学进去

I am excited to be teaching in an introductory history seminar (研讨班) on the world of Thomas Jefferson. It affords a(n) ________ chance to help show students why history is a way of thinking, seeing, and understanding.

I love seeing students try to make ________ of somebody from the 18th century, whether it is Jefferson or somebody whose life was closely ________ with his own. Often, students at first are confident that they ________ an 18th-century person, and that such an individual was inspired by the same things that ________ them today. But then, when I ________ certain things this historical figure said or did, students are often amazed at how ________ the person in fact is, and how unusual the individual’s assumptions, beliefs, and desires are ________ to their own!

With more ________, they begin to see how the peculiar (奇怪的) can appear ________, how the strange can, in fact, seem so appropriate. At the beginning students ________ to force their own beliefs and assumptions on the past, while now they begin to see the past according to its own ________. I am always happy witnessing that transformation in vision, in seeing ________ come to life for students. Such a transformation not only certainly ________ the 18th century and allows students to better understand history, but it also helps them master a(n) ________ that they can use for the rest of their lives.