handsome的用法？

A beautiful woman, we say in English. But a handsome man. “Handsome” is the masculine equivalent of --- and refusal of --- a compliment which has accumulated certain demeaning overtones, by being reserved for women only. That one can call a man “beautiful” in French and in Italian suggests that Catholic countries --- unlike those countries shaped by the Protestant version of Christianity --- still retain some vestiges of the pagan admiration for beauty. But the difference, if one exists, is of degree only. In every modern country that is Christian or post-Christian, women are the beautiful sex --- to the detriment of the notion of beauty as well as of women.

在英語里，我們說美麗的女子，但是卻說英俊的男子。美麗由于只用于女性，已經(jīng)帶上了某種蔑視的含義，而英俊作為對男性的恭維語卻不含貶義。此外在法語和意大利語里，“美麗”可以用來形容男性，這表明天主教國家和那些信奉基督新教的國家不同，仍保留著對于美麗的仰慕。但如果有區(qū)別的話，那也只是程度的不同。在任何一個信奉基督教或新基督教的現(xiàn)代國家里，女子是美麗的性別，就不僅貶低了女性的價值，也貶低了美的價值。