The Natural Course of Events (8)
天道(八)
1 In a quiet afternoon, the hotness made all people looked wan. Duke Huan of Qi was reading in his studying room. To keep awake, he read aloud on purpose. A craftsman who sat repairing wheel stopped his work to listen to Duke Huan’s reading. To a craftsman, the ancient article with recondite and scholastic words was too abstruse to understand.
一個寂靜的下午，天氣悶熱的讓所有的人都意興闌珊。齊桓公待在書房裏看書，他怕自己睡著了，所以刻意地將書的內容念出來。坐在書房外修理車輪的師傅，不經意的停下手上的活，注意聆聽著恒公念書的內容。可是對一個車輪師傅而言，這些之乎者也的文言文卻是深奧而難懂的。
2 Listening for a while, the craftsman couldn’t understand it yet. So he stood up and asked through the window, “Sir, May I know what the article is? Could you explain it for me?”
這位師傅聽了好一會兒，結果還是聽不懂，於是他便站起身，走到窗前隔著窗子問恒公道：「敢問大人，您讀的是什麼文章啊？煩請您解釋給我聽聽。」
桓公讀書於堂上，輪扁斲輪於堂下，釋椎鑿而上，問桓公曰：「敢問：「公之所讀者，何言邪？」
3 Taking a glance of the craftsman, Duke Huan said to himself that as a craftsman, you certainly understand nothing about it. So he answered absently and randomly, “They are words of sages.”
恒公看了這位車輪師傅一眼，心想你一個修車輪工人當然聽不懂書中的涵意了。因此心不在焉地隨便應付道：「這些都是聖人之言。」
公曰：「聖人之言也。」
4 Instead the craftsman took it seriously. He asked, “Is the sage still alive?”
車輪師傅倒是很認真。他問道：「這位聖人可還健在？」
曰：「聖人在乎？」
5 Looking at him, Duke Huan said to himself that why this idiot asked such a question? The men became sages mostly because they were dead. Knowing nothing about it, you even want to know the words of sage. So he replied, “They are already dead.”
恒公又看了看他，心想此人何以會問這麼可笑的問題。聖人之所以成為聖人，其主要原因，還不都是基於他們皆是作古之人; 連這樣膚淺的問題都搞不清楚，還想瞭解聖人之言。於是，恒公說道：「早就死了。」
公曰：「已死矣。」
6 Feeling disappointed, the craftsman signed,“Alas! What you read must be something unworthy.”
車輪師傅聽了，頗像是煞有介事的微微嘆了口氣，他說：「唉！這麼說，大人剛剛您讀的一定不是什麼有價值的道理了。」
曰：「然則君之所讀者，古人之糟魄已夫！」
7 The craftsman turned and prepared to leave. Duke Huan felt surprised and curious instead. He shouted, “Back. Back. You, an understrapper, stop me and tell me what I read is nonsense and unworthy while I am reading carefully here. Hay! Come and explain it or you are punished.”
車輪師傅掉頭就想離開，這回輪到恒公好奇了。恒公高聲地叫：「回來！回來！我在這兒認真的讀書，你一個下人卻跑來告訴我，我讀的都是些廢物、都是沒有價值的東西。嘿！你倒是給我解釋清楚，要不然叫你吃不完兜著走。」
桓公曰：「寡人讀書，輪人安得議乎！有說則可，無說則死！」
8 The even-tempered craftsman was not frightened by his shout. He said, “I read few book but I am fairly aware of the knowledge conveying in the field of wheel repairing.”
這位師傅倒是夠穩重的，他並沒有被恒公的咆哮聲嚇住。他沉著地及時回應：「書我確是沒讀過幾本，可是在我自己修車輪的範圍之內，我卻對知識的傳授頗有些小小的領悟。
9 I know that if I make the spoke too small, it can’t fit the wheel; if make it too big, the wheel would slide off from it. So I have to make it to the point.
我深深瞭解，如果我將輪輻做的太緊，那麼輪子就裝不進去；如果我將輪輻做的太鬆，那麼輪子又很容易滑開。所以，我必須將輪輻做的恰到好處才行。
10 How to make it to the point? I can’t tell. I gauge it by my hand and heart. The feeling of gauging I know myself but can’t tell the reasons. So I can’t impart it to my son. My son can’t learn it from me. This is why I, as an old man of seventy, toil here.”
可是怎樣才算是恰到好處呢？我自己也說不上來。我只能用我的手、我的心去感覺; 而這種感覺，也只有我自己最清楚，怎麼講也講不出個所以然來。所以我不能將這種感覺傳授給我的兒子; 我的兒子也無法從我這兒學到這門功夫。這也就是為什麼我已經七十歲了，還這麼辛苦地在這兒工作;
輪扁曰：「臣也以臣之事觀之。斲輪，徐則甘而不固，疾則苦而不入，不徐不疾，得之於手而應於心，口不能言，有數存焉於其間。臣不能以喻臣之子，臣之子亦不能受之於臣，是以行年七十而老斲輪。
11 I think that the sage who wrote the book had been dead so the tour de force in his heart, which he could not impart to other, must have vanished.
我認為寫你那本書的人，如果他是早已仙逝，那麼他心目中的那些絕技、那些不能傳授的絕竅，肯定也隨著他的離世而消失無蹤矣！
12 That’s why I said the book you read is something unworthy.”
所以，我才說大人您讀的書一定不具備什麼有價值的真理。」
古之人與其不可傳也死矣，然則君之所讀者，古人之糟魄已夫！」