119 When old buildings stand on ground that modern planners feel could be better used for modern purposes, modern development should be given precedence over the preservation of historic buildings.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position
Should modern development be given precedence over the preservation of historic buildings when it comes to old buildings could not be suitable for modern purposes? In my view, the speaker makes the statement unfairly with some omission. In some cases, some old buildings which ought to be preserved considering their special meaningfulness and values.
Admittedly, with the boosting development of economy and society, a city should adjust to modernization of demand no matter how long its history is. After all, we can not deny the fact that a lot of cities are becoming more and more crowded with influx of scads of people. Considering this situation, modern buildings may be much more suitable and comfortable than old ones for people to live and use. Take Beijing for example, once it had a multitude of Si He Yuan, which were classical architecture styles of residential housing of Beijing
citizens dated from the Ming Dynasty. However, with a history of more than 700 years now they suffer from the urban renovation and economic development of China, most of them can not provide more spaces for more people to live compared to the modern tall buildings so that they slowly disappear from Beijing, at the same time, are replaced by tall buildings which can hold many people living in. From this point, some old buildings should give a way to the modern development.
However, the essence of preservation of a historic buildings actually equate with the meaningfulness of development of modernization. In fact, the historic building is just like a book, written the history and past of a city, the people and a nation. It can be regarded as fortune for the contemporaries as well as descendants. The historic building is the symbol of the past, without which, people will lose the sense of belonging. Besides that, some old buildings are not simply the representation of the past and history, virtually; they have turned to be signs of cities. Just as London with Big Ben, Beijing with Forbidden City, New York with the State of Liberty and Egypt with Pyramid, which are not only the hallmark of a time, but also can go impetus on the development of tourism as well as economy. In this light, these old buildings are valuable and the legacy of culture of a city, if they were demolished or damaged by people for the sake of modern development, the characteristics of their cities would vanish and perish.
In addition to, compared to pictures and documents, the old buildings are real , which could provide vivid education to people, help to reconstruct the memories of the past and appeal to the young generation for paying attention to lessons and experiences from the history. Consider, for example, the Old Summer palace, or called Yuan Ming Yuan, in Beijing, China
, its debris is still standing, which is an epitome of a historical event about being invaded by foreign countries due to the decadence and corruption of Qing Government. This old building calls on the young generation in China to build their country strong for protecting their motherland from being invaded.
To sum up, the speaker does not sufficiently take the advantages and disadvantages of old buildings in the modern development into consideration. As far as I am concerned, people can rationally and scientifically be on balance the collision between modern development and the preservation of historic buildings. For some old buildings, which are less value and suitable can be removed by contemporary needs. However, for some old buildings which are value and meaningful for people and the whole society, which are deserved to be preserved, not only for contemporaries but also for descendants. | 
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发表于 2012-2-18 09:40:35
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