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20- 120: So much is new and complex today that looking back for an understanding of the past provides little guidance for living in the present. Position: Disagree1. Studying history provides us with successful examples and inspirations2. Studying history warn us of certain pitfalls and mistakes that we can avoid.3. No matter how different today is from the past, there are certain values, principles, and old life philosophies remain unchanged and still have much use guiding us now. Position: disagree with reservations1. History in science and technology reveal methods, approaches, and scientific ways of interpreting phenomena. No matter how different today is from the past, these basic tools and methods with which we acquired our current understanding to nature and built our scope of knowledge in science will remain useful as guidance.2. History in the development of our social and political landscape has unveiled universal trends, preserved invaluable legacy of wisdom and taught us valuable lessons of what is right and wrong. Through history we know, be it from Ancient Chinas Shang Dynasty, or Americas Civil War, we learn that suppression and coercion of its people by a government and disregard of human rights will ultimately lead to discontent, rebellion and eventual debacle of the government. Chinese ancient thinker, strategist, and militarist Sun Zis book: The Art of War is still being studied around the world for its in-depth insight and penetrating views and understanding of the wars rules, trends and tactics. It is still providing guidance, reference and ideas for todays government, military, even corporate decision-making processes and problem-analyzing approaches. Painful memories of World War I and II still warns us the danger and damage of war, the impact caused by the 1998 Asia Financial Crisis still daunts us and remind us to take precautions to avoid the same tragedy from happening again. 3. History provides us with inspirational examples and role models. Success stories of great persons will perpetually serve as encouragement and illumination for present strivers. Some of these stories can even influence the path we take in our lives and our career decisions. The devotion Marie Jurie has for science has inspired generations of young people to participate in scientific research. The determination of Martin Luther King has wakened millions of peoples awareness of human rights and encouraged them to pursuit freedom. 4. Admittedly, todays society is developing at a breath-taking speed that displaces everything from peoples mind frame to social customs. Therefore, rigidly copying history does not work since changes in every field of society are taking place in an unprecedented rate. We must understand that no matter how valuable history is, it can merely serve as a reminder and guidance, not a one-size-fit-all model to follow or a foolproof panacea to our current problems. 19-7、The video camera provides such an accurate and convincing record of contemporary life that it has become a more important form of documentation than written records.Position: Balanced. Acknowledge both sides merits and defects.Although video camera has provided us with a more objective and accurate record of spatial and temporal events, there is far more to life than what we see and hear. Thus importance of video cam is overstated.1. For the purpose of documenting spatial and temporal events and objects, video camera is intrinsically superior to written records. It is more accurate, direct, and convincing and its richness in color and texture is by any measure superior to any written description possible. Therefore, it is more direct, engaging, and expressive and the information is almost instantaneously conveyed. No words is more effective than a slow motion playback when it comes to the winning shot by Michael Jordan in the epical game of 1998 NBA Finals Game 6. Likewise, no one, no matter how good he is at observing and recounting, could possibly surpass the video camera in effect when describing historical events such as the mess at the 1944 Pearl Harbor Coup by the Japanese or the penetrating poignancy of the tragic scene at the 9.11 terrorist attack.2. Besides truthfully and objectively recording historical events, video camera also play an important role in monitoring contemporary events, often for a whole new purpose, like security concerns or legal proceedings. Video cameras widespread use in shopping malls, supermarkets, residential areas and schools has proved to be an effective preventive measure and monitoring apparatus of crime. Their objective observations and perfect memories have helped us solved a great deal of problems. My schools sports clubs president is arrested last semester for hiding in the ladies washroom and peeping them taking shower. He was not caught on the spot but was later identified with the assistance of the CCTV installed around the area. This serves as a case in point for video cams effectiveness in playing an evidentiary role in defending our security.3. However, video is no practical use when it comes to documenting complex and abstract summarization of ideas, rules or regulations. Laws, decrees, statutes and announcements are always better recorded in written documentation. Likewise, contractual agreements, definitions of a natural law, proof of a complex mathematical problem or the instructions of a medicine are better off in a written form. Moreover, videos innate ineptitude of presenting quantitative data and statistical information has given written documentation an edge when it comes to recording the loss of a conflagration, the population of a district, the accident rate on a new stretch of highway, or specifications of a computer. 