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The Value of Pop Culture

In this age of global mass media and information explosion, there is a common perception of popular culture as the opposite of "traditional" or "classical" culture. With this comes the unfortunate implication that the former is somehow less valuable than the latter, that it is merely “distraction”. Some of the more radical opponents against pop culture would even argue that it is of little value at all - that our lives would have been better if we could just stick to the classics and pretend that pop culture does not exist. I couldn't disagree more with this unhappy line of thought. I am of the opinion that pop culture isof great value, both at present and in the future.

分析：开头段结合背景交代和反方观点，暗示反方观点对pop culture的定义错误，引出观点的方式简单自然。

Anyone who dismisses pop culture wholesale is ignorant of the way culture grows and develops. Every cultural phenomenon has a beginning. When it first started, it was the pop culture of its time. It is only later, with the passage of centuries that “pop” becomes “classic”.

点评：此处重新定义pop culture

Is there any better example of "classical" culture than that of the Bard upon Avon, the great William Shakespeare? How many people adore and revere Shakespeare today as the master observer of all aspects of the human condition? Yet the Bard was an extremely popular entertainer during his time - his works were greatly enjoyed and celebrated by not just the upper-class elite of England but the common people as well. Ordinary Englishmen flocked in the thousands to watch the performance of his plays. Most of his works, even the most famed ones such as Hamlet, include bawdy jokes and double-entendres. His dramas displayed as hocking amount of violence for their time, which scandalized many of his contemporary critics. If the people of his time had dismissed him as “adistraction” because he was too "pop", we today would know of no Shakespeare, which would be a tragic loss.

点评：引出莎士比亚，细节处理到位，通过Hamlet这部作品中一样有’ bawdy jokes and double-entendres来进一步阐明’我们所认为的经典在当时一样是流行文化’。可圈可点的是，此段通过虚拟语气进行对比论证，丰富了文章的论证方式，值得借鉴。

Another example is FranzLiszt, now considered a master of classical music. But Liszt was a rock star of his time - his performance was dramatic and captivating and he had hordes of screaming fans that crowded his concerts. A new word was even invented to describe the frenzy he generated: Lisztomania. The same can be said of Niccolo Paganini, Liszt's inspiration and predecessor and another giant of classical music.

分析：能增强文章说服力的最佳方式就是有足够多的细节支撑，所以例子还是尽量丰富些。

Therefore it is extremely unwise for us to dismiss culture today simply because it is "pop", as few can predict which of the "pop" would become "classic" in the future. Much more recently than Liszt, the Beatles are now considered a great classic of music, and yet they were "pop" some 50 years ago.

延伸阅读：

SAT阅读考试解析——阅读方法（一）

SAT阅读考试解析——阅读方法（二）

SAT阅读考试解析——阅读方法（三）

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