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Lesson 24 Beauty
第24課 美
First listen and then answer the following question.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
What do glimpses of beauty, either in nature or art, often suggest to the human mind?
美的定義是什么，無論是在自然或藝術，往往表明對人類心靈？
A young man sees a sunset and, unable to understand or to express the emotion that it rouses in him,
一個年輕人看到日落，由于無法理解和表達日落在他心中喚起的激情，
concludes that it must be the gateway to a world that lies beyond.
便得出結論：日落處想必是通往遙遠世界的大門。
It is difficult for any of us in moments of intense aesthetic experience
無論是誰，在強烈感受到美的時刻，
to resist the suggestion that we are catching a glimpse of a light that shines down to us from a different realm of existence, different and,
心中都不禁油生一種遐想：我們似乎瞥見從另一個世界射向我們的一線光芒，那個世界不僅不同于我們這個世界，
because the experience is intensely moving, in some way higher.
而且由于美感的強烈感染，在某些方面比我們這個世界更美好。
And, though the gleams blind and dazzle, yet do they convey a hint of beauty and serenity greater than we have known or imagined.
雖然這光芒令人眼花繚亂，但它確實給予我們一種不曾經歷和無法想象的美感和靜謐的啟示。
Greater too than we can describe; for language, which was invented to convey the meanings of this world cannot readily be fitted to the uses of another.
這種美感和靜謐是我們無法描述的，因為我們發明的語言是用來描述這個世界的含義，不能隨便拿來去描述另一個世界。
That all great art has this power of suggesting a world beyond is undeniable.
不可否認，一切偉大的藝術都具有使人遐想到進入天外世界的魅力。
In some moods, nature shares it.
在某種狀態下，大自然也有這種魅力。
There is no sky in June so blue that it does not point forward to a bluer,
六月蔚藍的天空總使人遙想一個更加蔚藍的蒼穹；
no sunset so beautiful that it does not waken the vision of a greater beauty, a vision which passes before it is fully glimpsed,
美麗的落日總會引起一個更加絢麗的景象未及飽覽便一閃即逝，
and in passing leaves an indefinable longing and regret.
并在消逝中給人留下不可名狀的渴望和惆悵。
But, if this world is not merely a bad joke, life a vulgar flare amid the cool radiance of the stars,
如果這個世界不只是一個拙劣的惡作劇，人生不只是群星寒光中平凡的一閃，
and existence an empty laugh braying across the mysteries;
存在不只是對神秘事物的一種空虛的笑聲，
if these intimations of a something behind and beyond are not evil humour born of indigestion,
如果某種玄妙事物的暗示不是消化不良引起的邪惡情緒，
or whimsies sent by the devil to mock and madden us, if, in a word, beauty means something, yet we must not seek to interpret the meaning.
也不是魔鬼為了捉弄我們，使我們發狂而送給我們的邪念，一句話，如果美有某種意義的話，我們千萬不要去闡明它的意義。
If we glimpse the unutterable, it is unwise to try to utter it, nor should we seek to invest with significance that which we cannot grasp.
如果我瞥見了只可意會不可言傳的事物，企圖把它說出來，那是不明智的；對于我們不理解的事物，我們也不應該去賦予它某種意義。
Beauty in terms of our human meanings is meaningless.
用對我們人類有意義的詞解釋美是沒有意義的。
