人類的社會生活雖是文學藝術的唯一源泉，雖是較之後者有不可比擬的生動豐富的內容，但是人們還是不滿足於前者而要求後者。這是為什麼呢？因為雖然兩者都是美，但是文藝作品中反映出來的生活卻可以而且應該比普通的實際生活更高，更強烈，更有集中性，更典型，更理想，因此就更帶普遍性。
Although man’s social life is the only source of literature and art and is incomparably livelier and richerin content， people are not satisfied with life alone and demand literature and art as well. Why？ Because， whileboth are beautiful， life as reflected in works of literature and art can and ought to be on a higher plane， moreintense， more concentrated， more typical， nearer the ideal， and therefore more universal than actual everydaylife.
一般而言，一部文學作品，就其來源與應用方麵愈普遍愈廣泛，則該文學作品的價值愈大，其影響愈佳。
Generally speaking， the more universal or general a literary work is， both in its sources and in itsapplication， the greater is the value of that literary work and the better is its influence.
最佳文學作品含有人生最大量的、最有意義的、最有興趣的部分（或種類），得到最完善的藝術處理，因此能給人以一個真與美的強烈、動人的印象，使讀者既受教益、啟迪，又得到樂趣。
The best literary work， then， contains the greatest amount of the most significant and interesting part(or kind) of life， and that has been treated by the most perfect art， giving thereby a powerful and fascinatingimpression of truth and beauty， making the readers edified (instructed) and amused at the same time.