中国文化典籍英语翻译及赏析10：庄周论道《庄子》

介绍庄子的英文作文英文：As a philosopher from ancient China, Zhuangzi (also known as Chuang Tzu) is widely recognized as one of the most important figures in Chinese philosophy. His philosophy focuses on the concept of Dao, which refers to the natural way of the universe. In Zhuangzi's view, humans should not try to change or control the Dao, but rather should embrace it and live in harmony with it.One of the most famous stories from Zhuangzi's philosophy is the story of the butterfly dream. In this story, Zhuangzi dreams that he is a butterfly, but when he wakes up, he is not sure if he is a man who dreamed he was a butterfly or a butterfly who is now dreaming he is a man. This story illustrates Zhuangzi's belief that reality is subjective and that we should not cling too tightly to our own perceptions of the world.Another important aspect of Zhuangzi's philosophy is his emphasis on individual freedom and spontaneity. He believed that individuals should not be constrained by societal norms or expectations, but should instead follow their own inner nature and desires. This idea is expressed in the famous quote, "The perfect man employs his mind as a mirror; it grasps nothing; it refuses nothing; it receives, but does not keep."Zhuangzi's philosophy has had a profound impact on Chinese culture and continues to be studied and debated today. His ideas about the natural way of the universe and the importance of individual freedom and spontaneity have resonated with people throughout the centuries.中文：作为中国古代哲学家，庄子被广泛认为是中国哲学中最重要的人物之一。

西化的《庄子》——冯友兰英译《庄子》的分析一，冯友兰英译《庄子》的概况在冯友兰先生之前，已经有三位译者提供了《庄子》的英译本。

他们分别是： 1881年，巴尔弗（Frederic Henry Balfour）首次翻译了《庄子》的部分内容。

1889年，翟理斯(Herbert A. Giles)首次英译了全本的《庄子》并在伦敦出版，1926年进行修订以后，以《神秘主义者，道德家和社会改革者》为书名在纽约再版。

1891年理雅各（James Legge）的《庄子》英译连同《道德经》一起发表在米勒（Max Muller）主编的丛书《东方圣典》中。

冯友兰先生的《庄子》(内七篇)是该书的第四个英译本。

该译本于1931年由商务印书馆在上海出版，于1964年在纽约再版，1989年由外语出版社在北京重印。

1989年的重印本中，除了1931年的初版中的导言、内七篇的正文翻译（正文中穿插有郭象注的部分内容及少量译者注）、关于郭象哲学的一个附录以外，还多了冯友兰《中国哲学简史》第十章《道家的第三阶段：庄子》作为附录二，以帮助读者更好地理解庄子的文字与思想。

冯先生译《庄子》，有一个事实上的契机。

1925年年底，冯先生在燕京大学任哲学教授之时，兼课于一所华语学校，介绍中国文化，每周一次讲《庄子》。

这本《庄子》内七篇的英译，就是上课所用的读本。

授课需要是冯先生重译庄子最直接的一个原因，但并不是惟一的原因，也不是最重要的原因。

这之前的几个译本，冯先生并非不知晓，也并非见不到：他在译序中明确地表达了对以前译本的评价，并声明参考了之前译本的某些成果。

那么，冯先生不用前人的译本，不辞辛劳进行重译，原因何在？冯先生在译者导言中作了一番解释：“翻译是一种解释与评论。

就目前的《庄子》英译本而言，从文学或语言学的角度来说或许是好的，有用的，然而在解释《庄子》一书时，这些译本似乎并未触及作者真正的哲学精神。

……看来我们更需要一本更注重庄子之哲学思想的译本。

⽆忧考英⽂写作翻译频道为⼤家整理的经典名著英⽂翻译庄⼦语录中英双语，供⼤家参考:)故⽈，⾄⼈⽆⼰，神⼈⽆功，圣⼈⽆名。

——《庄⼦》内篇《逍遥游》Therefore, as the saying goes, “The perfect man cares for no self; the holy man cares for no merit; the sage cares for no name.”——Wandering in Absolute Freedom, Inner Chapters,ZhuangZiEnglish Translation By Wang Rongpei⼤知闲闲，⼩知间间；⼤⾔炎炎，⼩⾔詹詹。

——《庄⼦》《齐物论》Men of great wits are open and broad-minded; men of small wits are mean and meticulous. Men of great eloquence speak with arrogance; men of small eloquence speak without a point.——On the Uniformity of All Things, ZhuangZiEnglish Translation By Wang Rongpei可呼可，不可呼不可。

