中英美文《論美》

　　Of beauty

　　By Francis Bacon

　　Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set; and surely virtue is best, in a body that is comely, though not of delicate features; and that hath rather dignity of presence, than beauty of aspect.

　　Neither is it almost seen, that very beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtue; as if nature were rather busy, not to err, than in labor to produce excellency.And therefore they prove accomplished, but not of great spirit; and study rather behavior, than virtue.

　　But this holds not always:for Augustus Caesar, Titus Vespasianus, Philip le Belle of France, Edward the Fourth of England, Alcibiades of Athens, Ismael the Sophy of Persia, were all high and great spirits; and yet the most beautiful men of their times.

　　In beauty, that of favor, is more than that of color; and that of decent and gracious motion, more than that of favor.

　　That is the best part of beauty, which a picture cannot express; no, nor the first sight of the life.

　　There is no excellent beauty, that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.

　　A man cannot tell whether Apelles, or Albert Durer, were the more trifler;whereof the one, would make a personage by geometrical proportions; the other, by taking the best parts out of divers faces, to make one excellent. Such personages, I think, would please nobody, but the painter that made them. Not but I think a painter may make a better face than ever was; but he must do it by a kind of felicity (as a musician that maketh an excellent air in music), and not by rule.

　　A man shall see faces, that if you examine them part by part, you shall find never a good; and yet altogether do well.If it be true that the principal part of beauty is in decent motion, certainly it is no marvel, though persons in years seem many times more amiable; pulchrorum autumnus pulcher; for no youth can be comely but by pardon, and considering the youth, as to make up the comeliness.Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt, and cannot last; and for the most part it makes a dissolute youth, and an age a little out of countenance; but yet certainly again, if it light well, it maketh virtue shine, and vices blush.

　　論美

　　弗蘭西斯.培根

　　美德好比寶石，它在樸素背景的襯托下反而更華麗;同樣，一個打扮并不華貴卻端莊嚴肅而有美德者是令人肅然起敬的。

　　外表美麗的人，未必也具有內在的美。因為造物主似乎是吝嗇的，他給了此就不再予彼。所以許多容顏俊秀的人卻不足為訓，他們過于追求外形美麗而忽略了內心的美。

　　但是這也不全對：因為奧古斯都、菲斯帕斯、菲力普王、愛德華四世、阿爾西巴底斯、伊斯梅爾等都既是大丈夫，又是美男子。就形貌而言，自然之美要勝于粉飾之美，而優(yōu)雅行為之美又勝于單純儀容之美。最高的美是畫家所無法表現(xiàn)的，因為它是難于直觀的，這是一種奇妙的美。雖然沒有完美，但是有一些奇妙的可取點。

　　曾經(jīng)有兩位畫家--阿皮雷斯和艾伯特丟勒滑稽地認為，可以按照幾何比例，或者通過攝取不同人身上最美的特點，用畫合成一張最完美的人像。其實像這樣畫出來的美人，恐怕只表現(xiàn)了畫家本人的某種偏愛。

　　美是很難制訂規(guī)范的(正如同音樂一樣)，創(chuàng)造它的常常是機遇，而不是公式。有許多的臉型，就它的部分看并不優(yōu)美，但作為整體卻非常動人。有些老人顯得很可愛，因為他們的作風優(yōu)雅而美。

　　有一句拉丁諺語說過：“暮秋之色更美。”而盡管有的'年輕人具有美貌，卻由于缺乏完美的修養(yǎng)而不配得到最好的贊美。美猶如盛夏的水果，是容易腐爛而難保持的。世上有許多美人，他們有過放蕩的青春，卻迎受著愧悔的晚年。因此，應該把美的形貌與美的德行結合起來。這樣，美才會放射出奪目的光輝。

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