Graceful Wording Should Not Conceal Content, and Intricate Rhetoric Should Not Drown Out the Author's Feelings and Thoughts
华美的文饰不掩盖文章的内容实质，繁富的辞藻不淹没作者的思想情感。这一术语属于创作论，出自南朝刘勰《文心雕龙·情采》。针对魏晋以来有的文人为了写作而造作情理，不得不依靠各种文饰来掩饰内容的空虚，刘勰初步讨论了文章形式与内容的关系问题。他继承《论语》“文质彬彬”的观点，强调文与质应当并重，形式与内容均衡相称，绝不可以文害质。
This term comes from the traditional Chinese theory of literary creation. It first appeared in The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons by Liu Xie of the Southern Dynasties. Rebutting the way some men of letters had since Wei and Jin times taken to faking emotions or arguments just for the sake of writing, and relying on all kinds of flowery language to disguise the emptiness of content, Liu discussed in brief the relation between form and content. Assuming the idea of mingling graceful wording with substance propounded in The Analects, he advocated giving equal value to content and form. His belief was that a balance should be struck between these two, and meaning should not be sacrificed in the pursuit of beauty in form.
引例 Citations：
◎子曰：“质胜文则野，文胜质则史。文质彬彬，然后君子。”（《论语·雍也》）
孔子说：“实质多于文饰则会言行粗野，文饰多于实质则会虚饰浮华。形式与实质配合适当，然后能成就君子的品格。”
Confucius said, "When one's inner disposition is in excess of his outward grace, he will look uncultured; when one's outward grace is in excess of his inner disposition he will seem to be superficial. Only when his inner disposition and outward grace are in balance can he be a man of virtue." (The Analects)
◎夫能设模[谟]以位理，拟地以置心，心定而后结音，理正而后摛（chī）藻，使文不灭质，博不溺心，正采耀乎朱蓝，间色屏于红紫，乃可谓雕琢其章，彬彬君子矣。（刘勰《文心雕龙·情采》）
要能够先设立一个格局来安排文章要阐发的内容，拟定一个基调来安顿文章要抒发的思想情感。思想情感安顿好了再配合韵律，内容端正了再铺陈辞采，这样就可以使华美的文饰不掩盖文章的内容实质，繁富的辞藻不淹没作者的思想情感。要使朱、蓝这样的正色光彩闪耀，红、紫之类的间色一概摒弃不用。这样才是修饰文章、使文与质兼备得当的君子行为。
When writing an article, design a structure for discussing your intended content, and set a keynote for expressing your feelings and thoughts. Then support such feelings and thoughts with a metrical pattern and adorn such content with formal beauty, making sure that wording does not conceal content and intricate rhetoric does not drown out the author's feelings and thoughts. Make perfectly regular colors such as vermilion and blueness shine. Do not use in-between colors such as orange and purple. This, I insist, is what a proper man should do — adorning his writing by making it both beautiful in style and rich in content. (Liu Xie: The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons)
推荐：教育部 国家语委
供稿：北京外国语大学 外语教学与研究出版社
责任编辑：钱耐安