道⾏之⽽成，物谓之⽽然。

恶呼然？然于然。

恶呼不然，不然于不然。

物固有所然，物固有所可。

⽆物不然，⽆物不可。

——《庄⼦》《齐物论》Something is approved because we approve it; something is disapproved because we disapprove it. A path is formed because we walk on it; a thing has a name because we call it so. When something is approved, there are reason to approve it; when something is disapproved, there are reasons to disapprove it. When something is like this, there are reasons for it to be like this; when something is not like this, there are reasons for it to be not like this. Why is is like this? Because it is like this. Why is is not like this? Because it is not like this. Since something is approved, why should it be disapproved? Womethkng is disapproved only when it is diaapproved. It is inherent in everything that it should be approved. Nothing should not belike this; nothing should not be approved.——On the Uniformity of All Things ,,ZhuangZiEnglish Translation By Wang Rongpei为善⽆近名，为恶⽆近刑。

CHAPTER 10 THE THIRD PHASE OF TAOISM: CHUANG TZU第十章道家第三阶段：庄子CHUANG CHOU, better known as Chuang Tzu (c. 369-c. 286), is perhaps the greatest of the early Taoists. We know little of his life save that he was a native of the little state of Meng on the border between the present Shantung and Honan provinces, where he lived a hermit's life, but was nevertheless famous for his ideas and writings. It is said that King Wei of Ch'u, having heard his name, once sent messengers with gifts to invite him to his state, promising to make him chief minister. Chuang Tzu, however, merely laughed and saidto them: "...Go away, do not defile me....I prefer the enjoyment of my own free will. "(Historical Records, ch. 63.)庄子（公元前约369一前约286年），姓庄，名周，可算是先秦的最大的道家。

他的生平，我们知之甚少。

只知道他是很小的蒙国（位于今山东省、河南省交界）人，在那里过着隐士生活，可是他的思想和著作当时就很出名。

Watson《庄子》英译本评析王建荣（北京交通大学人文社会科学学院，北京 100044）摘要：本文就Watson《庄子》英译本展开评析，从哲学思想的传递，语言、文化差异的处理，语言风格的去留等角度，探讨该译本较为妥贴得体的处理方式和可供译者借鉴的翻译方法。

关键词：《庄子》；Watson英译本；哲学思想；语言文化差异 ；语言风格1. 引言《庄子》作为中国文化史上的哲学经典和文学瑰宝，不断有各种文字的译本将它介绍给世界各国读者欣赏。

就英译本而言，全译本、选译本就有十几种。

第一部全英译本Chuang Tzu: Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer由英国十九世纪著名汉学家Herbert A. Giles完成。

该译本过分自由，与原意有较大出入，维多利亚时代的语言风格读来也显冗长乏味。

1891年，牛津大学出版了James Legge的The Writings of Kwang-Kau全译本。

译者深厚的中文经典研究功力赋予该译本一定的权威，只是译文不免过分拘泥于原文，几近逐字翻译。

国内常见的是冯友兰的译本，只包括内篇。

该译本加入了晋人郭象的注疏，很好地传达了《庄子》的哲学思想。

其他一些译本在此不一一列举。

尽管这些译本各有千秋，其中最受好评的总少不了The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu（《庄子全译》），1968年由哥伦比亚大学出版社出版，译者Burton Watson还翻译过《韩非子》、《墨子》和《荀子》选译本。

翻译家奈达说：“所谓翻译，是指从语义到文体在译语中用最切近而又最自然的对等语再现原语的信息”（谭载喜，1984）。

翻译《庄子》，不仅语义上要求传达原文复杂博大的思想体系，文体上还要体现原文自由不羁的浪漫风格。

Watson的《庄子全译》版本运用通顺流畅的现代英语，忠实贴切地传达了原文哲学内容，较好地处理了两种语言间存在的文化差异，同时译者在保存《庄子》原文独到的语言风格方面，又颇有办法，不仅有诗化的语言、各种语音修辞手段，还适度起用口头语言以实现人物对话的听觉效果。

