GRE写作历史类话题整理

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

只有后来人评价以前的人，而不应该同时代的人相互评价。

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."

当我们把自己和历史关联起来时，我们变成了讲故事的人。因为我们无从知道过去发生的事情，但是又必须要把她们表述出来，所以历史研究是一个非常有创造性的领域，而并非一个客观的过程。所有的历史学家都是讲故事的人(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."

理解一个社会特征的最好的方法就是研究那个社会所认为的伟大人物。

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."

对历史的研究把太多的重点放在对某些个人上。而历史上一些重大的事件和发展趋势不是由个别名人决定的，而可能是由那些已经被人们淡忘的人制造的。

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."

很多人认为建筑代表了一个社会过去的历史价值，但是当现代城市的规划者想要利用老建筑占用的地盘做新的规划时，就会引起很多争辩。在这样的情况下，现代的发展应该优先被考虑，以使当代的需要得到满足。

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."

现在的生活日新月异，对过去的研究学习没有实际的指导意义。

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

只有当历史和我们的生活相关时，对它的研究才有扩展性和价值。