第四十七章
不为而成
原文
英译The Sage Accomplishes All without Doing Anything
Without going out of the door,
they can deduce the outside world;
without looking out of the window,
they can understand the natural laws of
the movement of the sun, the moon and the stars.
The further away the people are from the divine law,
the less they know.
Therefore, the sage who follows the divine law
can deduce the truth without going out,
perceive the law of Heaven clearly without peeping,
and achieve something without doing anything.
说明1、“其出弥远，其知弥少”的英译
对于此句，三位译者都用了直译法。许渊冲译成“The farther you go out, the less you may learn.”；辜正坤和Arthur Waley的译文相同，都译成了“For the further one travels, the less one knows.”。对以上译文我们持不同看法，因为不符合常理。为什么出远门，反而知道的少？不是“读万卷书、行万里路、尽知天下事”吗？我们认为，老子的本意是离开“道”越远，知道的道理就越少”，所以，我们译成了“The further away the people are from the divine law, the less they know.”。
2、“是以圣人不行而知，不见而明，不为而成”的英译
这句话的意思很好理解，三位译者的译文也精彩纷呈。
Arthur Waley的译文“Therefore the Sage arrives without going, sees all without looking, does nothing, yet achieves everything.”中arrive without going 不大好懂，也不是很契合原文；辜正坤的译文“That is why the sage knows everything without going out; sees Tao of heaven without looking out of the window; succeeds without resorting to action”符合老子的原意。许渊冲译成了“Therefore the sage learns all without going far away. He becomes well-known without looking out, and accomplishes all without doing anything.”。他竟然把“明”译成了“well-known（著名的、熟悉的）”，和原意有些许出入。
我们意译成“Therefore, the sage who follows the divine law can deduce the truth without going out, perceive the law of Heaven clearly without peeping, and achieve something without doing anything.”，使人一读便知晓其中真正的含义。
