"Packaging" A Person 人的包装

A person, like a commodity, needs packaging. But going too far is absolutely undesirable. A little exaggeration, however, does no harm when it shows the person's unique qualities to their advantage. To display personal charm in a casual and natural way, it is important for one to have a clear knowledge of oneself. A master packager knows how to integrate art and nature without any traces of embellishment, so that the person so packaged is no commodity but a human being, lively and lovely.

A young person, especially a female, radiant with beauty and full of life, has all the favor granted by God. Any attempt to make up would be self-defeating. Youth, however, comes and goes in a moment of doze. Packaging for the middle-aged is primarily to conceal the furrows ploughed by time. If you still enjoy life's exuberance enough to retain self-confidence and pursue pioneering work, you are unique in your natural qualities, and your charm and grace will remain. Elderly people are beautiful if their river of life has been, through plains, mountains and jungles, running its course as it should. You have really lived your life which now arrives at a complacent stage of serenity indifferent to fame or wealth. There is no need to resort to hair-dyeing-the snow-capped mountain is itself a beautiful scene of fairyland. Let your looks change from young to old synchronizing with the natural ageing process so as to keep in harmony with nature, for harmony itself is beauty, while the other way round will only end in unpleasantness. To be in the elder's company is like reading a thick book of de luxe edition that fascinates one so much as to be reluctant to part with.

As long as one finds where one stands, one knows how to package oneself, just as a commodity establishes its brand by the right packaging.

[参考译文]

人如商品要包装，但切忌过分包装。夸张包装，要善于展示个性的独特品质。在随意与自然中表现人的个性美，重要的是认识自己，包装的高手在于不留痕迹，外在的一切应与自身浑然一体，这时你不再是商品，而是活生生的人。

青年有着充盈的生命的底气，她亮丽诱人，这是上帝赐予的神采，任何涂抹都是多余的败笔，青春是个打个盹就过去的东西。中年的包装主要是修复岁月的磨损，如果中年的生命依然有开拓丰满与自信，便会成年人，如果你生命的河流正常地流过，流过了平原高山和丛林，那么你是美的。你的美充满了安详与淡泊，因为你真正地生活过。老年人不要去染白发，老人的白发像高山的积雪，有种仙境之美。人该年轻时就年轻，该年老时就年老，这是与自然同步，这就是和谐。和谐就是美，反之就是丑。和老年人在一起就像读一本厚厚的精装书，魅力无穷，令人爱不释手。