《道德經》中英文對照版(2)

第二章

　　天下皆知美之爲美，斯惡已；皆知善之爲善，斯不善已。

　　故有無相生，難易相成，長短相形，高下相傾，音聲相和，前後相隨。

　　是以聖人処無爲之事，行不言之教，萬物作焉而不辤，生而不有，爲而不恃，功成而弗居。夫唯弗居，是以不去。

　　Chapter2

　　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.

　　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".

　　Therefore[1] 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[2] 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.

　　[1]Because"action" can only make one thing high at the expense of making something else low， etc.

　　[2]Literally，"does not place （i.e.classify） himself as a victor". cf. MenciusⅡ， Ⅰ；