第四十一章
大象无形
原文上士闻道，勤而行之；中士闻道，若存若亡；下士闻道，大笑之。不笑不足以为道。故建言有之：明道若昧；进道若退；夷道若纇；上德若谷；广德若不足；建德若偷；质真若渝；大白若辱；大方无隅；大器晚成；大音希声；大象无形；道隐无名。夫唯道，善贷且成。
英译A Great Image Is Formless
Having heard of the divine law,
a good scholar tries to put it into practice,
a common scholar doubts it,
but a poor scholar laughs at it.
If not laughed at, it cannot be called the divine law.
Therefore, a wise man in ancient times said as follows,
the way to light seems dark;
the way forward seems to be backward;
the smooth way seems rough;
the high virtue is like a canyon;
the vast virtue seems insufficient;
the vigorous virtue seems weak;
the pure and simple virtue seems raw.
The whitest things contain dirt;
the squarest things have no edges nor corners;
the largest objects take the longest time to finish;
the loudest sound, however, sounds silent;
the greatest image, instead, has no shape.
In short, the divine law is invisible and nameless.
Only the divine law can make everything good
from the beginning to the end.
说明1、“上士”、“中士”和“下士”的英译
在古代，读书人统称为“士”。老子把“士”分成三等，叫做上士，中士和下士。“上士”是指具有上等智慧、悟性很高的读书人；“中士”的意思是比较有悟性，智慧不太高的读书人；“下士”是没有悟性、蠢笨的读书人。Arthur Waley译成“the man of highest capacities”、“the man of middling capacity”、“the man of low capacity”也基本体现“上士”、“中士”和“下士”的原意，但给人有点弯弯绕的感觉。辜正坤译成“the best scholar”、“the average scholar”、“the worst scholar”; 许渊冲译成“a good scholar”、“a common scholar”、“a poor scholar”。二位译者都把“士”译成“scholar（学者）”，只是“上”、“中”、 “下”的翻译不同，倒也基本符合原意。我们的译文与许渊冲的相同，简单、明了。
2、“广德若不足；建德若偷”的英译
对此句，许渊冲译成了“Infinite(无限的) virtue seems insufficient, established virtue seems borrowed”；辜正坤译成了“The infinite virtue seems lacking, the virile virtue seems idle”；Arthur Waley译成了The “power” that is most sufficing(being enough) looks inadequate, the “power” that stands firmest looks flimsy”；本书的译文是：the vast virtue seems insufficient; the vigorous virtue seems weak。
首先，对于“广德”的翻译，各位意见一致；但对“建”的意思，许渊冲和其他译者的理解不太一致，用了“established（确立的）”；其他译者理解为“刚健的”，分别用了“virile（having or showing typically masculine strength or energy 具有或显示刚强气概的）”、 “firmest（steady and strong）”、“vigorous（strong and healthy）”，各有妙处。其次，对于“偷”的理解，各位译者又有不同。许渊冲译成“borrowed(借来的)”，可能是“偷”的委婉语吧；辜正坤译成了“idle(lazy; not working hard)”;Arthur Waley译成了“flimsy(weak or feeble)”。我们则直接译成了“weak”， 取“偷”之“怠惰”之意，以更好地对应vigorous。
3、“夫唯道，善贷且成”的英译
此句为全章的总结，其意是“只有道善于辅助万物、成就万物。”辜正坤译成 “But it is Tao alone that helps and completes everything.” ；Arthur Waley 译成“Yet Tao alone supports all things and brings them to fulfillment.” 。两者的译文十分契合原意。许渊冲译成“Only the divine law is good from the beginning to the end.”，一开始，我们总觉得不尽完美，后又上网查阅得知：帛书甲本此处缺损，乙本为“夫唯道，善始且善成”，这就不难理解许渊冲的译文了。最后，我们译成了“Only the divine law can make everything good from the beginning to the end.”。
