世界小史 第110期:献祭品

 　　Their meaning is roughly this: in all the world – in wind and rain, in plants and animals, in the passage from day to night,它们的内容大致如下：整个世界——风和雨，植物和动物，白昼和黑夜的交替，in the movements of the stars – everything acts in accordance with one great law.

　　星星的旋转——都受一个重要的法则主宰。

　　This he calls the 'Tao', which means the Way, or the Path.

　　他称这个法则为“道”，意为方法或道路。

　　Only man in his restless striving, in his many plans and projects, even in his prayers and sacrifices, resists,可是浮躁不安、忙忙碌碌、孜孜的人，甚至也包括献祭品做祈祷的人不理会这个法则，as it were, this law, obstructs¹ its path and prevents its fulfilment.

　　他们不让这个法则生效，他们干扰这个法则的运行。

　　Therefore the one thing we must do, said Lao-tzu, is: do nothing. Be still within ourselves.

　　因而老子认为人们必须做的一件事就是：什么事也不做。

　　Neither look nor listen to anything around us, have no wishes or opinions.

　　保持我们内心平静，不到处张望、不到处打听我们周围的事物，没有任何意欲。

　　Only when a person has become like a tree or a flower, empty of all will or purpose,只有一个人变得像一棵树或者像一朵花，毫无企图和毫无意愿，will he begin to feel the Tao – that great universal law which makes the heavens turn and brings the spring – begin to work within him.

　　他才能开始领悟“道”——让天空转动并引来春天的这个伟大的普遍性法则。

　　This teaching, as you see, is hard to grasp and harder still to follow.

　　这一学说，这一点你定会认识到，它难以理解，更难以遵循。

　　Perhaps, in the solitude² of the distant mountains, Lao-tzu was able to take 'doing nothing' so far that the law began to work within him in the way he described.

　　也许，老子在远方孤寂的群山中已经达到这个境界，可以像他所说的那样“无为而治”

 

1 obstructs   

阻塞( obstruct的第三人称单数 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止

参考例句：

• The cirrhotic process obstructs the intrahepatic portion of the portal venous system. 肝硬化使门脉系统的肝内部分受阻。
• A device or means that obstructs, blocks, or plugs up. 堵塞的方法：阻碍，阻挠或堵塞的工具或途径。

2 solitude   

n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方

参考例句：

• People need a chance to reflect on spiritual matters in solitude. 人们需要独处的机会来反思精神上的事情。
• They searched for a place where they could live in solitude. 他们寻找一个可以过隐居生活的地方。