Of Beauty Author：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, 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. 
论美 作者：培根 翻译：黄俊雄
美德好比宝石，它在相互背景的衬托下反而更华丽。同样，一个打扮并不华贵却端庄严肃而有美德的人是令人肃然起敬的。
美貌的人并不都有其他方面的才能。因为造物是吝啬的，他给了此就不再予以彼。 所以许多容颜俊秀的人却一无作为，他们过于追求外形美而放弃了内在美。但这话也不全对，因为奥古斯都、菲斯帕斯、腓力普王、爱德华四世、阿尔西巴底斯、伊斯梅尔等，都既是大丈夫，又是美男子。
仔细考究起来，形体之美要胜于颜色之美，而优雅行为之美又胜于形体之美。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。曾经有两位画家阿皮雷斯和丢勒认为，可以按照几何比例，或者通过摄取不同人身上最美的特点，用画合成一张最完美的人像。其实象这样画出来的美人，恐怕只有画家本人喜欢。美是不能制订规范的，创造它的常常是机遇，而不是公式。有许多脸型， 就它的部分看并不优美，但作为整体却非常动人。
有些老人显得很可爱，因为他们的作风优雅而美。拉丁谚语说过：“晚秋的秋色是最美好的。”而尽管有的年轻人具有美貌，却由于缺乏优美的修养而不配得到赞美。把美的形貌与美的德行结合起来。只有这样， 美才会放射出真正的光辉。
林贝卡 2009 春 于美国 |
Well-said.
美语坛的海外逸士创作并在美国出版了他的英语偵探小說 《Kungfu Masters》，他目前一直在美语论坛连载他的这部小说。他的小说是东西方文化的结合，他说读了许多英文版的福尔摩斯小说，从小受着东方文化的熏陶，他的诗词造诣也很高，他还好作词谱曲呢。
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, and essayist. He is also known as a proponent of the scientific revolution.
His works established and popularized an inductive methodology for scientific inquiry, often called the Baconian method or simply, the scientific method. He has been credited as the creator of the English essay.
英文名字Harry J. Huang（笔名 Freeman J. Wong），Seneca College 英文教授，中、英文作家，有二十多年的英语写作教学、英语小小说创作和汉英文学翻译经验。出生於中国广东省，原毕业于北京外国语学院(现称大学)，在加拿大渥太华的卡尔顿大学修过莎剧及英语写作三年。毕业于多伦多大学研究生院。二十世纪80年代曾在中山大学教授过汉译英和英语写作技巧等不同课程，80年代末应加拿大政府邀请访加。之后，定居加拿大，至今一直在多伦多 Seneca College 任英语教授。 在加拿大出版有直接用英文创作的小小说130多篇 (三集)。1986年翻译出版过中国国歌和其他优美中国歌曲。翻译过高维晞、蒋子龙、冯骥才、周大新、欧阳山、秦牧、陶然、钟玲等100多位中国大陆、香港和台湾的作家的各类作品130余篇(不含英译诗歌、歌曲)，出版过英译专著。著有《简明英语句法及句子写作》和大学英语写作教材共十余本及不同文章、论文一批。