24 · 美
Beauty
区分观点、依据、例子与限制，用自己的话准确重建论述。
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A young man sees a sunset and, unable to understand or to express the emotion that it rouses in him, concludes that it must be the gateway to a world that lies beyond. It is difficult for any of us in moments of intense aesthetic experience 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, because the experience is intensely moving, in some way higher. And, though the gleams blind and dazzle, yet do they convey a hint of beauty and serenity greater than we have known or imagined. 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.
That all great art has this power of suggesting a world beyond is undeniable. In some moods, Nature shares it. There is no sky in June so blue that it does not point forward to a bluer, no sunset so beautiful that it does not waken the vision of a greater beauty, a vision which passes before it is fully glimpsed, and in passing leaves an indefinable longing and regret. But, if this world is not merely a bad joke, life a vulgar flare amid the cool radiance of the stars, and existence an empty laugh braying across the mysteries; if these intimations of a something behind and beyond are not evil humour born of indigestion, 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. 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. Beauty in terms of our human meanings is meaningless.
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整篇课文
A young man sees a sunset and, unable to understand or to express the emotion that it rouses in him, concludes that it must be the gateway to a world that lies beyond. It is difficult for any of us in moments of intense aesthetic experience 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, because the experience is intensely moving, in some way higher. And, though the gleams blind and dazzle, yet do they convey a hint of beauty and serenity greater than we have known or imagined. 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.
That all great art has this power of suggesting a world beyond is undeniable. In some moods, Nature shares it. There is no sky in June so blue that it does not point forward to a bluer, no sunset so beautiful that it does not waken the vision of a greater beauty, a vision which passes before it is fully glimpsed, and in passing leaves an indefinable longing and regret. But, if this world is not merely a bad joke, life a vulgar flare amid the cool radiance of the stars, and existence an empty laugh braying across the mysteries; if these intimations of a something behind and beyond are not evil humour born of indigestion, 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. 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. Beauty in terms of our human meanings is meaningless.
一个年轻人望着落日，无法理解或表达它在自己心中唤起的情感，便认定，那一定是通往另一个世界的大门。我们任何人在获得强烈的审美体验时，都很难不产生这样的感觉：仿佛瞥见了一束来自另一种存在境界的光。那个境界不同于此世；又因为这种体验如此动人，我们便觉得它在某种意义上更为崇高。那些光芒虽令人目眩，却也让人隐约感到一种超出既有经验和想象的美与宁静。这种美也超出了语言所能描绘的范围，因为语言原是为了传达这个世界的意义而创造的，难以轻易拿来描述另一个世界。
不可否认，伟大的艺术都有这种使人联想到另一个世界的力量。在某些心境下，大自然也有同样的力量。六月的天空再蓝，也会让人向往更蓝的天空；落日再美，也会唤起一种更加美好的景象。那景象尚未看清便已消逝，留下难以名状的渴望和惆怅。可是，如果这个世界不只是一个拙劣的玩笑，生命不只是群星清冷光辉间一阵庸俗的闪光，存在也不只是响彻奥秘之间的一声空洞怪笑；如果这些关于表象背后、现实之外某种事物的暗示，不是消化不良引起的坏情绪，也不是魔鬼为了嘲弄、折磨我们而送来的奇想；总之，如果美确实意味着什么，我们也仍不应试图解释那意义。既然瞥见的是不可言说的东西，硬要说出来便不明智；对于无法把握的事物，我们也不该擅自赋予意义。若拿人类日常的意义尺度去衡量，美是没有意义的。
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