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在許多學者的眼里，鉆石是缺乏精妙之美的庸俗商品，它的流行，是商家狡詐宣傳和消費者盲目跟風的結果。然而，在我眼里，它卻是自然的神奇和人類智慧的結晶，這代表著閃爍和永恒的愛物讓我意識到：我們在人世間的旅程極其短暫，且終將歸于碳塵。

By Paula Marantz Cohen

林安娜 選注

Although I have always considered myself a fairly unconventional person, I wanted a diamond ring when I became engaged to be married.[2] To please me, my fiancé visited the Diamond District in New York City and (with the help of his mother) picked out a round, 1.5-carat diamond with a yellow gold band.[3]

In the early years of my marriage, some of my female students would come up to me after class and compliment[4] me on my ring. I don’t know if it was the diamond they were admiring or the fact that I had managed to get myself married. In time, the compliments diminished.[5] Whether because my ring was less impressive or because marriage seemed less of an accomplishment[6] to the new generation is hard to say.

As with all highly prized commodities, diamonds also have their detractors.[7] A few years ago, a man sitting next to me at a faculty lunch proclaimed in a loud voice,[8] “That is the biggest diamond I’ve ever seen!” Everyone at the table turned to stare, and my academic stock immediately sunk.[9] My diamond is hardly enormous; in another setting, say dinner at Mayor Bloomberg’s or Warren Buffett’s, it would be puny—but in an academic setting, it looms large and vulgar.[10] Even esthetic-minded academics see diamonds as philistine commodities lacking in nuance.[11] This is not really true, since accurate assessment of the four Cs—color, cut, clarity, and carat weight—requires immense study; it’s just that this study is different from the study for attendance at another four Cs (the Conference on College Composition and Communication).[12] Diamonds also get a bad rap in academia in being linked to marriage, that most bourgeois of institutions.[13] I know that my diamond ring goes against the grain of my profession[14], but I don’t care. I like the mild vulgarity[15] of the thing.

The idea of wearing a diamond on one’s finger is, when one thinks about it, absurd. But, then, all ornament[16] is absurd. My husband, who does not understand jewelry, connects it to the mystery of gender difference[17]. He thinks there is something hormonal in the desire to display a mutated piece of carbon on one’s finger.[18] His theory misses the fact that many men have a taste for diamonds.

As I see it, diamonds reconcile in the simplest possible way two elements that appeal to us—the glittery fun of bling and the solidity of a good investment.[19] These are also the two attributes[20] we seek in marriage and, indeed, in life. A diamond, by symbolically denoting brightness and endurance, reminds us of the fact that our passage through this mortal space is fleeting and will inevitably end in (carbon) dust.[21]

Vocabulary

1. sparkly: 活潑的，生氣勃勃的。

2. unconventional: 不守成規的，不依慣例的；engaged: 訂婚的。

3. fiancé: 未婚夫，未婚妻為fiancée；1.5-carat diamond with a yellow gold band: 黃金戒圈的1.5克拉鉆戒，克拉為鉆石等珠寶的重量單位，等于200毫克。

4. compliment: 贊美，恭維。

5. in time: 一段時間之后；diminish: 減少，縮減。

6. accomplishment: 成績，成就。

7. prized commodity: 價格高昂的商品； detractor: 詆毀者，貶低者。

8. faculty lunch: 教工午餐；proclaim: 宣告，宣布。

9. my academic stock immediately sunk: 我的學術地位立時陡降。stock: 聲望，地位。

10. 我的這顆鉆石算不上很大，在其他場合，比如布隆伯格市長或是巴菲特的晚宴上，可能都無足掛齒。但在學術場合，它卻赫然突顯，庸俗不堪。Mayor Bloomberg: 布隆伯格（Michael R. Bloomberg），紐約市長，傳媒大亨；Warren Buffett: 沃倫?巴菲特，著名投資商、慈善家，有“華爾街股神”之稱；puny: 微不足道的。

11. 即便是頗具審美趣味的學者，也會將鉆石視作缺乏精妙之美的庸俗商品。

12. 這有悖事實。對4C（顏色、切工、凈度和克拉數）的精密測量需要大量研究，只不過這種研究有別于參與另外一項4C（大學寫作與交流會議）的研究。

13. rap: 批評，指責；academia: 學術圈；that most bourgeois of institutions: 最平庸的習俗。

14. grain of my profession: 我職業的特質。

15. vulgarity: 粗俗。

16. ornament: 裝飾（品）。

17. gender difference: 兩性差異。

18. hormonal:（似）激素的，激素引起的；a mutated piece of carbon:（鉆石是）碳的同素異形體。

19. 我認為，鉆石用最簡單的方法把吸引我們的兩個因素調和起來：一個是閃閃亮帶來的樂趣，另一個是好投資所保證的可靠。

20. attribute: 特征。

21. 鉆石代表了閃爍和永恒，它讓我們意識到這樣一個事實：我們在人世間的這段旅程極其短暫，且終將歸于（碳）塵。

（來源：英語學習雜志）