Listen to this articlelìcí 丽辞
Ornate Parallel Style
骈文中运用两两相对的方式遣词用句。“丽”即骈俪、对偶。单音独体汉字比较容易形成前后两句对偶的结构，对偶句具有音节配合、意义呼应的整齐美、和谐美。古人借此术语肯定了语言的形式美但又坚持形式与内容相和谐，以最终创作出文质相扶、尽善尽美的作品。
The term refers to a classical Chinese literary style generally known as “parallel prose,” largely composed of couplets of phrases with similar structure. Monosyllabic Chinese words, each represented with a single written character, are fairly easy to arrange in pairs of expressions with semantic symmetry and prosodic harmony. The ornate parallel style highlights the beauty of the form of the language without neglecting the harmony between form and content; and it is employed to produce fine works of utmost beauty, with form and content reinforcing each other.
引例 Citations：
◎故丽辞之体，凡有四对：言对为易，事对为难，反对为优，正对为劣。（刘勰《文心雕龙·丽辞》）
（丽辞的格式，大凡有四种：文辞的对偶容易，事典的对偶困难，事理不同而旨趣相合的对偶最佳，物类不同而意义相同的对偶最差。）
Thus, the ornate parallel style has four types of couplets: matching words, which is easy; matching facts, which is difficult; matching contrast, which is excellent; and matching sameness, which is poor. (Liu Xie: The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons)
◎若气无奇类，文乏异采，碌碌丽辞，则昏睡耳目。（刘勰《文心雕龙·丽辞》）
（如果文章在气势上并无奇异的地方，文辞上也缺乏特别精彩之处，有的只是很平常的对偶句，那就让人昏昏欲睡了。）
If a piece of writing has no original appeal, lacks imaginative polish and is full of crude and common parallel phrases, it will bore people to sleep. (Liu Xie: The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons)
