老子《道德经》中英文对照在线阅读 原文译文英文1～3章

　　第一章

　　【原文】

　　道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。

　　无名天地之始。有名万物之母。

　　故常无欲以观其妙。常有欲以观其徼。采集者退散

　　此两者同出而异名，同谓之玄。玄之又玄，众妙之门。

　　【译文】

　　‘道’只是一个符号。它代表着构成宇宙万物的实体与动力。‘道’是宇宙、自然界以及人类社会的法则，是永远存在的物质世界的自然性。‘名’也是一个符号，它是‘道’的称谓。如果这个‘道’能用人类的语言和文字来准确描述的话，那它就不能被称为永恒的法则了。如果‘名’可以用语言文字来描述，那它也就不是代表永恒法则和规律的‘名’了。

　　‘无’、‘有’是‘道’所表现出的两个不同方面。‘无’是‘道’作为宇宙混沌，天地未开的本初状态，‘有’则是‘道’所表现出的创生万物、滋养万物的作用。以恒久的‘无’来观察万物发展所遵循的自然法则；以恒久的‘有’来观察道对宇宙万物的功用。‘无’、‘有’都出自同一源头，却有着不同的特性和名字，它们从不同的方面深刻表现‘道’悠远而又悠远的本质，证明‘道’是宇宙自然运动、变化的源头。

　　【英译】

　　‘Tao’is just a symbol. It figures the noumenon and motivity that who structured universe and world. ‘Tao’is the basic principle of universe, nature and human community. It’s the sempiternal natural attribute of the hylic world. ‘Ming’is another symbol always goes with ‘Tao’. It’s Tao’s appellation. ‘Tao’will not be the sempiternal basic principle if we can describe it in anthropic language and letter. ‘Ming’will not be the name and appellation of the sempiternal basic principle if we can define it in our language.

　　‘Tao’has two modalities, ‘origin’and ‘effect’(means non-existence and existence in Chinese). The ‘origin’modality is the originator of universe and world. The ‘effect’modality indicate the process that ‘Tao’providing and nourishing the universe and world. We can observe the development principle of universe in ‘origin’standpoint and observe the Tao’s process for world in effect standpoint.

　　‘Origin’and ‘effect’are all from ‘Tao’who have different name and identity. They represent abstruse hypostasis of Tao’s from distinct point of view in order to show us that Tao is the headspring of natural development.

　　【备注】

　　万事开头难，学习、理解《道德经》尤其如此，虽已基本能说通自己，但还是不能尽善。不过毕竟是圣贤的著作，难度大是很正常的。在此，再次诚邀国学、英文高手来指教订正。

　　英文部分着实让人感觉为难，好比‘道’、‘有’、‘无’这些专用词语，直译后再另作解释，恐怕打乱文章的连贯性，不利于英语人士理解，直接在原文中翻译出来，又确实很难找到能准确表达其含义的英文单词，左右为难。所以还请大家多多帮助。

　　第二章

　　【原文】

　　天下皆知美之为美，斯恶已。皆知善之为善，斯不善已。

　　故有无相生，难易相成，长短相形，高下相盈，音声相和，前后相随。恒也。

　　是以圣人处无为之事，行不言之教；万物作而弗始，生而弗有，为而弗恃，功成而不居。

　　夫唯弗居，是以不去。

　　【现代汉语】

　　所有人都能分辨美的事物，这就导致了丑的概念的产生；所有人都能分辨善的事物，那么恶的概念就产生了。

　　存在与不存在、困难的和容易的、长和短、高和低、乐器的声与人的音、前与后等等都是互为因果、相互创造，相互补充的。这是永远不变的道理。

　　圣人（合于‘道’的人）以顺应自然发展、辅助自然发展的‘无为non-action’态度去做事；不依赖繁杂、苛刻的政令条文去约束别人；让万物兴起而不加刻意地影响；创造有益社会的成果而不占有成果；成就事业却不自我夸耀。

　　正因为圣人有这样的行为和品格，其成就是不会泯灭的，能够造福自然和后代。

　　【英译】

　　All the people can distinguish the beauty. So, the concept of uglily was produced. Evil be existing because all the people know what is good.

　　So it is that existence and non-existence give birth the one to (the idea of) the other; that d其名曰善ifficulty and ease produce the one (the idea of) the other; that length and shortness fashion out the one the figure of the other; that (the ideas of) height and lowness arise from the contrast of the one with the other; that the musical notes and tones become harmonious through the relation of one with another; and that being before and behind give the idea of one following another.

　　The sage (people accord with the standard of Tao’s) manages affairs in the attitude that obey the principle of natural and assistant the natural development. This kind of attitude is so called non-action. He also manages people without multifarious, rigorous order and regulations. The sage promotes natural developing freely without desirably influence. He creates valuable harvest but do not possess it. He never be supercilious no matter what great achievement he gets.

　　His achievement and harvest will exist forever because of his magnificent character.

　　Note: The sage of Taoism can understand the natural principle accurately. He always pays attention to exploiting his indwelling vitality and spurning greed, fame and gain. The sages of Taoism (people accord with the standard of Tao’s) always seek the methods to exploring creativity and not expanding any possessive actuation.

　　【备注】

　　道家的哲学思想中的圣人能够体认自然，拓展内在的生命，摒弃名利和欲望，使自己的心灵能自由活动。圣人追求最大限度地发挥创造的动力，而不伸展任何占有的冲动。这便是合于道的人。

　　第三章

　　【原文】

　　不尚贤，使民不争；不贵难得之货，使民不为盗；不见可欲，使民心不乱。

　　是以圣人之治，虚其心，实其腹，弱其志，强其骨。常使民无知无欲。使夫智者不敢为也。为无为，则无不治。

　　【译文】采集者退散

　　政府不标榜所谓的贤能，人们就不会争夺权力；不珍贵难得的财务，人们就不会巧取豪夺；不炫耀那些刺激人类贪欲的事物，人们的心灵就不会受到困惑。

　　所以，圣人治理国家政事，会净化人们的心灵；满足人民的安全和温饱；削弱人们的贪欲；增强国民的体魄；使人们没有弄虚作假的巧诈心思，使民风归于淳朴，没有争、夺的贪念。使那些自作聪明的人不敢妄为，不敢耍手段和阴谋。

　　遵循自然的法则，以无为的态度去治理政治事务，国家是不会治理不好的。

　　【英译】

　　Government do not sparkplug so-called aristarchy, then people will not contend for power and profit; Government don't think a lot of rare property, then people will not steal or rob; Government do not splurge the things that maybe activate greed, then the soul of people's won't be fazed.

　　Therefore the sage, in the exercise of his government, purifies people's mind; makes people dress warmly and ear their fill; weakens their greed, and strengthens their body and spirit. Common social practice will become Simple and honorable. At the same time, the sage will keeps smarty from unseemly behavior and plot.

　　To manage the state affairs follow natural principle. Then the good social order will be established.

　　【备注】

　　很多人误解老子的哲学思想是替封建统治阶级出谋划策，强调愚民政策，实则绝非如此。

　　导致这样的误解的真正原因是没有连贯全文，通篇认真理解诵读，就会找到老子的真正用意。真理自在其中。