Cherish Good Customs and Discard Bad Ones

Nowadays, some people question about the value of customs and traditional behavioral norms. I think the development of society certainly requires people to evolve from their old perspectives on social norms and traditions, but this does not mean that people should abandon some great cultural heritage that our ancestors have passed down to us. To put it plainly, we ought to hold a critical attitude towards those traditional practices, and adopt a way of “take the essence and discard the dross” facing our traditional culture.
In terms of the change in customs and behavior, here are a few areas that are worth developing. In the past, men were the only decision-makers in a family and female members had to obey all the rules set by the males. Besides, women were born to be housekeepers who had to take care of all the housework and their children‟s education. Is it still adaptive to present cultural trend? I suppose a great many females would say no. Females are playing an ever increasingly important role as well in today‟s society. They can make contributions no less than males do and perhaps sometimes become vital part in specific professions. So this sort of wrong and outdated concept needs to be discarded. In some regions, women were not allowed to receive further education once they were married. All these restrictions made women live like slaves, so it is about time to free women from the old customs and encourage them to shape their lives differently. Of course, some traditions are worthy to be well preserved in modern society such as many traditional festivals with important culture and history. If people no longer care about these festivals, soon identity crisis may spread across the country, for people will lose the shared culture elements that give them a sense of belonging. Therefore, there is an urgent need to protect the part of culture that connects everyone together in the society.
To conclude, it is no longer practical to keep the traditions that discriminate genders or restrict individuals to live their own lives. But the ones that reflect a country‟s important cultural heritage should be under protection. In the process of social development, we need to strengthen the protection of excellent traditional culture and discard those customs that hinder social progress because anything being in line with the times can maintain exuberant vitality.

文章以“珍惜优秀传统， 摒弃过时传统”为题， 分为三段展开叙述。 第一段提出我们应以辩证批判的眼光看待传统文化， 以“取其精华， 弃其糟粕”的态度对待传统文化。 第二段从正反两方面展开讨论， 旧时束缚女人的封建思想应该被人舍弃，优秀的传统节日， 利于培养民族归属感， 应该发扬继承。 最后一段总结论点， 社会的不断发展需要有与时俱进的精神， 对待传统文化和习俗也应如此。