2017年全国英语等级考试三级考前阅读精选（二十）
“Packing” a Person
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 deluxe 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.