ERNEST RICHARD HUGHES, born in London, 5th January 1883. M.A., Oxon.Missionary in the interior of China, 1911-29. In Shanghai, 1929 – 31. Reader inChinese Religion and Philosophy in Oxford University, 1934-41; seconded toChungking, 1942. Books include The invasion of China by the Western World,1937.CHINESE PHILOSOPHY INCLASSICAL TIMESEdited and Translated byE. A. HUGHESLONDON: J. M. DENT & SONS LTD.NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. INC.First published 1942Last reprinted 1944Chapter 1. Excursions into Freedom.In the Northern Ocean there is a fish, its name the Kun [Leviathan], its size I know nothow many li. 1 By metamorphosis it becomes a bird called the P‟eng […Roc‟], with a back Iknow not how many li in extent. When it rouses itself and.flies, its wings darken the skylike clouds. With the sea in motion this bird transports itself to the Southern Ocean, theLake of Heaven. In the words of Ch‟i Hsieh, a recorder of marvels, …When the P‟eng transports itself to the Southern Ocean, it thrashes the water for three thousand li, and mounts in a whirlwind to the height of ninety thousand li, and flies continuously for six months before it comes to rest.‟A mote in a sunbeam (that in one sense is all that this1 Li –the Chinese mile, roughly a third of the English mile. 165166 TAO EXPERTSvast Roc is): flying dust which living creatures breathe- in and out! And that blueness ofthe sky! Is it an actual colour, or is it the measureless depth of the heavens which we gazeat from below and see a s …blue,‟ just like that and nothing more? Again take water, withoutthe dense accumulation of which there is no power for the floating of a great ship. And (think of) a cup of water upset in a corner of the hall. A tiny mustard seed becomes a ship (afloat), but the cup which held the water will remain aground because of the shallownessof the water and the size of the cup as a ship.So with the accumulation of wind, without sufficient density 1 it has no power to floathuge wings. Thus it is that the P‟eng has to rise ninety thousand li and cut off the wind beneath if. Then and not before, the bird, borne up by the down-pressed wind, floats in theazure heavens with secure support. Then and not before, it can start on its journey south.A cicada and a young dove giggled together over the P‟eng. The cicada said, …When weexert ourselves to fly up on to the tall elms, we sometimes fail to get there and are pulledback to the ground; and that is that. Why then should any one mount up ninety thousand liin order to go south?‟ Well, the man who goes out to the grassy country near by takes onlythree meals with him and comes back with his stomach well filled. But the man who has totravel a hundred li grinds flour for one night on the way; and the man who has to travel a thousand li requires food for three months. These two little creatures (the cicada and the dove), what can they know?Small knowledge is not equal to great knowledge, just as a short life is not equal to along one. How do we know this to be so? The mushroom with one brief morning‟s existence has no knowledge of the duration of a month. The chrysalis knows nothing of thespring and the. autumn. This is due to their short life. In the south of Ch‟u State1 …Density‟ seems the only word to represent t he Chinese. This is an admirable example of the realistic way in which a reallygreat poet‟s imagination works.CHUANG CHOU 167there is a Ming-ling tree whose springs and autumns make five hundred years. In theold days there was a Ta-ch‟un tree whose sp rings and autumns made eight thousandyears. Right down to the present Grandfather P‟eng 1 is famed for his immense age –although if all man matched him, how wretched they would be!...A variant version of the story of the Leviathan and the Roc is here given, winding upwith a quail laughing at the P‟eng and describing its flight among the bushes as …theperfection of flight.‟ Chuang Chou says that this is due to the difference between smalland great. He then continues:Thus it is that the knowledge of some men qualifies them for a small office and foreffecting unity in one district, whilst the moral power of another man fits him to be aruler and proves itself throughout a whole country. These men have a view ofthemselves which is like the quail‟s vie w of himself.On the other hand, Master Yung of Sung State just laughs at these men. If the wholeworld should admire or criticize him, he would neither be encouraged nor discouraged.Having determined the difference between what is intrinsic and what extrinsic, hedisputed the accepted boundaries of honour and dishonour. In this he was himself, andthere are very few such men in the world. Nevertheless he was not really rooted.Take Master Lieh. He could drive the wind as a team and go, borne aloft, away forfifteen days before returning. Such a man attains a happiness which few possess. Yet inthis, although he had no need to walk, there was still something on which he-wasdependent [viz. the wind]..Sup-posing, however, that he were borne on the normalityof the heavens and earth, driving a team of the six elements in their changes, and thuswandered freely in infinity-eternity, would there be anything then on which he wasdependent?Thus it is that I say, …The perfect man has no self, the spirit-endowed man noachievements, the sage no reputation.‟1 The Methuselah of Chinese tradition.168 TAO EXPERTS(The Emptiness of Fame.)Take the Sage-king Yao, who wished to abdicate his throne in favour of the recluse HsuYu. Yao said, …When the sun or the moon i s shining, if you should keep a torch alight, itsurely would be difficult for it to give light. When the seasonal rain is falling, if you shouldkeep on watering the ground, that would surely be waste of labour. Do you, my Teacher, establish yourself on the throne and the Great Society will be ordered. I am but a dead body. I see myself as incompetent. Pray then, reach out for the Great Society.