issue208[AWER小组]作业

JasonDoveUID: 2322013

TOPIC: ISSUE208 - "The way people look, dress, and act reveals their attitudes and interests. You can tell much about a society's ideas and values by observing the appearance and behavior of its people."
WORDS: 548          TIME: 00:36:59          DATE: 2008/3/3 17:44:46

The speaker claims that we can tell much about a society's values and ideas by observing the behavior and appearance of its people. I fundamentally disagree with the speaker, for two reasons. First, globalization assimilates people in different countries. Moreover, one cannot tell a society's ideas and values only by observing the appearance and behavior of its people without taking a deep consideration.

Admittedly, we can tell one's attitude and interests, to some extent, from his or her appearance and behavior. One's attitude towards life and his or her interests would affect his or her way of thinking and doing things. So, in turn, their attitudes would be revealed by their behaviors and appearances. Arabian robes show us the Arabians' belief; pop stars always wearing fashion clothes to show their occupations to us; from the color of one's skin, we can tell from which continent is him or her comes, and so forth. These all can prove that people's appearances and interests could, to some extent, show others their attitudes and interests.

However, I insist that people can never know a society's ideas and values by observing the appearance and behavior of its people. This can be explicit in two aspects. First, globalization is assimilating different societies. Because of globalization, we can see other culture's features, such as way of people dressing themselves and their customs, easily on television or through Internet. These unfamiliar views and things would unquestionably draw our inquisitiveness. We are likely to imitate their way of dressing and some other behaviors, as so, we are assimilated by other cultures. Thus, it would be irrational for us to judge a society's ideas ad values by its people's appearance and behavior. Secondly, though living in the same country and society, people's way of thinking and their values would be different as their fingerprints. For example, in China, our traditional religion is Buddhism, however, there is a large number of people believe in Catholicism or some other religions. From this fact we can draw the conclusion that it is impossible for us to tell a society's ideas and values by its people's appearance and behaviors.

Moreover, to know the ideas and values of a society, a deep research on both its people's thoughts and its tradition is in need. As one growing up is a society, the influence of the society's idea and value would make great affect to his or her way of thinking, expect a small number of them who is not. That is, in a society, most people's way of thinking could effectively reveal this society's ideas and values. As for traditions and customs, it takes thousands of years or more, for one race to form them. Traditions and customs could be viewed as a society's essence. To study them would do favor to us to interpret a society's ideas and values.

To sum up, I disagree with the author that one can tell a society's ideas and values by observing its people's appearance and behavior, because globalization is assimilating different cultures. Moreover, people's appearance and behavior do not always show their attitudes and interests. Additionally, I hold that to understand a society's ideas and values, one should have a deep study of the society's people’s way of thinking and its traditions and customs.