The Love of Beauty

By Anonymous

The love of beauty is an essential part of all healthy human nature. It is a moral quality. The absence of it is not an assured ground of condemnation, but the presence of it is an invariable sign of goodness of heart. In proportion to the degree in which it is felt will probably be the degree in which nobleness and beauty of character will be attained.

Natural beauty is an all-pervading presence. The universe is its temple. It unfolds into the numberless flowers of spring. It waves in the branches of trees and the green blades of grass. It haunts the depths of the earth and the sea. It gleams from the hues of the shell and the precious stone. And not only these minute objects but the oceans, the mountains, the clouds, the stars, the rising and the setting sun ---- all overflow our tenderest and noblest feelings, that it is painful to think of the multitude of people living in the midst of it and yet remaining almost blind to it.

All persons should seek to become acquainted with the beauty in nature. There is not a worm we tread upon , nor a leaf that dances merrily as it falls before the autumn winds, but calls for our study and admiration. The power to appreciate beauty not merely increases our sources of happiness ---- it enlarges our moral nature, too. Beauty calms our restlessness and dispels our cares. Go into the fields or the woods, spend a summer day by the sea or the mountains, and all your little perplexities and anxieties will vanish. Listen to sweet music, and your foolish fears and petty jealousies will pass away. The beauty of the world helps us to seek and find to beauty of goodness.

Vocabulary:
· condemnation n. 責難，譴責
· condemn vt. 責難，將….判刑
· nobleness n. 高尚，高貴
· all-pervading a.遍布的
· unfold vi.展現
· unfold into … 漸漸開展為
· haunt vt.出沒於；不斷糾纏
· gleam vi.發微光，閃爍
· congenial a.適合的；適意的
· multitude n. 許多，大批
· midst n. 中間
· leaf n. 樹葉(複數為leaves)
· leafy a. 多業的；葉滿枝的
· merrily adv. 快樂的；愉快的
· call for… 需要…
· restlessness n. 浮躁，不安
· dispel vt.驅逐，驅散
· perplexity n.困惑