GRE寫作歷史類話題整理

1."The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries."

只有后來人評價以前的人，而不應該同時代的人相互評價。

2.."When we concern ourselves with the study of history, we become storytellers. Because we can never know the past directly but must construct it by interpreting evidence, exploring history is more of a creative enterprise than it is an objective pursuit. All historians are storytellers."

當我們把自己和歷史關聯(lián)起來時，我們變成了講故事的人。因為我們無從知道過去發(fā)生的事情，但是又必須要把她們表述出來，所以歷史研究是一個非常有創(chuàng)造性的領域，而并非一個客觀的過程。所有的歷史學家都是講故事的人(storyteller)。

3. "The best way to understand the character of a society is to examine the character of the men and women that the society chooses as its heroes or its heroines."

理解一個社會特征的最好的方法就是研究那個社會所認為的偉大人物。

4."The study of history places too much emphasis on individuals. The most significant events and trends in history were made possible not by the famous few, but by groups of people whose identities have long been forgotten."

對歷史的研究把太多的重點放在對某些個人上。而歷史上一些重大的事件和發(fā)展趨勢不是由個別名人決定的，而可能是由那些已經被人們淡忘的人制造的。

5"Most people would agree that buildings represent a valuable record of any society's past, but controversy arises when old buildings stand on ground that modern planners feel could be better used for modern purposes. In such situations, modern development should be given precedence over the preservation of historic buildings so that contemporary needs can be served."

很多人認為建筑代表了一個社會過去的歷史價值，但是當現(xiàn)代城市的規(guī)劃者想要利用老建筑占用的地盤做新的規(guī)劃時，就會引起很多爭辯。在這樣的情況下，現(xiàn)代的發(fā)展應該優(yōu)先被考慮，以使當代的需要得到滿足。

6"History teaches us only one thing: knowing about the past cannot help people to make important decisions today."

7."So much is new and complex today that looking back for an understanding of the past provides little guidance for living in the present."

現(xiàn)在的生活日新月異，對過去的研究學習沒有實際的指導意義。

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

只有當歷史和我們的生活相關時，對它的研究才有擴展性和價值。