PART 1 美丽英文

Beauty
论美

什么是美？人们的答案可能千差万别。美可以是一朵含苞待放的玫瑰，可以是清晨的阳光雨露，可以是字里行间体现出来的美好心灵，可以是历经繁华与沧桑之后仍然积极而温暖的内心……不同的人对美有着不同的定义。在美国文学家拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生看来，美是大自然通过人心的净化而形成的。创造美，是为“艺术”。其实，只要我们用心去发现，美，无处不在。

Ralph Waldo Emerson
拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生

All men are in some degree impressed by the face of the world; some men even to delight. This love of beauty is Taste. Others have the same love in such excess, that, not content with admiring, they seek to embody it in new forms. The creation of beauty is Art.

The production of a work of art throws a light upon the mystery of humanity. A work of art is an abstract or epitome of the world. It is the result or expression of nature, in miniature. For although the works of nature are innumerable and all different, the result or the expression of them all is similar and single. Nature is a sea of forms radically alike and even unique. A leaf, a sunbeam, a landscape, the ocean, make an analogous impression on the mind. What is common to them all—that perfectness and harmony, is beauty. The standard of beauty is the entire circuit of nature forms, the totality of nature; Nothing is quite beautiful alone; nothing but is beautiful in the whole. A single object is only so far beautiful as it suggests this universal grace. The poet, the painter, the sculptor, the musician, the architect, seek each to concentrate this radiance of the world on one point, and each in his several work to satisfy the love of beauty which stimulates him to produce. Thus is Art a nature passed through the alembic of man.

The world thus exists to the soul to satisfy the desire of beauty. This element I call an ultimate end. No reason can be asked or given why the soul seeks beauty. Beauty, in its largest and profoundest sense, is one expression for the universe.

人们对世间之美多少都有所体会，有些人甚至为之感到欢喜。这种爱美之心可谓之“品味”。另一些人爱美尤甚，不能满足于仰慕，进而寻求以新的形式体现美。创造美，是为“艺术”。

艺术作品的创造为揭开人类的神秘面纱创造了契机。艺术作品是世界的精华，也是世界的缩影。微观上，它们是大自然的产物或是表现形式。尽管自然界的作品难以计数且各不相同，它们的产物却是相似统一的。大自然包罗万象，本质相同，却又各具特色。一片树叶、一缕阳光、一道风景、一汪海洋，虽不是同一种景物，但是给人的感受却是相似的。所有这些事物的共同点在于，完美与和谐构成了美。美的标准是整个自然界万事万物汇聚在一起，没有什么单独看起来很美，只有整体才是美的。单独的物体只有在反射万物之美时才会如此美丽。诗人、画家、雕塑家、音乐家、建筑家采用不同的形式，将世界的光辉集中于一点，通过其作品满足人们的爱美之心，而这又反过来激励他们去创造美。因而，艺术就是大自然通过人心的净化而形成的。

所以世界的存在，是为了满足人们灵魂中爱美的渴望。在我看来，这是最终极的目标。对于为什么灵魂会寻求美这个问题，没有原因，也没有答案。美，从最宏大和最深远的意义上说，是一种对宇宙的表述。

巧记词汇

embody [ɪmˈbɒdi] v. 体现；包括

【拓】embodiment [ɪmˈbɒdimənt] n. 体现

abstract [ˈæbstrækt] n. 精华；摘要

【拓】essence [ˈesns] n. 精华

epitome [ɪˈpɪtəmi] n. 缩影

【拓】example [ɪɡˈzɑːmpl] n. 例证

innumerable [ɪˈnjuːmərəbl] a. 数不清的

【拓】countless [ˈkaʊntləs] a. 无数的

sunbeam [ˈsʌnbiːm] n. 阳光

【拓】sunshine [ˈsʌnʃaɪn] n. 阳光

analogous [əˈnæləgəs] a. 类似的

【拓】akin [əˈkɪn] a. 相似的

radiance [ˈreɪdiəns] n. 光辉；辐射

【拓】radiate [ˈreɪdieɪt] v. 发光；辐射

alembic [ə'lembɪk] n. 净化器

【拓】purify [ˈpjʊərɪfaɪ] v. 净化

趣学短语

seek to 争取，力图

【例】Though that country does not seek to promote its economic strategy, it does not mean that others cannot learn from it. 虽然该国家并不寻求推广其经济策略，但是这并不意味着其他国家不可以向它学习。