Essay questions 7

思考题

Following the prompts below, present your thoughts on cultural differences and the uneven developments in world history. No less than 500 words. 请你从以下几个方面谈谈你对中西文化差异和历史发展不平衡的感想；不得少于500个字。

What does modernization bring to the ordinary Chinese people, as you follow the life of Fugui in such historical episodes as reconstructed in the film: the Civil War in the 40s, the land revolution in the 50s, the Great Leap Forward in the 60s, and the Cultural revolution in the 70s? 对福贵来说，中国40年代的内战，50年代的土地革命，60年代的大跃进和70年代的文化大革命给他带来了什么？中国的现代化有什么意义？

Do you think the attitudes of Buddhism and Taoism as revived in the film relevant today? Are the ups and downs in fortune, the rise and decline of a nation the results of the cyclical changes in the natural universe, or the expressions of zeitgeist in human development? 你怎么理解影片中的佛教、道教等东方传统文化因素？社会的兴衰，个人的得失和历史的进退是循环往复的自然规律，还是有一个人类自我意识不断发展的结果？

Does history (human activities) have to have a purpose and meaning? Is the so-called history the manifestations of zeitgeist (the spirit if the age) as Wilhelm Georg Friedrich Hegel would believe, or expressions of a neurosis as Norman Brown would put it? 生活/历史是不是一定要有一个目的才有意义？世界历史是“时代精神”还是精神病？为什么？