4. In sum, video is overstated. It is good when doing XXX but bad when it comes to XXX. We need both for documenting contemporary life.18-208The way people look, dress, and act reveals their attitudes and interests. You can tell much about a societys ideas and values by observing the appearance and behavior of its people.Agree with reservations.1. First turning to how people look and dress. Certain aspects of outward experience do reveal peoples ideas, values and notions. a. Societies like Japans in which people dress formally and look grim hints that they place more emphasis on hard work and less on personal pleasure. Societies like Saudi Arab where people dress uniformly conservative and traditional might indicate the whole societys preference of religious practice, asceticism, spiritual catharsis and so forth over individualism and expressionism. Societies like US where a lot of obese people can be seen obese reflect the peoples indulgence on pleasure and enjoyment while placing low values on physical health. At the same time, the US peoples casual, colorful and diverse style of dressing reveals the societys openness, democracy and its nurturance for different ideas, beliefs and attitudes. b. In some cultures, the way people dress and look is emblematic of the cultures themselves. It is a statement of belief and an indirect assertion of ones stand. For example, punk culture sees a lot of emphasis on body tattoos, leather and rubber clothing and hairstyles that are disturbing from a conservative point of view while hippie cultures characteristic long hair and full beard marks peoples belief of extreme liberalism.c. However, the way people look and dress does not always point to their real attitudes and interests, especially when the scope of study is not large enough or the observation is made under special conditions or contexts. In some cases, peoples dress code is influenced more by needs and external environments rather than their need to express themselves. For example, students dressing formally and uniformly in their dull and generic school uniforms cannot be projected to lack creativity, individualism and passion. It is external regulations that prevented them from expressing themselves and their attitudes. Likewise, office clerks wear shirts and pants while construction workers wear helmets and boots. All these have little if anything to do with their attitudes or interests.2. Next turning to how people act. A societys general conducts, rituals, and its peoples habits and lifestyles often do provide telling signals of how they think, what they value, and what they deem right. a. A society where people save and save and save may advocate conservation and thriftiness. On the contrary, a society in which people spend and spend and spend might exhibit more confidence and optimism. A society whose members behave in a more genteel, respectful and courteous manner towards others clearly values individual dignity whereas a society whose members are spiteful, narrow-minded and querulous tells others about its low tolerance for different beliefs and ideas. b. Nonetheless, it is not recommendable to generalize a societys general beliefs and values by observing its peoples actions for the reason that a certain group of peoples behavior might not be representative of the whole society. For example, US armys atrocious massacre of 24 Iraq civilians recently in Iraq does not mean that American culture is cruel, inhumane and warlike. Hasty generalizations may lead to wrong conclusions. 3. Finally, while in most cases, peoples dress code, appearance and behaviors do reveal at least some of their beliefs, notions, and values, rigidly linking peoples outward manner and their inner thinking will amount to an unfair generalization. 17-154. Both parents and communities must be involved in the local schools. Education is too important to leave solely to a group of professional educators.The speakers statement might look tempting because it is natural and intuitive to have parents involved in their childrens education. After all, it is their children, whom they have the ultimate legal authority over, the most genuine care and love for, and the most familiarity with. However, the statement is a disjointed distraction marked by a false causal relationship. There are no necessary causal relationships between the two sentences of the statement. While agreeing with the speaker that education is too important to be left solely to professional educators, I want to point out that this doesnt mean that parents and communities must be involved in the schools educational process. There are other ways to get the parents and communities involved in educating the child than letting them interfere with the schools autonomy, which may impede the proper education of a child and disrupt his/her healthy overall intellectual , physical and moral development.First of all, getting parents and communities involved in school education may be counterproductive. While it is true that parents most likely have the most genuine interests, most familiarity with their children, they may not know what is best for their children due to lack of systematic training in relevant areas. They may not know what is most suitable for their children at different stages of intellectual and physical development. They may not understand and differentiate between different pedagogical methods and discerningly select the best one that suits their childrens needs. They may not be able to consider educational approach and evaluate various effects of a particular educational method in a developmental psychology context. They may lack the comprehensive knowledge scope, insight, and educational experience to determine what is truly important to their children, what kind of curriculum to choose and what values to be emphasized or indoctrinated and how. On the contrary, a trained professional educator possesses all the required background knowledge and expertise to provide the children with most complementing, if not perfectly suitable, educational set. In