主题：【原创】女人味 -- 煮酒正熟

“The gentleness, modesty, and sweetness of her character were warmly expatiated on; that sweetness which makes so essential a part of every woman's worth in the judgment of man, that though he sometimes loves where it is not, he can never believe it absent.” -Jane Austen

gentleness = 温柔

modesty = 谦逊

sweetness = 可人(也包含温柔)

Jane Austin 用以上辞汇描摹的是一些外在的特质

而善良、有爱心则是一种更为内在的东西

通常来说，善良有爱心的女人都会表现的温柔可人；但也有些善良女性并不太温柔。否则就不会有“刀子嘴 豆腐心”的说法了 :-)

而且，外表温柔可人的女性，虽然照简-奥丝汀的说法 是男人们所追求的，但这样的女性未必都是善良和富于爱心的。尤其是对那些所谓的sophisticated and refined women 来说，将不很善良的自己装扮成温柔可人的样子并非难事。(实际上这就是她们的profession)

简单来说，

具备善良有爱心这种质素的女人，就是传统意义上的好女人。

在此基础之上再加上浪漫感性，就是具有女人味的女人。

至于精品女人、极品女人，我觉得这些概念更集中于女性的相貌身材啦、智慧和职业才能啦、服饰品味生活情趣啦、高贵气质啦等等等等，并不很关注女性的善良和富于爱心。

Most men tend to attribute their dream woman qualities to the woman they love even when she doesn't possess those qualities. I drew this conclusion from my personal experience and was quite delighted to learn that Jane Austen had similar discovery.

英式英语句型比较繁复，里面的逻辑主语需要很好的语感才能轻松理解。对这句我的理解就有困难：

that though he sometimes loves where it is not, he can never believe it absent

这个where it is not，这里的it指代的是什么呢？往前面找，却找不到相应的东西。

然后就是，it is not what？

though he sometimes loves the girl who's not sweet, he cannot believe it (the quality of being sweet) is absent in her.

Old english writers were good at making people pull out their hair sometimes. Fortunately, nowadays, no sane individual writes like this anymore.