第二十五章
道法自然
原文有物混成，先天地生。寂兮寥兮，独立而不改，周行而不殆，可以为天地母。吾不知其名，字之曰道，强为之名曰大。大曰逝，逝曰远，远曰反。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。
英译The Divine Law Follows Nature
There is a mixture that existed before heaven and earth were formed.
It is vacant and vast.
It survives independently and never stops.
It circulates but never fails, and so it can be the root of all things.
I don't know its name, so I call it the divine law,
and then give it a name "Great".
It is vast, and it runs endlessly, stretches far away and returns to its origin.
Therefore, the divine law is great,
heaven is great,
earth is great,
and so is man.
There are four great things in the universe,
and man is one of them.
Man follows earth,
earth follows heaven,
heaven follows the divine law,
and the divine law follows nature.
说明1、“有物混成，先天地生”的英译
译者的分歧主要在“混”，但基本意思都表达出来了。Arthur Waley译成了 There was something formless yet complete, that existed before heaven and earth. 许渊冲则译成 There was chaos before the existence of heaven and earth. 辜正坤 There is a thing integratedly formed and born earlier than Heaven and Earth. 我们则用了mixture表达“混合物”：There was a mixture that existed before heaven and earth were formed.我们觉得form这个词也比existence更能带给读者以想象。
2、“大曰逝，逝曰远，远曰反”的英译
对“逝”的理解分成了两派。Arthur Waley与许渊冲都把“逝”理解成pass，而我们的理解与辜正坤的一样: run 或者 move forward without stopping。Arthur Waley的译文中 ta指“大”： Now ta also means passing on, and passing on means Far Away, and going far away means returning. 许渊冲的译文是The great will pass away, passing implies a long way, and however long, the way will return in the end.其中的imply用得不错。我们则把“大”译成vast，而且没有完全按套路去翻译：It is vast, and it runs endlessly, stretches far away and returns to its origin. 辜正坤的译文是 Great is moving forward without stopping, extending to the remotest distance, and then returning to where it was. 觉得在without后面连着用了三个动名词，结构上容易让读者产生误解。
