第四十九章
聖人恒無心，以百姓之心為心。善者善之；不善者亦善之；德善也。信者信之，不信者亦信之，德信也。聖人之在天下，歙歙焉，為天下渾其心，百姓皆註其耳目焉，聖人皆孩之。
The Sage Is Kind to Those Who Are Kind
The sage seldom has his personal will or desire,
but takes the will of the people as his own.
For the kind person, I treat him kindly;
for the unkind person, I also treat him kindly,
so that I can get kindness and make everyone kind.
For those who keep their word, I trust them;
for those who do not keep their word, I also trust them,
so that I can get trust and make everyone trustworthy.
When the sage following the divine law is in his position,
he restrains his own desire and makes the people’s minds simple.
The common people all watch the leader's words and deeds,
and the sage brings them back to a baby-like simplicity.
1、「聖人恒無心，以百姓之心為心」的英譯
百度百科對「心」的解釋是： 「心」古字形像人或鳥獸的心臟，本意即心臟（heart）。古人認為心是思維的器官，因此把思想、感情都說做「心」；又由思維器官引申為心思、思想、意念、感情、性情等；又引申為思慮、謀劃。此句中的「心」是「意念、意願」。很顯然，Arthur Waley的譯文「The Sage has no heart of his own; he uses the heart of the people as his heart.」 和原文有出入；辜正坤的譯文 「The sage often has no will; he takes the people’s will as his own.」和許淵沖的譯文「The sage has no personal will; he takes the people’s will as his own.」幾乎相同，都把「心」譯成「will」。對於聖人的「心」，許淵沖用了「personal will（私心）」，更符合原意。我們則更進一步，譯成「The sage seldom has his personal will or desire, but takes the will of the people as his own. 」。
2、「信者信之，不信者亦信之，德信也」的英譯
此句中「信」有兩個意思：「守信用、實踐諾言」和「相信、信任」。許淵沖的譯文是「He trusts not only the trustworthy, but also those who are not, so all become trustworthy.」，分別把「信」譯成了「trust（信任）」 、「trustworthy（可信任的）」；辜正坤譯成「Those who are of faith, I put faith in; those who are of no faith, I also put faith in. Thus I obtain faith.」,把「信」分別譯成「put faith in（信任）」、「 of faith(（可信任的）」; Arthur Waley譯成「The truthful man I believe, but the liar I also believe, and thus he gets truthfulness.」， 把「信」分別譯成「believe（信任）」、「 truthful(誠實的）」。雖然用詞不同，但理解基本一致，也基本符合了老子的原意。
遵循原文，我們譯成了「For those who keep their word（遵守諾言）, I trust them; for those who do not keep their word, I also trust them, so that I can get trust and make everyone trustworthy.」，更全面、更易於理解。
3、「百姓皆註其耳目，聖人皆孩之」的英譯
此句中的兩個關鍵詞是「耳目」和「孩」。「耳目」本意是「耳朵和眼睛」，引申為「視聽」 ， 「註其耳目」是「其耳目註聖人」，意思是「老百姓觀察著聖人的言行」。「孩」是使動用法，意思是 「 使老百姓回復到嬰兒般的狀態 」 。
Arthur Waley譯成「The Hundred Families all the time strain（過分使用） their eyes and ears, the Sage all the time sees and hears no more than an infant sees and hears.」和原文有很大出入， 而且把百姓直譯成「Hundred Families」，讓人不僅失笑。許淵沖譯成「The people are all eyes and ears; the sage restores them to their childhood.」，前半句的意思不甚明朗。辜正坤譯成「The people are all preoccupied（全神貫註的） with their eyes and ears, the sage helps them return to the childhood state」，符合原意。我們和辜正坤的理解一致， 則譯成「The common people all watch the leader's words and deeds, and the sage brings them back to a baby-like simplicity.」
