还是越来越蠢？
Are human beings getting increasingly intelligent or stupid?
答案好像是明摆着的：越来越精。
The following answer seems beyond dispute: They are getting more and more intelligent.
在几千年有文化的历史上，人类对宇宙，对人世，对生命，对社 会，总之对人世间所有的一切，越来越了解得透彻、细致，如犀烛隐， 无所不明。
In the course of several thousand years of his cultural history, man has acquired a more and more thorough and detailed understanding of the universe, the human world, life and society 一 in short, everything under heaven.
例子伸手可得。
Examples are legion.
当年中国人对月亮觉得可爱而又神秘， 于是就说有一个美女嫦娥奔入月宫。
Our ancestors, out of their fondness for the moon and curiosity about it, created the legend of beautiful Chang'e\* flying to the moon.
连苏东坡这个宋朝伟大的诗人， 也不禁要问出："明月几时有？
And Su Dongpo\*\*, a great poet of the Song Dynasty, wrote the following lines as a matter of course: The Bright Moon, when will she appear?
把酒问青天。
Wine cup in hand, I ask the azure sky.
不知天上宫阙，今夕是 何年？"可是到了今天，人类已经登上了月球，连月球上的土块也被 带到了地上来。
I don't know inside the heavenly palace What time of year it is tonight.
哪里有什么嫦娥，有什么广寒宫？
Today, man has managed to land on the moon and even come back bringing with him some of its clods.
人类倘不越变越精，能做到这一步吗？
Chang'e and her heavenly palace simply don't exist.
可是我又提出了问题，说明适得其反。
Could man have achieved that without becoming more and more intelligent?
例子也是伸手即得。
Chang'e - Fairy maiden of the Moon (the lady in Chinese mythology who swallowed an elixir stolen from her husband and flew to the moon).
我 先举一个包裝。
Su Dongpo (1037-1101), also known as Su Shi, renowned writer and calligrapher of the Song Dynasty.
人类活动在社会上，有时候是需要包装的。
Nevertheless, I also would like to bring forward some facts to show just the opposite.
特别是女士们。
Examples are only too numerous.
在家 中穿得朴朴崇素，但是一出门，特别是参加什么"派对"(party，借 用香港话)，则必须打扮得珠光宝气，花枝招展，浑身酒上法国香水， 走在大街上，高跟鞋跟敲地作金石声，香气直射十步之外，路人为之 "侧目"。
Packaging is the first thing want to deal with.
这就是包装，而这种包装，我认为是必要的。
People, especially women, sometimes need packaging in their social activities.
可是还有另外一种包装，就是商品的包装。
Women dress casually at home, but when they go out, especially when they attend parties, they have to be gorgeously dressed and sprayed all over with French perfume.
这种包装有时也是必 要的，不能一概而论。
On the streets, the loud clip-clop of their high-heeled shoes and the strong aroma of their perfume will attract public attention far and wide.
我从前到香港，买国产的商品，比大陆要便宜 得多。
That's what we mean by packaging and I call it a kind of necessary packaging.
一问才知道，原因是中国商品有的质量并不次于洋货，正是由 于包裝不讲究，因而价钱卖不上去。
But there is another kind of packaging --- the packaging of commodities.
我当时就满怀疑惑：究竟是使用 商品呢？
Such packaging is sometimes also necessary and, therefore, should not be mentioned in the same breath.
还是使用包装？
Some time ago, as 2 visitor to Hong Kong, I found Chinese-made goods there selling at a much lower price than in the mainland and also learned on inquiry that it was due to plain packaging that they were selling cheap though of equal quality as imported goods.
我因而想到一件事：我们楼上一位老太太到菜市场上去买鸡，说 是一定要黄毛的。
I was quite puzzled about what the customers actually need.