「三十而立、四十不惑、五十知天命……」 英文翻譯絕了

子曰：「吾十有五而志於學，三十而立，四十而不惑，五十而知天命，六十而耳順，七十而從心所欲，不逾矩。」

——《為政》

♥♥♥

Leah譯

吾十有五而志於學，

When I was fifteen I doted on learning

三十而立，

When I was thirty I established myself in the society according to the manners

四十而不惑，

When I was forty I was no longer vexed by earthly affairs

五十而知天命，

When I was fifty I knew what was predecided by fate was not within my reach

六十而耳順，

When I was sixty I was able to accept opinions of various kinds

七十而從心所欲，不逾矩。

Now I am seventy,

I can do what my heart desires without overstepping any bounds.

白話文：

我十五歲就立志學習，三十歲就能夠按照禮儀的要求立足於世，四十歲遇到事情不再感到困惑，五十歲就知道哪些是不能為人力支配的事情而樂知天命，六十歲時能聽得進各種不同的意見，七十歲可以隨心所欲(收放自如)卻又不超出規矩。

翻譯

技巧

中文是文言文，言簡意賅，含義深刻。

英文譯文盡量選用了書面並正式的表達，並且根據自己的理解與權威註解，在英文中將隱藏或省略的意思也增譯了出來，使得英文意思更清晰明了。

辭彙

助攻

志：dote on=like/love

立：establish

惑：vex

天命：what was predecided by fate，prediceide=decide in advance

從心所欲：do what my heart desires

逾矩：overstepping any bounds，overstep=go beyond