美文欣賞:The power of beauty 美的力量

The power of beauty

Beauty is essentially a form of energy, something that radiates from a fine example of absolutely anything, whether a delightful taste or smell, or a gorgeous sight. This energy is in effect a form of information, nature's bar code telling us how healthy that attitude is, because health-bringing things increase the likelihood that we and our genes will survive.

Harvard phychologist Nancy Etcoff observes that, with this vital equation very much in mind, our brains behave like a highly sensitive radar constantly hunting a signal. If we're shown the photograph of a face, it takes us less than a fifth of a second to make a judgement of its beauty.

Much of the language of this energy is hard-wired and universal. Even three month-old babies have been shown to prefer gazing at conventionally beautiful faces, and adults from diverse ethnic cultures can all agree on who is exactly how good-looking in other populations.

Experimental studies have also established that the active ingredients include symmetry, order, proportion and balance. Since beauty is so powerful and important, we can be thankful that there are many ways to be beautiful, and very many sources. And though we most readily think of experiencing that energy through our five physical senses of sight, sound, taste, touch and smell, other dimensions are even more potent. For example, there is movement-which can be the internal, kinaesthetic sense of our own bodies in dance or sport; or the thrill of seeing an art or craft well performed. Consider, too, how ideas, insights, and solutions, can be deemed beautiful. Among scientists, Einstein's Theory of Relativity is unanimously praised for its extraordinary beauty.

Yale's David Gelernter, a professor of computer science, has argued convincingly that "lust for beauty" has driven the great technological discoveries. It is no accient, he would claim, that Mitchell's Spitfire, with its Merlin engines and distinctive wings, could help win a war while also seeming wonderful to the eye and ear.

And just as the plan for a bank robbery, a bridge, or a computer program can all work beautifully, so can a whole personality. We know from the studies of many lifetimes that humans find a balance of loving and confidence and kindness and humour to be highly attractive and very healthy qualities.

Yet, the greatest source of beauty, for the sheer intensity and volume of positive emotion it brings to our lives, is the beautiful relationship--the one in which we can thrive and flourish and grow beyond ourselves. This fertile bond can exist between two living things, or a person and a place, or a person and a skill, and the world becomes only more beautiful the more deeply we understand it. Therefore, we will find profound happiness in narturing and appreciating diverse beauties in whatever ways we can.

美實質上是一種能量，任何美好的事物都能發出這種能量，比如美食、香氣或美景。實際上這種能量就是一種信息，好似自然界的“條形碼”，告訴我們事物的健康度，正是這些能促進健康的事物使我們和我們的基因更好地繁衍下去，生生不息。

哈佛大學心理學家南希.艾特考夫指出，因爲我們非常清楚以上這點的重要性，我們的大腦就像一個高靈敏度的雷達在不斷地搜索着信號。比如把一張人物照放在我們眼前，我們會在不到1/5秒的時間內對它的美醜做出判斷。

對這種能量的認識是人類普遍具備的先天特質。甚至3個月大的嬰兒也表現出對傳統意義上的漂亮的臉蛋的青睞。不同種族的成年人在判斷其他族人的容貌美醜問題上也能達成共識。

研究表明，對稱、條例、比例和平衡是影響人們判斷美的重要因素。美的力量是巨大而不可忽視的。我們應當感謝美麗有那麼多的表達方式，美的源泉是那麼豐富多彩。說到美，也許我們很容易想到通

過視覺、聽覺、味覺、觸覺和嗅覺這五種感官來體驗它的能量，但其實還有其他更爲有效的途徑，比如：“動覺”--它可能是我們跳舞或運動時身體內部的肌肉動感，也可能是看到一件精湛的藝術品或工藝製品時的興奮和激動不已。再想想我們又有多少可以被稱爲“漂亮”的想法、見解和解決方案吧。科學家們不就對愛因斯坦“相對論”所蘊涵的非凡之美一致地給予了高度讚賞麼。

耶魯大學計算機科學教授大衛.格冷特用有力的實例說明了“對美的強烈渴望”成就了一系列偉大的科技成就。他指出，米切爾設計的噴火式戰鬥機正是憑藉其採用的馬林引擎和獨特的機翼，在取得戰鬥勝利的同時還能給人帶來視覺和聽覺的享受。

正如我們可以說一起銀行搶劫、一座橋樑或是一個計算機程序的設計乾得很“漂亮”，一個人的整體人格也可以是“漂亮”的。從對許多人的生平研究中發現，愛心、自信、友善和幽默是非常健康的品質，擁有這些品質的人是極具魅力的。

然而，就其帶給我們的美好感覺的度和量而言，美的最主要來源是我們與外界的美好關係，它們給我們的生活帶來源源不斷的感情--讓我們茁壯成長，超越自我。這一有力的和諧關係可以存在於生物與生物之間，也可存在於人和某個地方之間，或是人和某項技能之間。當我們能更好地認識這些關係時，世界就會變得更加美麗。因此，我們在培育和欣賞美的同時，也會得到無窮的快樂。