老子《道德經(jīng)》英譯第二十五章

　　【原文】

　　有物混成，先天地生。寂兮寥兮，獨(dú)立而不改，周行而不殆，可以為天地母。吾不知其名，強(qiáng)字之曰道，強(qiáng)為之名曰大。大曰逝，逝曰遠(yuǎn)，遠(yuǎn)曰反。

　　故道大，天大，地大，人亦大。域中有四大，而人居其一焉。

　　人法地，地法天，天法道，道法自然。

　　【現(xiàn)代漢語(yǔ)】

　　有一個(gè)渾然一體的東西，在天地形成以前就存在了。我們聽(tīng)不到它的聲音也看不到它的形體，他獨(dú)立長(zhǎng)存，永不衰竭，循環(huán)運(yùn)行而生生不息，可以為天地萬(wàn)物的根源。我不知道該如何稱(chēng)呼它，勉強(qiáng)稱(chēng)之為‘道’，再勉強(qiáng)形容它為‘大’。它廣大無(wú)邊而無(wú)所不在;它無(wú)所不在而伸展遙遠(yuǎn);伸展遙遠(yuǎn)而返回本原。

　　所以說(shuō)，道大，天大，地大，人也大。人便是宇宙空間中的這四大之一。

　　人應(yīng)取法于地，地則取法于天，天取法于道，道則自法其本來(lái)面目。

　　【英譯】

　　There was something undefined and complete, coming into existence before Heaven and Earth. How still it was and formless, standing alone, and undergoing no change, reaching everywhere and in no danger of being exhausted! It could be regarded as the Mother of all things.

　　I do not know how to name it, and I give it the designation of the Tao. Making an effort further to give it a image I call it The ‘Great’. Tao is so immeasurable that it is omnipresent; Tao is so omnipresent that it’s far-reaching; Tao is so far-reaching that it returns to its source in the end.

　　So, Tao is great; Heaven is great; Earth is great; and the human is also great. Human is the one of four great things in universe.

　　Human should take their law from the Earth; the Earth follows the trail of Heaven; the heaven follows the trail of Tao; the law of the Tao is its being what it is.