‟Hsu Yu replied, …You, Sire, in ordering the Great Society have brought it to perfect order. If I should now take your place, it surely would be only for fame. But fame is onlythe transient part of the actual. Am I to act for a transient end? The tit builds its nest in thedeep forest, but that nest takes up no more room than a twig. The tapir drinks from a greatriver, but it only fills its belly. Return and take your kingship easily. For my part there is noway by which I can be of use to the Great Society. If a cook cannot cope with his kitchen'(and prepare the sacrificial meats), the impersonator of the dead or the liturgist in the halldoes not seize the cups and stand and take the cook‟s place.‟(The Spiritual Man and the Inability of the Non-spiritualto understand him.)Chien Wu [an inquirer about the Taoist Way] inquiredfrom Lien Shu, saying, …I heard Chi eh Yu say somethingwhich went too far and is not really true. It carried oneout, but did not bring one back, so its likeness to the bound-less Milky Way frightened me. It was grossly deceptive,removed from human experience.... He said that aspirit man lived on the Miao-ku-she mountain. His fleshand skin were like ice and snow: his delicate grace like agirl‟s. His food was not that of ordinary men, for hebreathed in the wind and drank the dew. He mounted theCHUANG CHOU 169clouds in the air and drove a team of flying dragons, wandering out beyond the Four Seas.His spirit was congealed. Yet he delivered living things from corruption and every yearmade the crops ripen. For me this was a wild tale, and I did not believe him.‟…So,‟ said Lien Shu, …th e blind man has no conception of the beauty of art, nor the deafman of the music of the bells and drums. Blindness and deafness are by no means confinedto material things. These defects also exist in relation to things of the mind pit. to knowledge], and these words of yours make it appear that you are defective in this way.The virtue in that spirit man is such that all things are of little worth to him: they are all oneto him. The world may be anxious to be governed: but why should he bother himself about society? That man, nothing can injure him. If there were a flood reaching to the sky, he would not be drowned. If there were a great drought and the metals and stones becameliquid and the soil of the mountains were burnt up, he would not be hot. Why, the very refuse of his body would serve to manufacture a great sage-emperor.(How Greater Knowledge changes a Man‟s Sense of Values.)A man of Sung State took some sacrificial caps to the State of Yueh 1 to sell. But the people of Yueh wore their hair short and adorned their bodies [? when they sacrificed], sothat they had no use for the caps. In the same way the Sage-king Yao, who ruled the peoples of the Great Society and who had brought peace to all within the Four Seas, wentto see the Four Masters of Miao-ku-she mountain. On his return to his capital, his Great Society no longer existed for him.(The sophist) Master Hui 2 in conversation with Master Chung said, …The King of Weisent me the seed of a great gourd. I planted it and the result was a gourd as big as g five-bushel measure. When I used it for holding water, it1 Yueh was a country on the borders of Chinese civilization,2 This is Hui Shih, who is dealt with in PartFour, Chapter IX,170 TAO EXPERTSwas not rigid enough to bear lifting. If I had cut it up tomake ladles, they would have been too shallow for thepurpose. There was indeed no purpose for which it wasnot too big, so I broke it to pieces as useless.‟Master Chuang said, …Sir, you were stupid over the useof big things. For example, there was a man of SungState who possessed a salve which healed chapped hands.His family, one generation after another, had been washersof silk. A stranger who had heard of this salve overed hima hundred ounces of gold for it. The clan, when calledtogether to consider tne matter, said, “We have been wash-ing silk for generations and have only made a few ouncesof gold. Now in one morning we can make a hundredounces. Let us sell the salve.” The stranger, havingobtained the salve, went and told the King of Wu, who washaving trouble with Yueh State and had made the un-known man commander of his ships. He engaged the menof Yueh in winter time [when hands get chapped], and inthe battle on the water he defeated the Yueh forces. 'Forthis he was rewarded with land and made a noble. The- ability to heal chapped hands was in both cases the same,but in the one case it meant a title of nobility, in the otherit meant being tied down to washing silk. The differencelay in the way of using the salve. Now, Master Hui, youpossessed a gourd as big as a five-bushel measure. Whythen did you not consider it as a huge cup in which youcould float on the rivers and lakes? instead of which youwere distressed that it was too shallow to be a ladle. Theconclusion, sir, is that it looks as if you had a dull mind,doesn‟t it?‟Master Hui said, …I have a huge tree.... Its greattrunk is so knobby and its small branches so twisted thatyou cannot put the measuring tools square on them. Itstands by the public road, but no carpenter casts a glanceat it. Now, Master Chuang; your words are big but ofno use. Every one agrees in rejecting them.‟Master Chuang said, …Have you never seen a wild cat, itsbody crouching low as it waits for its prey? It springs fromCHUANG CHOU 171this side to that, now high, now low – end it gets caught in a trap and dies in a net! There is the yak, so big that it looms over one like a cloud in the sky. That is being really big; and yet it is no use for catching mice. Now, sir, you have a huge tree and you are distressed because it is of no use. Why do you not plant it in the village of non-exis-tence, in the open country of nothingness. Beside it you could wander in inaction; and beneath it you could befree to sleep. No axe would cut it down, nothing would injure it, for there would be no purpose for which it might be used. Would you not be free from trouble then?‟Chapter 2. The (Inner) Harmony of (Opposing) Things. 