GRE issue寫作素材之歷史研究

　　The study of history has value only to the extent that it is relevant to our daily lives."

　　只有研究和我們日常生活相關的歷史才有價值。

　　正文：

　　What is the value of studying history? Some argue that it is worthless if the study of history is irrelevant to our daily lives. However, the view towards history study is too narrow and bigoted.Admittedly, most people find values of studying history because it provides us with inspirations to guide our daily lives. History, during which great men and women worked through real difficulties and complexities, teaches us with examples we needs.

　　When we look at histories, we put ourselves into different real characters and situations to test our own intellect and to learn courage, diligence and ethics. For instance, many people are attracted biographies for two reasons. One is the tales and myths they contain which appeal us a lot. But the other more important one is they serve to encourage and teach us. By learning the lifetime of Edison, we gain courage and persistence from his attitudes towards failures. From the speech of Martin Luther King, we appreciate the great value of ideal towards an equal society which we are still trying to build and complete. From this point of view, history concerns our daily lives because it inspires us with vivid examples which have values all human being want to share and learn. These values about humanities and ethics determine that history has its unique value to the extent that it is related to our daily lives.

　　However, sometimes history serves our daily from a broad view which may be not directly associated with our daily lives. History bring the whole society, particularly its top leaders and elites, lessons and experience which help us avoid duplicating some mistakes and consequently improve the whole society. Take the World War II as an example. After the World War I, the victorious countries imposed an severe and cruel Versailles Treaty on the Germany, and hence the cause of World War II. By learning the lessons from the tragic results, the allied countries did not repeat the mistake but help Germany realize the Democracy and economic prosper. Certainly these policies and actions did not relate to our daily directly, they indisputably guarantee us peace and more opportunities for developing economy rather than international conflicts. Without these efforts, we may still suffer a lot from war and conflicts, lose lives of our relatives and ours. History, in this perspective, has even better value than just providing individual inspiration.

　　In addition, history also helps cultivate our own cultural and national identity. Every country has its distinctive features which we want our children to know and to understand. That is the one significant reason nearly every modern country encourage its involvement in the education. By learning the great achievements of our ancestors,we feel proud and a commitment to our country is formed in this way. Patriotism serves a real purpose for a country to become independent and powerful. Before the collapse of the last dynasty in China, there was rare education about history and most people at that time were at a state of numbness under which they care little about politics and the future of their country. But now, the history teaching has been infused through education, from the kindergarten to the college, in order to arouse people's loyalty to not only their ancestors and families, but the whole nation. Maybe from this point history still has no relevance to our daily lives, but no one can deny its value in maintain the cultural and national identity.

　　In sum, the study of history has values far beyond just serving our daily lives. It does not only provide inspiration to individuals, but also social elites to build a better society. Besides, it is helpful in maintain some unique values and pride of a nation.