this scenario, letting the parents to be involved in the schools teaching process might be a counterproductive decision that leads to endless bouts of infightings, scrambles and protests, all of which spell bad news for the very center of education: the children. Admittedly, education is too important to be handled by professional educators alone. It is a multi-party effort that requires the cooperation of parents, communities, schools and even the children themselves. However, parents and communities involvement in education can come in other ways. While children might learn most of their knowledge systematically from school, they do not develop their mindsets completely isolated from outside world. Instead, influences from various aspects of their lives help to forge their early view of the world and their way of thinking. Therefore, it is the parents and the communities role to ensure that unhealthy and vicious notions and beliefs that may pose negative influences to the children are effectively shielded off. At the same time, the parents themselves could actively endue their children traditional social values and ethical principles gradually throughout the day. An ancient fable that advocates a certain virtue; an old ditty that shows approval for a certain healthy lifestyle; an incident in real life that reflects social expectations and customs; all these can be, and are in fact better, taught by the parents whom the children interact with the most and the communities in which the children live in and grow up. Only through influences from different facets of their life aimed at nurturing different abilities, indoctrinating various virtues, teaching a diversity of knowledge from different disciplines can the children really develop into well-informed, intellectually and morally balanced citizens of our society.In sum, I fundamentally support the claim that education is too important to be handled by professional educators alone. However, I am opposed to letting the parents and communities influence the schools education. Instead, I propose that their involvement in and contribution to the childrens education can come in other forms, which will also help the children to be better and more comprehensively educated. 16-152 The only responsibility of corporate executives, provided they stay within the law, is to make as much money as possible for their companies.Position: I acknowledge that from an economic point of view, profit maximization should be the primary goal for a corporate executive. However, this doesnt mean that companies could ignore their other social obligations. First and foremost, a companys primary concern should be profit maximization. First, by demanding companies to go beyond merely abiding by the law can pose additional burden on them. For example, compliance with higher standards for environmental protection, workplace conditions or employee welfare than that stipulated by the law could exert a heavy toll on the company and impede its efficiency and lower its profits. This will in turn harm its competitiveness in the free market and therefore expose it to a disadvantageous position compared to its competitors. The financial burden added might undermine its R&D prowess or cause it to cut its budgets for quality monitoring or marketing campaigns. All these most likely will point to lower product or service quality which will in turn drive down the companys profits even further. As a result, fewer jobs will be created and the company may even lose out in the competition, causing all its employees to become jobless. In short, unreasonably demanding the company to go one step further in serving the society may result in a counterproductive backfire. Additionally, by acknowledging that companies activities within legal bounds to be ethical and responsible enough, more players will be encouraged to join the competition. More competition almost always leads to better products and services and lower prices, both of which are desirable for consumers. Also, by attracting more individuals, enterprises and investment into the business, the pie is made larger so that the end result is that on average everybody is better off. In addition, profit maximization leads to increased welfare of the companys investors and stakeholders. Extending the benefits of these individuals to a national level, we will see expansion of economy, increase in the wealth of the nation, and improvements in overall living standards. However, any conscientious corporate executive should not make profit maximization their only goal. A company, by legal definition, is also a member of the society. This means besides abiding by the laws of the society, it should also serve other basic responsibilities. And many of these responsibilities can be fulfilled without compromising the companys competitiveness.Firstly, a company should carry out its mission, as stated in its mission statement. Although staying profitable is the foundation of a companys existence, most companies are set up with goals that are beyond making money and are generally aimed for improving the well-being of mankind. For example, Googles mission statement is (I paraphrase) to organize the worlds information and make it available to everyone. One of a corporate executives most important goals besides making profit is to ensure that the company does not deviate from its initial purpose and that its pursuit of its mission is not just lip service. Secondly, in areas where laws are not full-blown, companies should be conscientious and abide by the basic moral principles when doing their businesses. This is especially applicable to high tech companies. As we all know, laws often lags behind advancements of technologies. Therefore, in newly established markets like internet commerce and cloning technology where laws are not yet comprehensive, companies should comply with the basic ethical standards when doing their