1Tzu Ch‟i, a man from Nan Kuo, leant against a low table as he sat on the ground. Helooked up to heaven, and his breath died down. Without a sound he seemed to lose hispartnership (of soul and body). Yen Ch‟eng Tzu Yu, who was standing before him inattendance, said, …How is this, that you can make your body like a sapless tree and yourmind like dead ashes? At this moment the person leaning against the table is not the personwho was leaning against it before.‟Tzu Ch‟i said, …Yen, this is a good question you are asking. At the moment, you mustunderstand, my self was gone clean away. You have listened to the music which manmakes, but you have not listened to the music of the earth; or you may have listened to themusic of the earth, but you have not listened to the music of Heaven.‟Tzu Yu said, …May I ask you for an explanation of this?‟Tzu Ch‟i said, …The great mass of breath (in the atmosphere) is,called the wind. Thereare times when the wind does not move. When it does move, a myriad apertures arearoused to make sounds. Have you never listened to the liao liao of the wind? You knowthe cavities and holes in the rugged heights of the mountains and the woods – with trees ahundred spans in girth. There are, as it were,1 …Things‟ in this chapter, as often elsewhere, includes not only things in Nature, but also institutions and ideas of every kind.172 TAO EXPERTSnoses and mouths and ears, square sockets and round depressions, mortars and ditches andpools. So there is a roaring and a snoring, a whistling and a sizzling, a howling and ayowling. The wind dies down and there is a tiny melody: it comes at full blast and there isa great diapason. There is a lull and every hole is devoid of sound....‟Tzu Yu said, …Since the music of the earth is just a matter of all kinds of holes, andhuman music a matter of pipes, may I ask what the music of Heaven is?‟Tzu Ch‟i said, …All this blowing varies in a myriad ways. Who then can there be whoexcites all this and makes each way be itself and all of them be self-produced?‟(Supreme Knowledge and Partial Knowledge, and theConditions under which they arise.)Great knowledge includes everything: small knowledge is restricted. Great speech hasno pungency to it: small speech (may be pungent but) it is just chatter.Whether men are asleep and soul has communion with soul, or whether they are awakeand the body is freed and its contacts are the basis of intercourse, the mind is day by dayengaged in struggle. There are indecisions, grief', reservations, small fears giving rise toperturbation, great fears giving rise to recklessness.Consider the mind. In some men it shoots forth like a bolt from a cross-bow, assumingmastery of right and wrong. In others it holds back, merely guarding (the opinions) theyhave won. In others it decays like the decline of the year, in other words, day by daycrumbling away to nothing. In others it is sunk in creaturely activity from which it cannotbe drawn back. In others it is sealed with hates, in other words like an old drain (chokedwith muck). Thus the mind has one foot in the grave, and there is no way of reviving it [lit.bringing it back to the light of the sun].(Consider the emotions.) Joy and anger, sorrow and delight, anxiety and regret, the fireof sex passion 1 and the1 Emending the character pien to luan.CHUANG CHOU 173(subsequent) feeling of contentment: evanescent moods, like the music coming fromemptiness, like mushrooms coming from damp heat. Day and night alternate beforeour eyes, and there is no knowing what they may bring forth. (An emotion) gone, isgone, and to-morrow can by no means 1 reproduce it.What is the cause of the emotions? It is near to the truth to say that without themthere is no …I,‟ and without an …I‟ they have nothing to take hold of. But we areignorant as to what makes this so. There must be a True Lord, but we are least ableto discover traces of His existence. We may act in the belief that He exists, but wecannot see His form, for the Reality. that exists has no form.(Consider the body and its parts,) its nine apertures and six internal organs, all in their places. Which of them shall we like best? Or are we to be pleased with them allalike? (As a matter of fact) each has its personal function, and thus all are in theposition of servants: is that not so? As servants they have not the power to controleach other: is that not so? Then can they take turn and turn about in being master andservant? (As a matter of fact) they have a tru e ruler in his place [viz. the …I‟]; andwhether they try or not to find out his reality does not add to or subtract from thetruth about him.Once this …I‟ has received its complete form and so long as it awaits the completion of its span, it cannot be nonexistent. But as it rubs and fights against thematerial world it is moving towards this completion with the speed of a gallopinghorse; and nothing can stop this. Alas, alas, to be throughout one‟s life dispatched onservice, but to see no achievement co ming from it! To be wearied with one‟s serviceand not to know what is its final object! Surely we are right in lamenting this. Andnothing is gained by men affirming that there is no physical death. The bodydecomposes, and the mind decomposes with it. And surely we are right in alarmingthat this is supremely1 Emending mu to mo.174 TAO EXPERTSlamentable. Thus man's life is like a passing dream, 1 is it not? Unless it be that I alone am dreaming and other men are not dreaming.Men follow the dictates of their made-up minds, and there is no one who does not dothis. But how can a priori knowledge take the place of the mind choosing for itself? Thisdoes happen, but it is the ignorant who allow it to happen. To make the distinction betweenright and wron g apart from the making up of the mind is equivalent to …going to Yueh to-day and arriving there in the past.