TED演讲:达顿解释达尔文主义的美的理论(9)

So the next time you pass a jewelry¹ shop window displaying a beautifully cut teardrop-shaped stone,

因此，下次你经过陈列着切成泪滴形的漂亮宝石的珠宝店橱窗时，

don't be so sure it's just your culture telling you that that sparkling jewel is beautiful.

不要太肯定这只是你所接收到的文化影响了你，告诉你闪闪发光的珠宝是美丽的。

Your distant ancestors loved that shape and found beauty in the skill needed to make it,

你的祖先也很喜欢这形状，并在制作这一形状所需技能中发现了美，

even before they could put their love into words.

这甚至发生在在他们能把他们的爱付诸文字之前。

Is beauty in the eye of the beholder²? No, it's deep in our minds.

美是存在于观者的眼中么？不，它深深的在我们的思想中。

It's a gift handed down from the intelligent skills and rich emotional lives of our most ancient ancestors.

它是一种天赋，来自于我们远祖的智慧和丰富的情感生活。

Our powerful reaction to images, to the expression of emotion in art, to the beauty of music, to the night sky,

我们对图像、对艺术中情感的表达、对音乐与夜空的美妙的强烈的反应

will be with us and our descendants for as long as the human race exists. Thank you.

将与我们同在，与我们的后代同在，只要人类还存在着。谢谢大家。

1 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

2 beholder   

n.观看者，旁观者

参考例句：

• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 看起来觉得美就是美。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It has been said that art is a tryst, for in the joy of it maker and beholder meet. 有人说艺术是一种幽会，因为艺术家和欣赏者可在幽会的乐趣中相遇在一起。 来自《简明英汉词典》