关于历史课的托福作文范文

　　Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? University students should be required to take history courses no matter what field they study.Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

　　你是否同意以下观点？大学生无论修读什么专业，都应该上历史课。请用具休的理由和事例来说明。

　　The philosopher George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” This remark sums up quite succinctly why history courses should be part of a university student's core curriculum. All college students could benefit from such a requirement, but those majoring in science, business, and pre-law would stand to gain the most value for their future careers.

　　To begin with, let's look at how the study of history could benefit a biology major. How much more enriching it would be for a student who is learning about DNA to also know the history behind the first discovery of this building-block of life. Although many previous researchers had studied the DNA molecule, it was James Watson and Francis Crick who, in the early 1950s, discovered the actual structure of the molecule-the double helix. In anatomy class, it would be of inestimable value to our biology student to learn the story behind William Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood in 1627.

　　How would a history class benefit a business major? For anyone interested in the rise and fall of the stock market, for example, an historical point of view would be essential.What were the causes of the stock market crash of 1929? What led to the depression/recession of 2009? The answers to these questions would certainly be useful to a future securities analyst. And if our business major wants to own her own business someday,a study of historical cases should give her much to think about: What happened to the Enron company? Where did the managers go wrong? What safeguards does an organization need to have in place to keep such a disaster from happening again?

　　As for pre-law majors, a knowledge of historical events will be indispensable to their understanding of the current state of jurisprudence in our society. These future lawyers need to know the background and conditions of a host of major legal developments,from the reasoning behind the adoption of the Bill of Rights in 1789, to the rationale for giving women the right to vote in 1920, to the arguments in defense of Roe v. Wade in 1973. At trial, there is no better way to make complicated legal decisions more understandable to a jury than by telling them the story of how they came to be.

　　“If you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development;' said Aristotle. Indeed, we cannot hope to progress successfully into the future without a firm understanding of the past.