‟ 2 It amounts to making nothing be something.. But if nothing can be something, even a divine Yu 3 could not have knowledge, and there wouldbe nothing we could do about it.Take speech. It is not just an emission of breath. The man who speaks has something tosay, and what he has to say is by no means absolutely predetermined [i.e. apart from the speaker]. Are we to infer that the words exist (waiting to be said) or that they do not existuntil they are said? And this is a question of whether we can prove a distinction between human speech and the chirping of fledgelings.The question has to be asked: how the Tao becomes obscured so that there is the distinction of true and false. Also, how is speech obscured so that there is the distinction ofright and wrong? The Tao cannot go away (for a moment) and cease to be here; neith”r canwords be here [i.e. have been spoken] and be impossible. The obscuring of the Tao is in relation to one-sided thinking, and the obscuring of speech is in relation to the embroideryof eloquence. Thus it is that there are the distinctions of right and wrong made by the Confucianists and the Mohists, the one affirming what the other denies, and denying whatthe other affirms. If then we want to affirm what they (both) deny and deny what they affirm, there is no other way than that of a clearer understanding.1 Emending the character man to meng.2 The famous paradox by Hui Shih. Cp. Part Four, Chapter IX.3 The Sage-king Yu;CHUANG CHOU 175(We have to realize that) a thing is both a …That‟ and a …Tis,‟ and it cannot see itself as a …That.‟ If you know yourself, then you know. (Otherwise you do not know.) Thus it is thatI mai ntain that the …That‟ proceeds from the …This,‟ also that the …This‟ is linked to the …That.‟ The' …That‟ and the …This‟ together, life interpreted under conditions (of time)!After all, now there is life, now death; now death, now life. What is possible at one time is impossible at another: arid what is impossible at one time is possible at another. Beinglinked to the right is being linked to the wrong, and being linked to the wrong is beinglinked to the right. That is why the sages do not follow these distinctions and Co become enlightened by Heaven, 1 and are linked to the …This.‟(As has already been stated) a …This‟ is also a …That,‟ and a …That‟ is also a …This.‟ Thenin addition, a …That,‟ as also a …This,‟ is equally affirmable and deniable, with t he resultthat we cannot infer either that they exist, or that they do not exist. Do not let them get tothe point of being a pair of opposites. This is called (reaching) the axis of the Tao; for anaxis from the outset is in position at the centre of a circle and meets the requirements ofevery change endlessly. Since both the right and the wrong are endlessly (changing), therefore I maintain that there is no other way than that of illumination....The possibility of the possible and the impossibility of the impossible – it is the Tao in action which brings this about. Thus a thing is described as being so [i.e. what it is]. How is it just what it is? Through the so-ness in its being just what it is. How is it not what it is? Through the not-so-ness in its being just so. A thing never varies in having what makes it what it is, nor in having what makes it possible. There is not anything which is not what it is, nor which is impossible. Thus it is that there are roof-slats alongside of solid pillars, ugliness alongside of beauty, and to be great [kuei], to alter [kuei], to flatter [kuei], to be1 T’ien, the transcendental side to Nature,176 TAO EXPERTS marvellous [kuei]; 1 all these through Tao have the unity of mutual interpenetration. For a thing to be separated out (from the mass) is for it to become a thing. For it to become a (complete) thing is for it to de-become. Every single thing both becomes and de-becomes, 2 both processes being to and fro in the unity of mutual interpenetration.Only the man of all-embracing intelligence knows this unity of mutual interpenetration. Because he has this intelligence, he cannot be made use of but takes up his abode in its common functioning. His functioning has utility, for to be of (real) use is to interpenetrate and be interpenetrated; and to penetrate and be interpenetrated is to achieve. To arrive at achievement is about all a man can do. Following on from that comes stopping; and to stop without knowing that one is stopping that is – Tao.For a man to wear out his spirit and intelligence in an effort to make a unity of things, and to be ignorant of the fact that they are in agreement, this is to be described by …The Morning Three.‟ What do I mean by that? Well, there was a certain monkey-keeper who had charge of their diet of acorns. He ordered three in the morning and four at night for each one. The monkeys were all angry about this. The keeper said, …Very well, then, you can have four in the morning and three at night.‟ The monkeys were all pleased. Thus in name there was actually no change for the worse, whilst scope was given to feelings of pleasure and anger and the arrangement was in conformity with those feelings. It is in this way that sages by means of the surface distinctions of …the right‟ and …the wrong‟make harmony, and yet take their ease in Heaven‟s levelling out. By levelling out I mean going two ways at once.1 The modern pronunciation of these four characters given here as kueiis as follows: k’uei, kuei, ch’ueh, and kuai. The traditional rhyme of thefirst is k’uei. Chuang Chou‟s selection of these four somewhat unconnect-able concepts here is with a view to showing that there must be someconnection since the ideographs exist and, what is more, are expressed bythe same sound in speech. N.B.–I have no reason to suppose that thatsound was actually kuei, but it must have been something like it.2 The text is emended, a pu being added to the wei to make a doublenegative. Without this sense seems hardly possible.CHUANG CHOU 177 The knowledge which the men of old had was perfect in one respect. How this was so, is as follows. There were men who held that before there began to be (so many) things (in the world), that was perfection, a state of completion to which nothing could be added. Then there came a second stage in which there were a large number of things, but they had not begun to be carefully differentiated. Next to this came a stage when things were differentiated, but there had not begun to be a distinction between right (things) and wrong (things). This ornamentation (of things) as right and wrong was the process which brought about the waning of the Tao in the world, and the same process brought about the rise of personal preference. And it is equally out of the question to infer either that there really is progress and regress or that there is not. If we say there is, it is a case of …Chao‟s fine playing of the lute.