Learning from the Past 从过去中学习

【题目】

Learning about the past has no value for those of us living in the present. Do you agree or disagree? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

【范文】

Learning from the Past

In these fast-paced times it seems that we are always looking toward the future, planning and hoping for a better tomorrow. It is true that advances are being made very quickly these days in almost every field, making it almost a full-time job just to keep up. However, none of these advances would have been possible without steps made in the past. Therefore, I disagree with the statement that learning about the past has no value for those of us in the present.

In my opinion, the past holds many lessons for us. If we neglect to learn about our past, we may unnecessarily repeat mistakes that our forefathers have already made. Most people would agree that we should learn from our mistakes. I further propose that we should learn from the mistakes of others. Another reason to study the past is that we can build upon the achievements of those who came before us. There is no need to repeat basic research or to reinvent the wheel. Instead, we should learn from the accomplishments made in the past and then improve upon them. And last but not least, the past has something very important to teach us about our culture and who we are. If we do not learn the values and beliefs of our ancestors, how can we pass them on to our children? If we do not study our past, we may lose our culture.

In our continual efforts to create a better future, it is sometimes easy to forget about the importance of the past. But I believe that without studying the lessons of the past, we cannot obtain a better future. Therefore, let us not forget the value of learning from the past.

本文节选自刘毅编著《TOEFL托福作文155篇》。如需获得详细资料，请购买正版图书。