define a culture. However I do not agree with author's further assertion that societies or groups of people have a diminished sense of who they are without rituals and ceremonies. I believe how strong people have a sense of who they are in the nature of culture, depends more on the intrinsic contents of that culture, such as language, history, literature, arts and the like, rather than the ostensible symbols.

Admittedly, rituals and ceremonies as a representation or symbol of a particular culture can help people identify and appreciate the culture. The typical example immediately comes to mind is the Spring Festival in China, which be regarded as the festival of all the Chinese of the world, no matter they living in China or living abroad. Dumplings, firecrackers, Sprint Festival scrolls, such are the necessary parts of the ceremony. Visiting friends and relatives, sending best wish to the fiends and relatives in the coming year, thanking them for their kindness to you in the past year, these are the necessary activities in this festival. Also it been regarded as the time when family members to reunite. It is this ceremony which makes the people feel who they are and be pride of it just as thousands years ago their predecessors ' feelings.

Nevertheless, the influence of rituals and ceremonies fades to some degree nowadays when world is becoming increasingly eventful. Return to the example of Spring Festival, people used to send post cards to the friends and relatives to represent their best wishes or to visit them personally  during this festival, now  they prefer another choice--sending emails or mobile phone short message, which are especially popular among the young people thanks to the development of technologies. They have showed their advantage against the traditional way because they are more convenient, faster and cheaper, thus the position of traditional ceremonies and rituals are challenged by these new methods.

Besides the rituals and ceremonies, many other factors help define a culture, and are more essential in maintaining the sense of identity. Consider, for example, language, which should be the most widely used one among the elements of culture. To know a nation's culture, you need look no farther than its language. The language development can reflect the history of the nation, thus the language play a critical role in defining a culture and helping attach the nation's identity. History is replete with such example, when a nation was colonized by another nation, the most important parts in the invaders' plan were to force the citizens of colony to give up there own langue and learn invaders' language. Under this circumstance the children were taught their own language secretly by their parents because they know that with the distinction of their language, the next generation will have a diminished sense of who they are. Other elements such as literature, arts and the like, which being regarded as the heritage of nation, greatly contribute to cultural identities. They are helpful in forming a unique value and pride of a nation.

In sum, rituals and ceremonies help define a culture along with other elements. It is far from an easy task to determine which one is so important that without them societies or groups of people have a diminished sense of who they are. In my viewpoint, language play a more critical role than the rituals and ceremonies which are just ostensible symbols and their influences are fading nowadays when affected by the other factors such as technology and people’s daily life

nifeiUID: 2340954

不好意思今天才修改。在附件里，小字看起来有点累。呵呵。