評論
打印
A screech owl calls, a comet streaks the night sky, a story moves unerringly to a close, a child lays an arrowhead in the palm of my hand, my daughter smiles at me through her bridal veil, and I feel for a moment at peace, in place, content. I sense in those momentary encounters a harmony between myself and whatever I behold. The word that seems to fit most exactly this feeling of resonance, this sympathetic vibration between inside and outside is beauty.
當烏鴉高聲鳴叫，當流星劃過夜空，當故事自然發展到結局，當孩子把一支箭頭放到我的手掌，當女兒在婚紗后向我微笑，那一刻我感到平和、自在和滿足。我在我自己和我所見到的事物間的短暫面對中感受到了和諧。最能準確恰當描述這種共鳴感和內外和諧的詞，便是美。
What am I to make of this resonant feeling? Do my sensory thrills tell me anything about the world? Does beauty reveal a kinship between my small self and the great cosmos, or does my desire for meaning only fool me into thinking so? Perhaps, as biologists maintain, in my response to patterns I'm merely obeying the old habits of evolution. Perhaps, like my guitar, I'm only ding box played on by random forces.
我應該如何解釋這種共鳴感？我感官的激動是否在讓我對這個世界有所了解呢？美是否在揭示小小的我與這龐大的宇宙之間存在一種緊密關系，還是由于我追求世上存在事物的意義的愿望導致我這樣錯誤認為呢？也許正如生物學家所認為的，我對各種事物所做出的回應僅僅是在遵循古老的進化法則。或許，同我的吉他一樣，我也只是一個可以被各種力量撥動的音樂盒。
I must admit that two cautionary sayings keep echoing in my head. Beauty is only skin deep, I've heard repeatedly and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Appealing surfaces may hide ugliness, true enough, as many a handsome villain or femme fatale should remind us. The prettiest of butterflies and mushrooms and frogs include some of the most poisonous ones. It's equally true that our taste may be influenced by our upbringing, by training, by cultural fashion. One of my neighbors plants in his yard pink flamingo made of translucent plastic and a concrete goose dressed in overalls, while I plant in my yard oxeye daisies and jack-in-the-pulpit; and maidenhair ferns, and both of us, by our own lights, are chasing beauty.
我必須承認有兩個警句一直縈繞在我腦海里。我一次又一次地聽到，美是膚淺的，情人眼里出西施。極美的外表下可能隱藏丑陋，這千真萬確，許多英俊的惡棍或美麗的惡毒女子都證明了這一點。最漂亮的蝴蝶、蘑菇和青蛙中都包括了最具毒性的那一種。同樣正確的是，我們的審美會受到成長環境、所受教育及文化時尚的影響。我的一位鄰居在他的庭院里立了一只半透明塑料制的粉色火烈鳥，還立了一只水泥制的穿工裝褲的鵝，而我在院中種了春白菊、天南星和掌葉鐵線蕨。我們兩個人都在依照我們各自的標準追求美。
