As people respond to incentives, they will changetheir behaviors if they perceive that costs orbenefits change. This principle seems to find wideapplication in our daily lives. When collegegraduates learn that receiving a master degree willgive them an upper hand in the job market, manydecide to take part in post-graduate entranceexaminations. In China, it is regarded as following suit. Though we admire those who pridethemselves on sticking to their ideals and principles, odds may not be against those who followsuit.Generally speaking, there are both advantages and disadvantages of following suit.

　　人们在面对诱惑时，尤其是当成本和利益发生变化时，他们的行为也会有所变化。这样的事情会在我们的生活中出现。当大学生发现，获得硕士学位会让他们更容易找工作时，许多人就会决定参加硕士考试。在中国，这就叫做紧追趋势。尽管我们羡慕那些坚持己见的人，但是，那些紧追趋势的人也会交到好运。总体来说，紧追趋势有好有坏。

　　Firstly, following suit is indicative of the fact that followers have no indispensable beliefs orfixed principles and hence they are flexible in the vicissitudes of lives. When the social contextchanges and opportunities arise, those followers are the first to respond and make decisions.Take the English training service for example. In early 1990s, increasing number of collegegraduates decided to study overseas and hence English training service was in large demand.Given that forerunners had make a fortune by providing training programs to those graduates,many businessmen just followed suit and established several trainingschools. Undoubtedly,those who followed suit when the market did not reach saturation did make money.

　　首先，紧追趋势表明，人们没有自己的信仰，或是一些规定的准则，所以，他们会时长进行改变。当社会变化，机遇增加时，那些追随者将会首先进行变化，并作出决定。我们以英语培训为例、20世纪90年代初，大量毕业生出国深造，促使英语培训需求量增大。那些为学生提供培训的企业赚到了钱，许多商人紧随其后，建立了许多培训机构。在市场尚未饱和时，那些跟风的商人赚到了钱。

　　Secondly, it is noteworthy that following suit can avoid making mistakes. For thoseforerunners, there is no previous information at their hand, and therefore, it will take a longtime to learn and improve by trial and error. During the period of trial and error, forerunnerswill encounter unexpected difficulties andpressures. As a result, when those becomesuccessful in certain domains, they have proved that the path will lead to success, providingboth pros and cons. On the contrary, followers need not experience the process of trial anderror. They can just imitate their forerunners' proven pattern of behaviors and have easieraccess to success.There are also some disadvantages of following suit. When there are so manyfollowers, the world will become crowded and odds are against those later followers.

　　第二，跟风可以避免犯错误。对于那些先驱者，他们并不拥有所需要的信息，所以，他们需要更长的时间来学习，并在实践过程中不断进步。在实践的过程中，先驱者会遇到许多不可预期的困难和压力。所以，当他们在某一领域取得成功时，他们已经证明这条道路是成功的，他们向人们提供了优点和缺点。相反，跟随者并没有经历过实践的过程。他们只是模仿先驱者所证明过的道路，并很容易的取得了成功。但是，跟风也会有许多弊端。当追随者的人数过多时，他们失败的几率也会增加。

　　Furthermore, following suit prevents innovation and creation, which is to the detriment of oursociety. However, whether one should follow suit or not is not simply a to-be-or-not-to-bequestion. A basic assumption of individual person is that everyone is rational. So oneshouldcarefully calculate costs and benefits in specific circumstances before they decide tofollow suit or not.

　　而且，跟风阻止了创新和发明，这对于社会是不利的。但是，人们是否应该跟风不仅仅是一个是或否的问题。每个人都应该是理性的。所以，人们应该根据不同的情况来计算效率和成本，之后，人们才应该决定是否应该跟风。

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