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  3. Some people say that history is some factual evidence and thus cannot be changed. But when we concern ourselves with the study o

Some people say that history is some factual evidence and thus cannot be changed. But when we concern ourselves with the study o

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问题     Some people say that history is some factual evidence and thus cannot be changed. But 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. So do you agree to the statement that all historians are storytellers? Write an essay of about 400 words. You should supply an appropriate title for your essay.
    In the first part of your essay you should state clearly your main argument, and in the second part you should support your argument with appropriate details. In the last part you should bring what you have written to a natural conclusion or make a summary.
    Marks will be awarded for content, organization, grammar and appropriateness. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
选项
答案 Historians Dress History in Different Ways Certainly, to a certain extent, historians must be storytellers because they have a story to tell. The term "storyteller" seems to imply a greater amount of creativity than what is involved in actually explaining what has happened in history. Most historians do not have the benefit of having lived through the period of history that they are writing about. By researching through thousands of old letters, legal documents, family heirlooms and the like, historians must look at fragments of history and somehow put these pieces together to reconstruct what actually happened. In this sense, they must be storytellers because inevitably, their personal insights become part of what others will see when they read the historian’s writings. As an example, there are many differing opinions as to whether Thomas Jefferson actually fathered children with one of his slaves. Some historians have written that it is a virtual certainty, while others argue that it was his brother, rather than Thomas himself, that fathered the children. They both cannot be right. Although they are all historians, they are also storytellers giving their opinions on what version of events actually transpired. Even with today’s events, there is room for opinions on the part of historians. An example showcasing the idea is that historians are already arguing vehemently what evidence the United States government had regarding potential terrorism prior to the incredible tragedy of September 11. 2001. Looking back now, it seems obvious that the government should have known that something on a large scale was going to happen. With the benefit of hindsight. there were several failures in the government’s counter-terrorism efforts. Historians will now argue over the exact version of what happened, as they become storytellers to try to explain 9/11 to future generations. Moreover, with the booming advancement of the Internet, divergent versions regarding one specific event begin to emerge so much so that it is hard, if not impossible to distinguish true from false. What we can actually see is just that each historian is weaving his or her own story, thus the identity of a storyteller is established. Therefore, when researching history, particularly when it concerns ancient history, all historians must be storytellers to a certain degree. "Connecting the dots" of surviving evidence from the time period or event being examined requires a certain amount of personal intuition and supposition.
解析     本文的观点较为单一，考生在下笔时可能会感觉理由不那么充分。范文作者巧妙地将理由按照时间顺序分述，即分别论述对于年代较久远的历史和近期发生的事件为何史学家的版本都难以保持统一。这种分类方式在议论文中并不常见，考生在面对类似议题时可以借鉴。另外，本文的第二大特点是例证占了很大份额，前面已经提到从说理人手并不容易，那么举例论证的方式就成了考生的不二选择。
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