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第五十五章

含德之厚

原文

含「德」之厚，比于赤子。毒虫不螫，猛兽不据，攫鸟不搏。骨弱筋柔而握固。未知牝牡之合而朘，精之至也。终日号而不嘎，和之至也。知和曰常，知常曰明；益生曰祥；心使气曰强。

英译

A Man of High Virtue

A man of high virtue is like a newly-born baby.

The poisonous insect does not sting him,

the fierce beast does not hurt him,

and the ferocious bird does not fight him.

His muscles and bones are weak,

but his fists are firmly clenched.

Although he knows nothing about sex,

his little genital is raised abruptly

because he is full of energy.

He cries all day long,

but his voice is not hoarse

because his cry conforms to nature.

Knowing nature, one will be constant,

and those who know constancy are wise.

If you are greedy and indulge in lust,

you will suffer,

and the desire over spirit is sheer bravado.

Anything past its prime will decline,

which is conforming to the divine law.

If something does not follow the divine law,

it will soon die.

说明

1、“知和曰常，知常曰明”的英译

许渊冲译成“Knowing nature, one will be constant in action, constant in action, one will be wise.”；Arthur Waley译成“To understand such harmony is to understand the always-so. To understand the always-so is to be illumined.”；辜正坤译成“To know harmony is to know the law of unity, to know the law of unity is to know discernment.”此句中的关键词是“和”、“常”、“明”。 “和”的意思是“和谐、协调、平衡”，可特指和谐的大自然；“常”是“长久，经久不变”，也可指事物的客观常规；“明”是“明智、高明”。各位译者的理解基本一致，用词不同。许渊冲对应的翻译是nature（和）、constant（常）、wise（明）；Arthur Waley译的是harmony（和）、always-so（常）、to be illumined（明）；辜正坤则是harmony（和）、the law of unity（常）、discernment（明）。我们则译成了“Knowing nature, one will be constant, and those who know constancy are intelligent.”。

2、“益生曰祥；心使气曰强”的英译

对此句的意思，各位理解不太一致。因为生可养，不可益，意思是，按照客观需要来满足自身的各项生理机能就是养生，超出了客观需求的范围则为“益”（难道此处“益”有“溢”的意思”吗？）。老子说“物或益之而损，或损之而益”，因此益生往往会产生受损的结果。所以，“益生”可理解为“纵欲贪生”，而“纵欲”当然是不好的。那怎么还说是“祥”？查阅字典得知，“祥”还有 “不祥”的意思，特指凶兆。“心”是指意志、欲望；“气”是气力，精力。精力受个人意志、欲望支配，为所欲为，叫作逞强。很显然，许渊冲译成“A body full of life is good; a mind full of vigor is strong.”和原文有出入。Arthur Waley 译成“But to fill life to the brim（边） is to invite omens. If the heart makes calls upon the life-breath, rigidity（固执） follows.”，前一句基本符合原意，后一句中,把“心”译成“heart”；把“强”译成“rigidity”，显然没有真正理解老子的本意。辜正坤译成“To indulge（纵情于） in sensual pleasures is to look for disasters; to let virility（男子气） driven by desires is to give free rein to strength.”符合原意。我们译成了“If you are greedy and indulge in lust, you will suffer, and the desire over spirit（欲望控制了精神） is sheer（纯粹的） bravado（逞能）. ”，更贴合原意。