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孔子拜访老子 2:小国寡民

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ID: 1844 Advanced
孔子周游列国,却四处碰壁,他怎么也想不通自己到底错在哪里。看看老子能否帮他解开困惑呢?
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SIMPLIFIED PINYIN ENGLISH  
实现 shíxiàn to realize
抱负 bàofù ambition
辅佐 fǔzuǒ to assist
井井有条 jǐngjǐngyǒutiáo systematic and methodical
我想实现自己的政治抱负,我要辅佐君主建立一个井井有条的国家,该怎么做呢?
wǒ xiǎng shíxiàn zìjǐ de zhèngzhì bàofù ,wǒ yào fǔzuǒ jūnzhǔ jiànlì yī ge jǐngjǐngyǒutiáo de guójiā ,gāi zěnme zuò ne ?
I want to realize my own political aspirations. I want to assist a monarch in creating a methodical and systematic country. How do I do that?
一个管理严格的国家,它的人民一定狡猾。“小国寡民”才是理想的国家:国土小,人口少,不用交通工具,人民不用迁徙,不用学习文化知识,靠着纯真善良的本性,过简朴的生活。人民没有什么需求,国家就不用设立严厉的刑法,也就没有战争和冲突,用不着武器和军队。在自己国家就可以看到邻国,听到鸡鸣狗吠,但从生到死都不来往。
yī ge guǎnlǐ yángé de guójiā ,tā de rénmín yīdìng jiǎohuá 。“xiǎoguóguǎmín ”cái shì lǐxiǎng de guójiā :guótǔ xiǎo ,rénkǒu shǎo ,bùyòng jiāotōng gōngjù ,rénmín bùyòng qiānxǐ ,bùyòng xuéxí wénhuà zhīshi ,kàozhe chúnzhēn shànliáng de běnxìng ,guò jiǎnpǔ de shēnghuó 。rénmín méiyǒu shénme xūqiú ,guójiā jiù bùyòng shèlì yánlì de xíngfǎ ,yě jiù méiyǒu zhànzhēng hé chōngtū ,yòngbuzháo wǔqì hé jūnduì 。zài zìjǐ guójiā jiù kěyǐ kàndào línguó ,tīngdào jī míng gǒu fèi ,dàn cóng shēng dào sǐ dōu bù láiwǎng 。
A country ruled with an iron fist will have devious citizens. "A small country with few citizens" is ideal with a small land area and small population. There is no need for conveyances and the people needn't migrate or move. There's no need for formal education. It relies on pure and honest human nature; life is plain and simple. The people need nothing, so the country has no need to establish a strict penal system. There will be no war or conflict, so there will be no need for weapons or soldiers. Neighboring countries can be seen and the sounds of their villages heard, but during their lives the people will have no interaction with them.
哎呀,老先生,这不是社会的倒退嘛!
āiyā ,lǎoxiānsheng ,zhè bùshì shèhuì de dàotuì ma !
Agh! Sir, this is society regressing!
社会本来就应该遵从“道”,保持最初的样子。当大家都知道“美”是怎么回事的时候,“丑”的概念也产生了,当大家都知道“善”是怎么回事的时候,“不善”的概念也产生了。所以我说过“有无相生”,“有”和“无”是互相比较而产生的。同样,难和易,长和短,高和低,前和后也都如此啊!
shèhuì běnlái jiù yīnggāi zūncóng “dào ”,bǎochí zuìchū de yàngzi 。dāng dàjiā dōu zhīdào “měi ”shì zěnme huí shì de shíhou ,“chǒu ”de gàiniàn yě chǎnshēng le ,dāng dàjiā dōu zhīdào “shàn ”shì zěnme huí shì de shíhou ,“bùshàn ”de gàiniàn yě chǎnshēng le 。suǒyǐ wǒ shuō guo “yǒuwúxiāngshēng ”,“yǒu ”hé “wú ”shì hùxiāng bǐjiào ér chǎnshēng de 。tóngyàng ,nán hé yì ,cháng hé duǎn ,gāo hé dī ,qián hé hòu yě dōu rúcǐ a !
Ideally, society should respect the "Dao" and preserve it in its earliest form. However, when people realized what "beauty" was, the idea of "ugliness" was born; when everyone learned what "good" was, "bad" was born. Therefore, when I've said "existence and nonexistence depend on one another," it means "to have" and "to lack" were born together and are compared with one another. Difficult and easy, long and short, high and low, before and after are all this way as well!
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