今早看到一個TED視頻。講述如何學習外語，她提到她熱愛哈利波特，學西班牙語時就直接找了一本哈利波特的西班牙語版本就埋頭讀了起來。視頻如下：

真是一語驚醒夢中人。我正在琢磨看完可汗學院的微觀、宏觀經濟學及金融與資本市場的視頻後開始學習日語。

心想這個方法不錯啊，我可以直接找一本三國演義日文版就可以看起來。推而廣之，英文也可以找一本愛看的書英譯版再看起來進一步提高。

本擬用《紅樓夢》英譯版，但小說耗時過長，有限的人生應盡力放在性命之上。

靈機一觸，可以看道德經英文版啊。看看西方人是怎麼翻譯和理解道的，估計也挺有意思。

網上找到的版本是漢學家亞瑟・威利的1934年寫的The Way and Its Power: A Study of the Tao Te Ching and its Place in Chinese Thought

此版本已經超過70年，屬於public domain，故此貼在本博也沒有什麼問題。

就此邊貼邊細讀之。

第一章

The Way that can be told of is not an Unvarying Way;
The names that can be named are not unvarying names.

威利用the way來翻譯道，西方人看重方法。

It was from the Nameless that Heaven and Earth sprang;
The named is but the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures, each after its kind.

用spring彈出來表明無中生有天地之始，用rear撫養來表明萬物之母。

Truly, “Only he that rids himself forever of desire can see the Secret Essences”;
He that has never rid himself of desire can see only the Outcomes.

用Secret Essences秘密本質來形容妙，用Outcomes結果形容徼。此譯文褒無欲貶有欲，然道在有欲無欲之間，觀妙觀徼，不執兩邊。

These two things issued from the same mould, but nevertheless are different in name.
This “same mould” we can but call the Mystery, Or rather the “Darker than any Mystery”, The Doorway whence issued all Secret Essences.

the Mystery為玄， the “Darker than any Mystery” 玄之又玄, The Doorway whence issued all Secret Essences 眾妙之門。譯得真好！

第二章

It is because every one under Heaven recognizes beauty as beauty，that the idea of ugliness exists.
And equally if every one recognized virtue as virtue，this would merely create fresh conceptions of wickedness.

virtue善，wickedness惡

For truly‘Being and Not-being grow out of one another；
Difficult and easy complete one another；
Long and short test one another；
High and low determine one another；
Pitch and mode give harmony to one another；
Front and back give sequence to one another’

Pitch and mode音聲

Therefore the Sage relies on actionless activity, Carries on wordless teaching。
But the myriad creatures are worked upon by him; he does not disown them.
He rears them, but does not lay claim to them,
Controls them, but does not lean upon them,
Achieves his aim, but does not call attention to what he does;
And for the very reason that he does not call attention to what he does He is not ejected from fruition of what he has done.

英文不夠力，但覺得He is not ejected from fruition of what he has done.翻譯的不太好。 因夫唯弗居，是以不去的原因前麵也說了，是因為天下皆知美之為美，斯惡已。故此道家創造不占有，成功不自居。

第三章

If we stop looking for “persons of superior morality” (hsien) to put in power, there will be no more jealousies among the people.
If we cease to set store by products that are hard to get, there will be no more thieves.
If the people never see such things as excite desire, their hearts will remain placid and undisturbed.

好些生詞。placid，google翻譯成波瀾不驚

Therefore the Sage rules
By emptying their hearts
And filling their bellies
Weakening their intelligence
And toughening their sinews

虛心實腹，當然很難翻譯。故此亞視《八仙過海》電視鐵拐李說不是可以用語言來形容的。

不過前帖東遊記時東華傳道鍾離說的很好，值得貼在此處。

何謂虛心實腹？心者，吾身之主，念其本來，洞洞空空，原無一物；自人累於物欲，而虛者始實，必卻其欲，反其原，則虛者虛,而神在萬物之表。腹者精之關，究其始生，保合完固，毫無滲漏。自人嗜於美色，而實者始虛，必固其精，窒其欲，則實者常實，而精在不搖之天。二者完全，則老者可童，夭者可壽；可以身遊紫府，可以名書玉京，寧曰僅僅養生已哉。

另弱其誌翻譯成Weakening their intelligence，似不妥，譯意為弱其智了，可能用Weakening their Ambition更佳。

Ever striving to make the people knowledgeless and desireless.
Indeed he sees to it that if there be any who have knowledge, they dare not interfere.
Yet through his actionless activity all things are duly regulated.

西方社會製度挺追求duly regulated。但也沒有采用完全的actionless activity。

所謂上法下道。有識之士製定好並逐步完善社會係統框架的過程中，上以法家之嚴謹以監管政府，下以道家之無為而不擾百姓。

今日暫讀三章。