经典英语美文：The Essence of Charm_美文

经典英语美文：The Essence of Charm

You know who has charm. But can you acquire it? Properly, you can't, because it's anoriginality19 of touch you have to be born with. Or it's something that grows naturally out of another quality, like the simple desire to make people happy. Certainly, charm is not a question of learning palpable tricks, like wrinkling your nose, or having a laugh in your voice. On the other hand, there is an antenna20, a built-in awareness21 of others, which most people have, and which care can nourish.

But in a study of charm, what else does one look for? Apart from the ability to listen--rarest of all human virtues--apart from warmth, sensitivity, and the power to please, there is agenerosity22 which makes no demands. Charm spends itself willingly on young and old alike, on the poor, the ugly, the dim, the boring, on the last fat man in the corner. It reveals itself also in a sense of ease, in casual but perfect manners, and often in a physical grace which springs less from an accident of youth than from a confident serenity23 of mind. Any person with this is more than just a popular fellow; he is also a social healer.

Charm, in the end, is a most potent24 act of behavior, the laying down of a carpet by one person for another to give his existence a moment of honor. It is close to love in that it moves without force, bearing gifts like the growth of daylight. It snares25 completely, but is neverpunitive26. It disarms27 by being itself disarmed28, strikes without wounds, wins wars without casualties--though not, of course, without victims.#p#分页标题#e#