Three Days to See 英文朗读 part10

Upon my short visit to this temple of art I should not be able to review a fraction of that great world of art which is open to you.   I should be able to get only a superficial impression.Artists tell me  that for deep and true appreciation of art one must educate the eye.   One must learn through experience to weigh the merits of line,of  composition,of form  and  color. If I had  eyes,how happily would  I  embark upon so fascinating a study! Yet I am told that,to many of you  who have eyes to see,the world of art is a dark night,unexplored and  unilluminated.

It  would be  with  extreme  reluctance  that  I  should  leave  the Metropolitan Museum,which contains the key to beauty—a beauty so neglected. Seeing persons,however,do not need a metropolitanto findthis key to beauty. The same key lies waiting in smaller museums,andin books on the shelves of even small libraries. But naturally, inmylimited time of imaginary sight,I should choose the place where thekey unlocks the greatest treasures in the shortest time.

The evening of my second day of sight I should spend at a theatre or  at  the  movies. Even  now  I  often  attend  theatrical  performances  of all sorts,but the action of the play must be spelled into my hand  by a companion. But how I should like to see with my own eyes the  fascinating  figure  of  Hamlet,or   the   gusty  Falstaff  amid   colorful  Elizabethan trappings! How I should like to follow each movement of the graceful Hamlet,each strut of the hearty Falstaff! And since I could  see only one play,I should be confronted by a many-horned dilemma,  for there are scores of plays I should want to see. You who have eyes  can see any you like. How many of you,I wonder,when you gaze at a  play,a movie,or  any  spectacle, realize and give thanks for the miracle of sight which enables you to enjoy its color,grace,and movement?