ISSUE 208 透过观察一个社会中人们的外貌和举止来认识该社会的理念和价值

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: 461            TIME: 01:00:00          DATE: 2011-4-9 18:00:29

 

Do the way people look, dress and act reveal their attitudes and interests, as the statement suggest? The statement holds the view that we can tell much about a society's ideas and values by observing the appearance and behavior of its people. Admittedly, sometimes the way people look , dress and act reveals their attitudes and their society's values. However, I fundamentally disagree with the statement because it exaggerates the role of the appearance and behavior of people in the study of a society's ideas and values. Therefore, my contention toward this opinion is that it is not enough to recognize the attitudes and values of a society through observing the appearance and behavior of its people while to some extent it may reveal some.

 

First and foremost, there is no denying the fact to some extent the appearance and act reveals the attitudes and interests of the society. As a typical example,  in the former years the costume of Chinese is nearly the same and all very traditional , which indicates that people in that time think conventionally and dare not to express their peruse and character. However, nowadays these ideas are disappeared and people wear varieties kinds of clothes, which indicate that the modern Chinese society is tolerance. In the past, Chinese like to deposit their money in the bank and never make consumption in advance. But now people’s ideas have changed and more and more people learn to invest their money and mange their money seasonally. Some people even borrow money from bank and then use the money to buy house and credit card in hope to make more money from money.

 

Despite the merits of the speaker’s claim, however, I disagree with the statement because it is not enough to learn about the appearance and act of the people if you want to tell much about a society's ideas and values. Other aspects of the society such as education and culture should also be learned if you want to study a society. For instance, the open characters of American education reflect the tolerance of American society. In American society, different kinds of culture receive the same respect, which also indicates tolerance of the whole society. In Chinese culture, people are kind hearted and like to help the old and the children, from which we can see the characteristics of Chinese society.

 

From the analysis made above, I concede that to some extent the appearance and act reveals the attitudes and interests of the society, while it is not enough to tell much about a society's ideas and values by observing the appearance and behavior of its people. That is to say, you should focus on many aspects of a society if you want to know a society overall.