# 爱是一道美丽的风景线



## 郭巨路

Hi all：

Is " love is a beautiful scenery " acceptable English ? What about " Love is a beautiful scenery line"? The expressions are typical  Chinese 

usage, but I am not sure whether they comply with the norm of standard English. I guess "beautiful scenery line" sounds ridiculous, but 

could "love is a beautiful scenery" happen to be very creative for rhetorical purpose? 

Thank you!


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## PaulQ

Is " love is a beautiful scenery " acceptable English? No - it sounds awkward and like a direct translation from another language. 
What about " Love is a beautiful scenery line"? This is worse. 

Scenery is uncountable, so you cannot have *a* scenery.

It would help a lot if you put the sentence into some sort of context - for example, a conversation.


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## Keith Bradford

PaulQ said:


> Is " love is a beautiful scenery " acceptable English? No - it sounds awkward and like a direct translation from another language...



I disagree.  In a song, poem or romantic novel it could sound original; but you shouldn't try to repeat the effect.  "_A_" scenery certainly isn't normal usage, but in this phrase I could make an exception.


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## perpend

I agree with Keith, that it is certainly possible, poetically: Love is a beautiful scenery.

I myself would omit "a": Love is beautiful scenery.

EDIT: Maybe this is meant: Love is a beautiful *scene*.

???


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## PaulQ

I am most surprised. I have no idea what it means. Perhaps someone, anyone, could put the sentence in some sort of context.

I did consider that it might be something along the lines of, "When you are in love, you see the world through rose-coloured glasses." but dismissed this as this set phrase speaks of the perception of the subject, not the object's (love's) effect on the subject.


> "in this phrase I _could _make an exception."
> "I myself _would _omit "a"


And excusing or even tolerating the '*a* scenery' is beyond me.

Gentlemen, I think that in this thread we have seen the unique appearance of 

"love is a beautiful scenery" and "Love is a beautiful scenery line". 

Look well upon them, we will not see their like again (I hope.)


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## perpend

Have a heart, for love's sake, Paul. 

*郭巨路*

 is looking for something creative!


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## xiaolijie

郭巨路 said:


> Hi all：
> 
> Is " love is a beautiful scenery " acceptable English ? What about " Love is a beautiful scenery line"? The expressions are typical  Chinese usage, but I am not sure whether they comply with the norm of standard English. I guess "beautiful scenery line" sounds ridiculous, but could "love is a beautiful scenery" happen to be very creative for rhetorical purpose?
> 
> Thank you!



郭巨路, what is the original in Chinese? If you tell us, we may be able to help. Meanwhile, "Love is beautiful" should be the simplest and also the most elegant so far, I'd say.


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## LilianaB

Hi. What exactly do you want to express by the word _scenery_ here, and also what is meant by _scenary line_. Could you describe the image, please.


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## Lucia_zwl

As a Chinese, I guess the original sentence in Chinese might be 爱是一道美丽的风景线. It sounds like a slogan for public good, or perhaps a poem. Word by word, this sentence can be translated as "love is a beautiful scenery line", but surely this "Chinglish" expression can't be accepted by you native speakers.

I would paraphrase the sentence like this:
If people love and help each other, there will be a better/ more beautiful world.
OR The action of caring and helping each other is a beautiful scenery.

It would be better if 郭巨路 could give more context.


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## 郭巨路

hi,all. I did not expect such a debate on this thread at all . The expression " love is a beautiful scenery line in universiy" appeared in an essay written by one of my students. 

The expression itsielf is awkward. I am 100% sure that there is no such a thing as "scenery line" in English language, which, strange to say, is a very common Chinese 

expression  referring to "beautiful landscape".  Another problem with the expression is that " scenery " is unaccoutable, which make it more intolerable. But I still think there 

might be something to it which may appear "creative " in the eyes of native speakers, hence the thread." 

Thank you all !


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## viajero_canjeado

Lucia_zwl said:


> As a Chinese, I guess the original sentence in Chinese might be 爱是一道美丽的风景线. I would paraphrase the sentence like this:
> If people love and help each other, there will be a better/ more beautiful world.
> OR The action of caring and helping each other is a beautiful scenery.



謝謝您的解釋，Lucia.



郭巨路 said:


> But I still think there might be something to it which may appear "creative " in the eyes of native speakers, hence the thread.



從上面Lucia貢獻的解釋來判斷，原來的 "love is a beautiful scenery" 根本無法貼切的表達你想要的意思。一聽這句話，第一印象是，聽起來蠻奇怪的。其次就是，以為你在把「愛」當成風景線，而不是「行善所引起的結果」視為美好的事。更接近（而同時使用自然的英語）應該是：Love makes the world a more beautiful place/People loving one another is a lovely sight to behold 或類似的說法。
歡迎您常來指教囉～


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## Ghabi

"XXX是一道美丽的风景线" is probably one of the hottest "snowclones" in Mainland these days, and honestly it didn't make sense to me when I first heard it!


viajero_canjeado said:


> Love makes the world a more beautiful place/People loving one another is a lovely sight to behold 或類似的說法。


Bravo!


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## ccm0416

I know this thread is from 10 years ago, but still, I'd like to put my two cents in.

This thread reminds me of what the poet Ezra Pound said about the use of abstractions in poetry. In his opinion, the abstract should not be mixed with the concrete.
When the abstract (love) is mixed with a concrete thing (scenery), the meaning becomes obscure, and there is a risk that someone would think there's a mistranslation somewhere.

Love is a flying bird.
Love is an ever-growing forest.
Love is a vast lake.
Love is a beautiful landscape.

All these metaphors are fine, but there will always be someone who thinks they make no sense.

One last thing: if OP had stated that their sentence was meant to be a metaphor, some misunderstandings in this thread could have been avoided.


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## henter

A musician wrote a  Chinese song called 爱是一档光芒 back to the 90s.  Let me show you the lyrics.
"爱是一道光芒 幸福是柔软的围巾
贴著我放松的身体
轻轻地 甜甜地
说著美的秘密
秘密有花朵的香气
载著我幻想中飞行
柔柔地 绵绵地
溶化了我的心
爱是一道光芒
停在高高天上
我抬头望
是你的脸庞
你眼中的善良
让我看到梦想
星光灿烂
想要歌唱."


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