‟ If we say there is not, it is a case of …Chao‟s inability to play the lute.‟ 1 Chao Wen‟s playing and Shih Huang‟s wielding of the conductor‟s baton and Master Hui‟s leaning against a Wu tree: the three experts‟ knowledge was just more or less. Hence each went on till the last year of his life; but it was only they who prized their knowledge and regarded it as extraordinary c ompared to any one else‟s. Because they prized it they wanted to enlighten people with it. But other people were opposed to their enlightening and enlightening. The result was the confusion worse confounded of Master Hui‟s argument about hardness and whiteness –his son (you know) tried for his whole life to reach the conclusion of the argument and failed. If that is the meaning of progress, then I too (in this argument) am adding to the progress. If, however, it may not be described as progress, then there is no progress, not even with me (and my arguing!). These are the reasons why sages aim at the glorious light which comes from slippery doubts. It is why they cannot be used and on the contrary make1 Chao Wen is said to have been a music master in Cheng State. The reference here seems to be to a dividedopinion about him, some, including himself, saying he was a fine player, and some that he was not.178 TAO EXPERTStheir abode in common functioning. I describe this as increasing one‟s intelligence.I will illustrate. Here are some words, and I do not know whether they are classifiable ornot as right – for any things to -be classifiable and not classifiable is for them together tomake a new class, and then they are in the same position as the other classified things. However that may be, allow me to try and say what I want to say. Since there is such athing as the beginning, there is also such a thing as a beginning before the beginning, andthere is also such a thing as a beginning to before the beginning to before the beginning.Since there is such a thing as something, there is also such a thing as nothing; and then,since there is such a thing as before the beginning of something and nothing, there is alsosuch a thing as a beginning to before the beginning of something and nothing. There we are!And I do not know which of the two, something and nothing, is something and which is nothing. Coming to myself and what I have just described, presumably it is a description of something, but I do not know whether it is really something or whether it is really nothing.(It has been argued that) 1 …in the world of our experience (there is a sense in which)there is nothing bigger than the tip of a new-grown hair, whilst a great mountain is a tiny thing: that there is no greater age than that of a baby cut off in infancy, whilst GrandfatherP‟eng (with his 700 years) died in his youth: that heaven and earth were born at the sametime that I was, and so all things in nature arid I are one and the same thing.‟ Sin ce they areone, you can still find words to express it, can you? 2 And since it has been expressed, canit still be unexpressed? …One plus the words about it makes two, and two plus the oneness(of the two) makes three.‟ If we go on like this, even the cl everest reckoner breaks down:and how much more the ordinary run of men!1 There follow quotations from Master Hui and his fellow sophists.2 Chuang Chou‟s position is that the use of words invariably involvescomparison.CHUANG CHOU 179Thus it is that by going on from nothing to something we arrive at three. Howmuch more if we go on from something to something! Don‟t let us go on! Let usstop here!The Tao has never begun to have mutually exclusive distinctions. Words, on the other hand, have never begun to have permanency. Because this is so there are linesof division. With your permission I will mention them. The left involves the right.Reasoned statements (about a thing being on the left or the right, etc. etc.) involvejudgments. Then divisions of opinion involve arguments. Then controversiesinvolve quarrels. These may be called the Eight To-and-Fro‟s. 1 What is beyond theworld of space, the sage holds within himself, but he does not reason about it. Whatis within the world of space he reasons about, but he does not make any judgmenton it. About the annals and the records of past kings he makes a judgment, but hedoes not argue, with the result that division of opinion is not really division ofopinion, nor arguing really arguing. How that comes about is by reason of the sageembracing all things. The mass of men argue with a view to demonstrating to eachother; which is why I say that arguing is not a revealing process.The supreme 2 Tao cannot be talked about, and the supreme 2 argument does not require speech. (So also) supreme benevolence is not just being charitable, supremepurity not just being disinterested, and supreme courage not just brute violence. Ifthe Tao were to glitter, it would not be the Tao. The speech which argues comesshort of what it might be. The benevolence that is stereotyped does not succeed.The purity that is flawless does not engage confidence. The courage that isabsolutely unyielding defeats its own end....Thus it is that he who knows how to stop at what he doesnot know is perfect. ‟Who can know the argument which is not put into speech andthe Tao that has no name? If1 Emending the text as Ma Hsu-lun suggests.2 The character ta (big) in many contexts' conveys the impression of meaning authoritative or transcendent.180 TAO EXPERTSthere should be the ability to know' in this way, this knowledge might be described as 'theStore of Heaven.‟ Pour into it and it does not overflow. Pour out from it and it does not become empty. It does not know the source of its k nowing. This is the meaning of …storingup the light.‟。

