老子道德經(jīng)英譯第五章

　　天地不仁，以萬物為芻狗。圣人不仁，以百姓為芻狗。

　　天地之間，其猶橐(tuó)龠(yuè)乎?虛而不屈，動而愈出，多言數(shù)窮，不如守中。

　　【譯文】

　　天地無所偏愛，對世間萬物沒有好惡。萬物只是依照自然法則運行于天地之間。圣人效法天地的規(guī)律，對百姓沒有偏愛、成見，讓百姓自我發(fā)展。

　　天地之間就象一個風箱，內(nèi)部空虛卻又是無窮能量的源泉。

　　與其不斷地執(zhí)行繁雜苛刻的政令而加速敗亡，不如保持天地間虛靜、無為的狀態(tài)。

　　【英譯】

　　Heaven and earth have no any preference, likes and dislikes to temporal. Everything of the material world just goes according to the law of nature between the world. The sages always imitate the law of nature. They have no preference and prejudice to common people and make them develop themselves.

　　The space between heaven and earth is like a bellows. There is nothing in its inside. But it is the resources of infinite power.

　　For political affair managing, we should keep vacuous and non-action status rather than implement multifarious and rigorous orders. The latter will lead government and politics to decline.

　　【備注】

　　本章為了方便英譯，同時為了達到能讓英語使用者更容易理解，故很多專有名詞沒有直接翻譯。如“芻狗”、“橐”，“龠”，分別為祭祀用以草捆扎造型的狗、類似風箱功能的鼓風皮囊和一種古代管樂器，如對這些詞匯加以直譯再作解釋，反而會使英語讀者感到昏亂，故直接以其引申含義來表達。