2011考研英语作文预测(二)_大学英语写作

2011考研英语作文预测(二)

2. Confucius believes "honesty-sincerity is the Dao of Heaven" (诚者，天之道也) which is out of the control of human beings, and "to be honest and sincere is the Dao of human beings" which is the only thing we could do (诚之者，人之道也). In this case, a gentleman (君子)should "cultivate himself to be honest and sincere" in accordance with the Dao of Heaven, which is something upper or a more or less religious standard of honesty and sincerity. This might be clearer in the interpretation of Dao. In Chinese, I think either道 (way) or 德 (virtue) means "to walk your talk" originally, because both走 and 彳are symbols of walking carefully with small steps. In this case, "way" is formed in the walking and in virtue of moral practice "virtue" appears. Just as David Tracy noticed, the famous saying of Socrates "The unexamined life is not worth living" is in sharp contrast with a saying in a Buddhist scripture, "The un-lived life is not worth examining."

3. So Dao is not only metaphysical but also physical; "honesty-sincerity" is above us and what we could do is nothing but learning to be honest and sincere; Dao could be justified in faith, as well as in behavior. I am not sure if it is "religion", but it is of course something like "Acts of Religion" (in terms of Derrida) or "Acts of Faith" (in terms of Rodney Stark). You may know that the sacred "Word" or "Wisdom" in the Gospel of John and other biblical scriptures is translated into "Dao" in this sense.