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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.
当乌鸦高声鸣叫，当流星划过夜空，当故事自然发展到结局，当孩子把一支箭头放到我的手掌，当女儿在婚纱后向我微笑，那一刻我感到平和、自在和满足。我在我自己和我所见到的事物间的短暂面对中感受到了和谐。最能准确恰当描述这种共鸣感和内外和谐的词，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.
我应该如何解释这种共鸣感？我感官的激动是否在让我对这个世界有所了解呢？美是否在揭示小小的我与这庞大的宇宙之间存在一种紧密关系，还是由于我追求世上存在事物的意义的愿望导致我这样错误认为呢？也许正如生物学家所认为的，我对各种事物所做出的回应仅仅是在遵循古老的进化法则。或许，同我的吉他一样，我也只是一个可以被各种力量拨动的音乐盒。
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.
我必须承认有两个警句一直萦绕在我脑海里。我一次又一次地听到，美是肤浅的，情人眼里出西施。极美的外表下可能隐藏丑陋，这千真万确，许多英俊的恶棍或美丽的恶毒女子都证明了这一点。最漂亮的蝴蝶、蘑菇和青蛙中都包括了最具毒性的那一种。同样正确的是，我们的审美会受到成长环境、所受教育及文化时尚的影响。我的一位邻居在他的庭院里立了一只半透明塑料制的粉色火烈鸟，还立了一只水泥制的穿工装裤的鹅，而我在院中种了春白菊、天南星和掌叶铁线蕨。我们两个人都在依照我们各自的标准追求美。
