论美_中英文对照

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 spitit; 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 bath not some strangeness in the proportion. A man cannot tell whether Apelles, or Albert Durer, were the more ttifler, whereof the one, would make a personage by geometrica proportions; the other, by taking the best parts out of divers faces, to make one excellent. Such personages, I think , would please nobod, 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 tuue 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.

论美

-----弗兰西斯培根

美德如宝石，它在朴素背景的衬托下反而更美丽。同样，一个华丽外表而有内在美德者是令人敬仰的。外表美丽的人，未必也具有内在的美。因为造物主似乎是吝啬的，他给了此就不再予彼。所以许多容颜俊秀的人往往过于追求外在美丽而忽略了内心的美。但这也并非绝对，因为奥古斯都凯撒、菲斯帕斯、法兰西的乐菲利普王、英格兰的爱德华四世、雅典的阿尔西巴底斯、波斯的伊斯梅尔等既是大丈夫，又是美男子。美不在颜色艳丽而在面目端正，又不尽在面目端正而在举止文雅合度。

最高的美是画家所无法表现的，因为它是难于直观的。没有哪种美能极致到不存在比例上的瑕疵。曾经有两位画家——阿皮雷斯和艾伯特〃丢勒滑稽地认为，按照几何比例，或者通过摄取不同人身上最美的特点，可以用画合成一张最完美的人像。其实像这样画出来的美人，恐怕只表现了画家本人的某种偏爱。

画家不能通过这样画出更好看的脸，（正如为曲子营造氛围的音乐家），他必须通过构思而不是公式创造它。有许多的脸，就它们的部分看并不优美，但作为整体却非常动人。

虽然美之精华无疑在于优雅的举止，但有些老人更显得很可爱，这印证了一句拉丁谚语：“暮秋之色更美。”而尽管有的年轻人具有美貌，却由于缺乏完美的修养而不配得到最好的赞美。

美犹如盛夏的水果，是容易腐烂而难保持的。世上有许多美人，她们有过放荡的青春，却迎受着愧悔的晚年。因此，应该把美的形貌与美的德行结合起来。这样，美才会发出夺目的光辉。

About The Author作者简介：

●Life of Francis Bacon

1. Being the younger son of Elizabethan’s first Lord Keeper, Bacon had a fortunate heritage and background.

2. Studied at Cambridge (Trinity College) and Gray’s Inn, entered Parliament, and gradually established his rep utation, but made little progress during Elizabeth’s reign.

3. Became Lord Keeper of King James, but was accused of taking bribes in office. After a token of imprisonment, Bacon retired in disgrace and spent his later years in the scientific research.

●Baco n’s works can be divided into three classes:

1.The philosophical: the Advancement of Learning; the Novum Organum

2. The literary works: Essays (“of Truth”, “of Death”, “of Studies”, “of Friendship ” etc)

3. The Professional works: Maxims of the Law and Reading on the Statue of Uses Article Analysis：

Of beauty is an article about beauty. concise and reader-friendly layout, very special in characteristics and much philosophy in it.Beauty itself is a very broad questions. In this article, the author focuses on outlook on life question how people should treat physical beauty and inner beauty .No one is perfect in the world. So don't complain about our external shortcoming,only because the inner beauty is the eternal beauty.virtue more important than apearance, only if combine, beauty can truly shine.

Sentence Analysis

1, 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; 美德好比宝石，它在朴素背景的衬托下反而更华丽.

Adopt “metaphor”.stress the importance of virtue vividly. It tells us that one can more valuable in plain than polish.

2, as if nature were rather busy, not to err, than in labor to produce excellency.因为造物是吝啬的，他给了此就不再予彼.

It is a humor.It tells us, It is impossible that physical beauty and metal beauty in the same time.

3, But this holds not always. 但这话也不全对。

From this sentence, we call know the author use words very accurately. Have compact organization, rigorous in language. It tells that your can’t get and eat physical beauty and inner beauty at the same time. So we should pay more attention on the inner beauty than outer beauty.

4,In beauty, that of favor, is more than that of color; and that of decent and gracious motion, more than that of favor.美不在颜色艳丽而在面目端正，又不尽在面目端正而在举止文雅合度。

“of favor”refer to Integral Image. “of color”refer to “face”part image. “of decent and gracious motion”refer to action that can be developed in the daily life. In here, the author stress hierarchical relationship among three.

5,That is the best part of beauty, which a picture cannot express; no, nor the first sight of the life.最高的美是画家所无法表现的，因为它是难于直观的，这是一种奇妙的美。

Because it is only the physical beauty beneath the artist's loving hand, rather than inner beauty. The inner beauty is beyond description intuitively.

6,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.美是很难制订规范的(正如同音乐一样)，创造它的常常是机遇，而不是公式Beauty has no standard.,with opportunities, environment.here it stresses “harmony beauty”.

7,pulchrorum autumnus pulcher.有一句拉丁谚语说过：“暮秋之色更美.

Here it refer to “Mature beauty”. Adopted “metaphor”.from the older, we can see mature beauty because they have rich contents and be well cultured in literature. 8,summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt, and cannot last.美犹如盛夏的水果，是容易腐烂而难保持的.

Adopted “metaphor”.The author compared the physical beauty to fruits.and tells that the physical beauty is very transient in characteristics.it is very hard to live longer only with the physical beauty ,without inner beauty.

Viewpoints:

Combine physical beauty and inner beauty together. Only this, Beauty will be brilliance longer. Beauty add to inner beauty is equal to supreme beauty.