新GRE写作范文:Issue Laws should not be stationary and fixed. Instead, they should be flexible enough to take account of various circumstances, times, and places. Does originality mean putting together old ideas in new ways, as the speaker contends, rather than conjuring up truly new ideas? Although I agree that in various realms of human endeavor, such as linguistics, law, and even the arts, so-called new or original ideas rarely are. However, when it comes to the physical sciences originality more often entails chartering completely new intellectual territory. The notion that so-called originality is actually variation or synthesis of existing ideas finds its greatest support in linguistics and in law. Regarding the former, in spite of the many words in the modern English language that are unique to Western culture, modern English is derived from, and builds upon, a variety of linguistic traditions--and ultimately from the ancient Greek and Latin languages. Were we to insist on rejecting tradition in favor of purely modern language we would have essentially nothing to say. The same holds true for all other modern languages. As for law, consider the legal system in the United States, which is deeply rooted in traditional English common-law principles of equity and justice. The system in the U.S. requires that new, so-called modern laws be consistent with and indeed build upon--those traditional principles. |