2011GRE issue写作优秀实例：现代社会

　　题目：
　　So much is new and complex today that looking back for an understanding of the past provides little guidance for living in the present.
　　现代社会是如此的崭新和复杂以至于回首了解过去对于当代生活已经没有太大帮助了。
　　正文：
　　Generally speaking, by saying looking back we general refer to look in retrospect about history, which, as claimed by British philosopher Francis Bacon, makes men wise.Concerning about history, the speaker maintains that looking back for an understanding of the past provides little guidance for living in the present since so much is new and complex today. In my view, although the speaker's statement is not without support from daily experience, it misses the point of the function of history.Let me illustrate it as follows.
　　Admittedly, during past decades we witness a great deal of changes and advance with an ever-greater speed that no any experience can serve as a panacea for any problem.It is because that the people living in the past time were not so intelligent as those living in the contemporary world, and their tunnel views can never stand comparison with our broad horizons. Thus it is reasonable to claim that looking back for an understanding of the past provides little guidance for living in the present. For example,how can we turn to history for the moral risks we face posed by cloning, if in retrospect no such a technology ever existed in the past times? And, how can we find answers about solving the psychological problems springing from increasingly fast living pace since in ancient no one would have ever imagined live in such a fast pace? So in this respect the speaker's claim that it is of little use to look back for guidance of living in the present, since so many problems that people living in the past simply could not imagine, not to mention leave a certain solution for their future generations.
　　Notwithstanding the foregoing concession, I fundamentally disagree with the speaker that looking back for an understanding of the past provides little guidance for living in the present. In other words, history has little to do with present life, as the speaker asserts. History, in the first place, provides us some lessons which will help us make correct decisions when facing stubborn problems. After all, human knowledge is a cumulative database, and without the endeavor of past generations, such a fortune can never be found by people living in modern times. History informs us that any endeavor, policy, regulation trying to regulate morality will undoubtedly fail, as aptly illustrated by the Prohibition in 1930's in U.S. and recent fail in regulating marital issues via internet. And we also slowly learn from the history lessons that any monocrat will doubtlessly fail, for the reason that the advance of society and human beings calls for a more civilized, democratic policy that those monocrats simply cannot bring about. For example, Hitler, Stalin, and many ancient emperors all failed with their despotic policies. In sum, history teaches us important lessons with the help of which there will be fewer mistakes in modern society.
　　Another reason for my fundamental agreement with the speaker lies in the fact that history helps us determine the root, trend, and significance of certain enduring issues that have puzzled every society, for example, violence, wars, and alcoholism. Looking back to the history, one would definitely find that in different times, the policies and laws toward those kinds of issues have changed over period and period; yet they still exist, and even become worsen. Do those crimes find their roots in the deep nature of human beings, or they simply reflect that we are unsatisfied with the society we are living, and thus seek for a way to relieve sorrows? Do those policies, laws, regulations mirror the attitudes of governments, leaders, society toward these crimes, or simply they just come out from a necessity to wield the power? Looking back to the history helps us understand how those issues have varied over centuries and how every policy influence those issues. And in this respect, the speaker's contention may seem to be totally specious at best.
　　And a third reason why I am in favor of turning to history for guidance lies in the fact that by doing so, an individual would find the goals, objectives, careers he/she should pursue. After all, the stories of accomplished celebrities often provide us with motivations to attain a similar success. No one will deny the fact that there is at least one famous person whose story we read incites us a kind of feeling that never ever have provided by parents, friends, and teachers before: a feeling that arouse our deep wish to become an accomplished person. Thus by claiming that looking back for an understanding of the past provides little guidance for living in the present, the speaker actually denies the importance of history in motivating individuals, which is proved to be vital to the development of both society and history.
　　To sum up, from the analysis above, it can clear be seen that although sometimes looking back to the past provide us little use in solving some modern problems, history,on the whole, has much to do with modern society, and by looking back to for an understanding of the past actually provides us great guidance for living in the present.