老子《道德經(jīng)》英譯第七章

　　天長地久。天地所以能長且久者，以其不自生，故能長生。

　　是以圣人后其身而身先，外其身而身存。非以其無私邪!故能成其私。

　　【現(xiàn)代漢語】

　　天地長生不朽。天地之所以能永久長存，是因為它們的所有活動、運作都不是為了自己，所以它們的生命能夠久遠(yuǎn)而不枯竭。

　　所以圣人把自己的利益放在百姓利益的后面，因而得到天下人的愛戴;從不優(yōu)先考慮自己的利益，所以能完善自己的人格。因為圣人的無私，故能成就自己。

　　【英譯】

　　Heaven and earth are long-enduring. The reason why heaven and earth are able to endure and continue thus long is because they do not live and work for themselves. This is how they are able to continue and endure.

　　The sages of Taoism (people accord with the standard of Tao’s) put themselves last, so people all love and esteem them. They never possess priority for their own benefit, and then their personality reaches in perfect status.

　　Is it not because they have no personal and private desire, that therefore they get great achievement?

　　【備注】

　　這一章往往被我們誤解為老子誨人權(quán)謀之術(shù)的“罪證”，所以，更顯現(xiàn)出讀圣人之書，要貫通全篇，而不能斷章取義的重要。