中英文对照版《庄子》《庄子》是中国古代的一部重要哲学著作，反映了庄子的思想观点和哲学思考。

本文将对《庄子》进行中英文对照，以帮助读者更好地理解庄子的思想。

庄子主张道家思想，认为人应该追求自由自在、超越世俗的生活境界。

他提出了很多有关人生、自由、自然等的理念，通过寓言和故事的形式进行阐述。

下面是《庄子》中的一些经典句子与英文翻译：1. 人之生也，固若是卵矣。

既生而蒙化，孰知其濯濯然无尽之有余哉？（人生如卵，生而蒙昧，谁能了解其中的无尽奥秘？）2. 滑以使其蒸之也，蒸之不得其类也。

呜呼！山木犹则欣以为鸣；泉水犹则欣以为泠；则爱且知止之而不敢进也。

与物相刃相靡，其行尽如厕焉，其斯之谓与？（用火滑石使其蒸熟，蒸熟后失去了本来的味道。

啊！山中的木材被制作为乐器才能欢声鸣远；泉水被喝之后才能滋润人体。

是爱物而知足而不敢过分前进。

与物的反抗相绞相缠，它的行动完全像上厕所，就是这样的意思。

）3. 道生之，德畜之，物形之，势成之。

是以万物莫不尊道而贵德，道之尊，德之贵，夫莫之命而常自然。

故道生之、德畜之；长之育之；亭之毒之；养之育之；成之覆之。

是谓微明。

（道生一切，德养育一切，物有形态，势必形成。

因此，万物无不敬重道德，道的尊贵，德的价值，无人命令而自然保持。

所以道生之，德养育之；使之成长，滋养它；治理适度，削弱它；抚养它，培养它；让它形成以后，覆盖它。

这就是所谓的微明。

）通过对《庄子》的中英文对照，我们可以更深入地了解庄子思想的内涵和表达方式。

希望这份文档能够帮助读者更好地理解和欣赏《庄子》这一伟大的哲学著作。

watson《庄子》英译本评析多年来国内外的庄学研究，已经取得了可喜的成果。

越来越多的外国学者开始注意到《庄子》这部古老而又厚重的作品，认为它有着深厚的哲理内涵，值得从各个角度去加以解读，尤其是对于哲学、美学、文学等的意义有待进一步挖掘。

笔者曾经读过几种英译本的《庄子》，但感觉都不太理想。

作为一名学者，特别是从事古代典籍翻译工作的学者，最需要做的就是将我们民族优秀的文化瑰宝介绍给世界，希望更多的人能够关注和喜欢中国文化。

这些年来我国与国外的出版机构合作，陆续出版了几种汉译英《庄子》英文版。

第一种是杨伯峻先生主持翻译的，共四卷十册，已经由河北教育出版社出版。

但中国传统文化在国外大都是西方哲学思想的对应物，即使是英语国家也并非如此。

即使在中国传统文化比较发达的国家如日本，《庄子》也难以挤身文学殿堂。

有鉴于此，我们考虑将国外最新的庄子研究成果翻译介绍到国内，以促进中国的庄学研究走向深入，这里就不得不提到美国学者watson（于子肃）的《庄子：他的宇宙》。

这是一部与《庄子》有关的、以介绍《庄子》及庄学为目的的、包括注释、译文和评论三部分内容的丛书，由十一本图书组成，自2004年问世以来已陆续出齐。

全书分上下两篇，每一卷还包含一个附录。

作者在开篇谈到了本书的编写宗旨：本书的编写在方法上将采用庄子所创立的独特体系；在格式上也以这个体系为基础，力求具体地体现出庄子的特色。

在翻译这部丛书的过程中，我们首先参考了这位学者的有关著作，然后在译文准确的基础上，结合中国人的思维习惯，逐字逐句地进行了翻译。

与其他的翻译著作相比，我们在翻译本书时遇到了很多困难，有的词汇不知道如何表达，也缺少恰当的例证，因此，原文中常有错误。

在此，我们特地把原书的序言和书末的译者说明奉献给读者，诚望读者能给予批评指正。