老子《道德經(jīng)》英譯第十四章

　　【原文】

　　視之不見，名曰夷;聽之不聞，名曰希;搏之不得，名曰微。此三者不可致詰(jié)，故混而為一。其上不皦(jiǎo)，其下不昧。繩繩兮不可名，復(fù)歸于無物。是謂無狀之狀，無物之象，是謂惚恍。迎之不見其首，隨之不見其后。

　　執(zhí)古之道，以御今之有。能知古始，是謂道紀(jì)。

　　【現(xiàn)代漢語】

　　看它(‘道’)看不見，叫做‘夷(無形的實(shí)體)’;聽它卻聽不到，叫做‘希(無聲的聲音)’;摸它觸不著，叫做‘微(不可感知的存在)’。因?yàn)樗鼈兪腔鞛橐惑w的，所以我們很難準(zhǔn)確區(qū)別三者之間界限。它無所謂光明和黑暗，雖廣袤無邊卻不能名狀，它的運(yùn)動(dòng)生生不息，變化無窮，卻總是回歸初始。這就是無形的狀態(tài)，不可見的形象，若有若無，閃爍不定。向前看不到它的起點(diǎn)，向后看不到它的終點(diǎn)。

　　把握早已存在的‘道’的規(guī)律，來認(rèn)知現(xiàn)實(shí)世界的具體事物。能夠了解宇宙萬物的初始，就是‘道’的規(guī)律。

　　【英譯】

　　We look at it ('Tao'), and we can not see it, so we name it 'the superorganic esse'. We listen to it, and we can not hear it, so we name it 'the soundless voice'. We try to grasp it, and can not get hold of it, so we name it 'the impalpable existence'. It's difficult to estimate the borderline of these three qualities because they are blent together as one. It is not bright, nor yet is it dark. It's vast, but we can't describe its shape. It moves continually, but it again returns and becomes initial origin. This is called the Form of the Formless, and the sightless image. It always is flickering. Forward, we can not see its beginning; backward, we can not see its terminal.

　　We try to grasp the rule of long existence 'Tao' in order to cognize true-life concrete things. And then, we can learn the beginning of universe. This is called the clue of 'Tao'.