第四十章

有生于无

The Form Comes from the Formless

The cyclic change is the movement of the divine law,

and the divine law is subtle and weak.

All things in the world come into being with a visible form,

and the form comes from the formless.

1、“反”的英译

对于“反”，三位译者的理解不同。许渊冲理解为“相反”，翻译为“opposite ways”；Arthur Waley 理解为“返”，但没有真正理解老子的本意，译为“returning”；辜正坤译成“cycling（循环往复）”更接近老子的本意。本章中，老子认为“循环往复的变化，是道的运动”。因而，我们把“反”译成了“the cyclic change”。

2、“天下万物生于有，有生于无”的英译

四位译者的理解一致。许渊冲译成“All things in the world come into being with a form; the form comes from the formless.”；辜正坤译成“All things of the world are born from Existence(Being), and being from Nothingness.”；Arthur Waley译成“For though all creatures under heaven are the products of Being, Being itself is the product of Not-being.”；本书最初曾困于“无”和“有”的用词，在是否使用Not-being 和Being上纠结，但考虑到英语中先有Being后有Not-being，Being itself is the product of Not-being不大符合逻辑，所以使用了the formless 和a visible form来对应“无”与“有”，译成了“All things in the world come into being with a visible form, and the form comes from the formless.”。关于“天下”、“万物”的英译，前面章节已有所解释，不再赘述。