(17)形态的平衡
Balance shapes. If you make both of the inner forms (counters) of the 'B' exactly the same, the top counter will optically look bigger. Your character will look plumby, like it's falling down. If you make the top counter smaller than the bottom one, your character looks much more balanced.
如果你把字母“B”上下两个内部形状（字怀）弄得完全一样，上面的字怀在视觉上就会更大。你的字母看上去就好像站立不稳，摇摇欲坠。如果你把上面的字怀弄得小一些，整个字符看起来会更平衡。
The counter of the 'B' doesn't have to be exactly the same as the counter of the 'P' for example. If you would make them exactly the same, the right sidebearing of the P would be much too big. So you have to balance the black and white spaces in every character separately. However, there must be a relationship between the amount of white space inside a 'B' and inside a 'P'.
同样的，字母“B”字母“P”的字怀也不需要完全一样。如果两者完全一样，“P”的右部空间就显得太大了。所以对每个字符的黑白空间你都要进行单独的平衡。但是，“B”和“P”两者内部白空间的大小一定存在着某种关联。
About making a lowercase 'r': it's not an 'n' with an amputated leg. Your 'r' can get very weak and soft in that way. You can make it much stronger if you let the ending of the 'r' follow the horizontal reading direction. In that way, the space on the right side of the 'r' will be more open, and more balanced. It will not disturb the rhythm of your type because the right sidebearing can be much smaller. The whole letter can be made more narrow as well. As a consequence the white space in the top of the 'r' could be has to be changed. In case you change that form, optically you'll not confuse the 'r' so quickly with the 'n' as well.
说到怎样做一个小写的“r”：它绝对不是一个把一边腿锯断的“n”。如果那样做，你的“r”会被弄得非常的虚弱。如果你让“r”的末笔顺着水平的阅读方向，就可以让它看上去更健壮。同时“r”的右部空间会更开放，更平衡。这不会有损于字体的节奏，因为“r”右部的安全空间可以设置得非常小。整个字母可以做的更窄。这样一来，“r”顶部的白空间就不得不改变。形状改变之后还有一个好处，你就不会在匆匆一瞥之下把“r”错看成“n”。
译注：
sidebearing 字符前后预留的安全空间（或者叫缓冲区），以避免前后字符笔画发生碰撞。分为左部空间和右部空间。
参考链接：http://www.myfirstfont.com/glossary.html
(18)字距调整
Kerning. Knowledge about kerning will give a deeper understanding of type. However, forget about kerning for now, spend your time on other things. It's much more important to properly space your characters.
字距调整的知识会让你对字体的理解更进一步。但我们现在先暂时把它忘记，先花点时间看看另外的东西。如果你想正确的设置字符间距，这个要重要得多。
A kerning pair is a technical issue for optical reasons. Simply said: when one certain character is followed by another character you can define a different space in between these two characters. This space can vary from the the normal spacing (right sidebearing of the first character + left sidebearing of the second character). The difference can be positive or negative; you can add more space for a certain combination or you can reduce the space. A kerning pair can technically be implemented in a digital font file.
字距配对（kerning pair）是一种因视觉需要而做的技术处理。简单说，在两个特定的字符连排的时候，你可以为它们单独指定与众不同的字符间距。这个间距可以不同于标准间距（前一个字符的右部安全空间+后一个字符的左部安全空间）。这个间距可以是正的也可以是负的，你可以为某个字符对设置更多或更少的空间。数字化的字库文件中可以实现这种字距配对。
In some cases kerning is inevitable and necessary. When a capital 'A' is followed by a lowercase 'v', a big white space will appear which cannot be solved by adapting the spacing of the characters. Changing the spacing would mess it up when they would be combined with other characters again. For this occasion a kerning pair is needed (see drawing). In the sketch you only see some examples where the kerning pair is negative; reducing space. But you can also imagine a positive kerning pair when a 'f' is followed by a bracket for example; "f)". More space has to be added to avoid those characters overlapping eachother.
有些场合这种字距调整是必不可少的。当一个大写A后面跟随一个小写v的时候，两个字符间就会出现巨大的白空间，这是普通的字符间距所无法解决的。如果改变它们的间距，它们和其他字母连排的时候就会挤成一团。这时候就需要字距配对来处理了（如图）。图中只出现了字距配对为负的例子――缩减空间。但你可以想象一个字距配对为正的例子：一个小写f后跟随一个括号，例如：“f)”。这时候就需要加入更多的间距以避免两个字符重叠在一起。
(19)连字
Ligatures. In a very few cases they are essential. Some well known ligatures are 'fi' and 'fl'. The inevitable need for a ligature is depending on the design of a font. Not every typeface will need a ligature for a 'fi' combination. But in some cases the dot of the 'i' is interfering with the 'f'. Get rid of all that annoying row but making a ligature, one glyph which represents two (or more) characters. Next to a functional aspect, there is an aesthetic aspect of ligatures. You could create a ligature for a 'st' combination, or maybe for 'nky' or 'ism'. Anything is possible. Admitting that also this is not the most urgent issue in type design, it's another obstacle on the road to perfection!
只有极少数的场合才需要用到连字。比较常见的连字有“fi”和“fl”。连字是否必不可少，取决于字体的设计。不是每种字体都需要"fi"的连字组合。但有些时候字母“i”上面的圆点会和前面的“f”相撞。一劳永逸的解决方案是做一个连字，用一个字符代替两个（或更多的）字符。连字的出现的原因，除去功能上的需要，还有审美意义上的。你可以做一个“st”的连字组合，或是一个“nky”或“ism”。任何字符都是有可能的。这个章节同样也不是学习字体设计最迫切需要的知识，但这是通向完美之路上另一道必须逾越的障碍。
（译注：到今天为止，整个《字体设计基础》系列文章就全部翻译完了。了却一桩心事。感谢大家一直以来的支持。）
