您现在的位置:成功创业网 - 商务外语 - “话”说孙子兵法(英文版1)

“话”说孙子兵法(英文版1)


    
    
    
     来源:英语联盟
    
     sun tzu on the art of war
    
     the oldest military treatise in the world
    
     translated from the chinese
    
     by lionel giles, m.a. (1910)
    
     [this is the basic text of sun tzu on the art of war. it was extracted from mr. giles complete work as titled above. the commentary itself, which, of course includes this work embedded within it, has been released as suntzu10.txt (or suntzu10.zip). this is being released only as an adjunct to that work, which contains a wealth of commentary upon this text.]
    
     热点推荐:
    
     无敌销售的32个妙招!(一) 新版483句口语,快速记忆!(四)
    
     回忆跟老外的第一次交流! 参加历届广交会之小事记
    
     the art of war has 13 chapters.
     i. laying plans
    
     1. sun tzu said: the art of war is of vital importance
    
     to the state.
    
     2. it is a matter of life and death, a road either
    
     to safety or to ruin. hence it is a subject of inquiry
    
     which can on no account be neglected.
    
     3. the art of war, then, is governed by five constant
    
     factors, to be taken into account in ones deliberations,
    
     when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.
    
     4. these are: (1) the moral law; (2) heaven; (3) earth;
    
     (4) the commander; (5) method and discipline.
    
     5,6. the moral law causes the people to be in complete
    
     accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him
    
     regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.
    
     7. heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat,
    
     times and seasons.
    
     8. earth comprises distances, great and small;
    
     danger and security; open ground and narrow passes;
    
     the chances of life and death.
    
     9. the commander stands for the virtues of wisdom,
    
     sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness.
    
     10. by method and discipline are to be understood
    
     the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions,
    
     the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance
    
     of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the
    
     control of military expenditure.
    
     11. these five heads should be familiar to every general:
    
     he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them
    
     not will fail.
    
     12. therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking
    
     to determine the military conditions, let them be made
    
     the basis of a comparison, in this wise:--
    
     13. (1) which of the two sovereigns is imbued
    
     with the moral law?
    
     (2) which of the two generals has most ability?
    
     (3) with whom lie the advantages derived from heaven
    
     and earth?
    
     (4) on which side is discipline most rigorously enforced?
    
     (5) which army is stronger?
    
     (6) on which side are officers and men more highly trained?
    
     (7) in which army is there the greater constancy
    
     both in reward and punishment?
    
     14. by means of these seven considerations i can
    
     forecast victory or defeat.
    
     15. the general that hearkens to my counsel and acts
    
     upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command!
    
     the general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it,
    
     will suffer defeat:--let such a one be dismissed!
    
     16. while heading the profit of my counsel,
    
     avail yourself also of any helpful circumstances
    
     over and beyond the ordinary rules.
    
     17. according as circumstances are favorable,
    
     one should modify ones plans.
    
     18. all warfare is based on deception.
    
     19. hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable;
    
     when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we
    
     are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away;
    
     when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
    
     20. hold out baits to entice the enemy. feign disorder,
    
     and crush him.
    
     21. if he is secure at all points, be prepared for him.
    
     if he is in superior strength, evade him.
    
     22. if your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to
    
     irritate him. pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
    
     23. if he is taking his ease, give him no rest.
    
     if his forces are united, separate them.
    
     24. attack him where he is unprepared, appear where
    
     you are not expected.
    
     25. these military devices, leading to victory,
    
     must not be divulged beforehand.
    
     26. now the general who wins a battle makes many
    
     calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought.
    
     the general who loses a battle makes but few
    
     calculations beforehand. thus do many calculations
    
     lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat:
    
     how much more no calculation at all! it is by attention
    
     to this point that i can foresee who is likely to win or lose.
    
     [to chinese text |to top]
    
     ii. waging war
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
     1. sun tzu said: in the operations of war,
    
     where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots,
    
     as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand
    
     mail-clad soldiers, with provisions enough to carry them
    
     a thousand li, the expenditure at home and at the front,
    
     热点推荐:
    
     外企office常用电话英语 10句最美的英文谚语
    
     经典英语口语:必背掌握 英文简历的几种常见形式
    
    
     including entertainment of guests, small items such as
    
     glue and paint, and sums spent on chariots and armor,
    
     will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day.
    
     such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men.
    
     2. when you engage in actual fighting, if victory
    
     is long in coming, then mens weapons will grow dull and
    
     their ardor will be damped. if you lay siege to a town,
    
     you will exhaust your strength.
    
     3. again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources
    
     of the state will not be equal to the strain.
    
     4. now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped,
    
     your strength exhausted and your treasure spent,
    
     other chieftains will spring up to take advantage
    
     of your extremity. then no man, however wise,
    
     will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.
    
     5. thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war,
    
     cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.
    
     6. there is no instance of a country having benefited
    
     from prolonged warfare.
    
     7. it is only one who is thoroughly acquainted
    
     with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand
    
     the profitable way of carrying it on.
    
     8. the skillful soldier does not raise a second levy,
    
     neither are his supply-wagons loaded more than twice.
    
     9. bring war material with you from home, but forage
    
     on the enemy. thus the army will have food enough
    
     for its needs.
    
     10. poverty of the state exchequer causes an army
    
     to be maintained by contributions from a distance.
    
     contributing to maintain an army at a distance causes
    
     the people to be impoverished.
    
     11. on the other hand, the proximity of an army causes
    
     prices to go up; and high prices cause the peoples
    
     substance to be drained away.
    
     12. when their substance is drained away, the peasantry
    
     will be afflicted by heavy exactions.
    
     13,14. with this loss of substance and exhaustion
    
     of strength, the homes of the people will be stripped bare,
    
     and three-tenths of their income will be dissipated;
    
     while government expenses for broken chariots, worn-out horses,
    
     breast-plates and helmets, bows and arrows, spears and shields,
    
     protective mantles, draught-oxen and heavy wagons,
    
     will amount to four-tenths of its total revenue.
    
     15. hence a wise general makes a point of foraging
    
     on the enemy. one cartload of the enemys provisions
    
     is equivalent to twenty of ones own, and likewise
    
     a single picul of his provender is equivalent to twenty
    
     from ones own store.
    
     16. now in order to kill the enemy, our men must
    
     be roused to anger; that there may be advantage from
    
     defeating the enemy, they must have their rewards.
    
     17. therefore in chariot fighting, when ten or more chariots
    
     have been taken, those should be rewarded who took the first.
    
     our own flags should be substituted for those of the enemy,
    
     and the chariots mingled and used in conjunction with ours.
    
     the captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept.
    
     18. this is called, using the conquered foe to augment
    
     ones own strength.
    
     19. in war, then, let your great object be victory,
    
     not lengthy campaigns.
    
     20. thus it may be known that the leader of armies
    
     is the arbiter of the peoples fate, the man on whom it
    
     depends whether the nation shall be in peace or in peril.
    
     [to chinese text |to top]
    
     iii. attack by stratagem
    
     1. sun tzu said: in the practical art of war, the best
    
     thing of all is to take the enemys country whole and intact;
    
     to shatter and destroy it is not so good. so, too, it is
    
     better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it,
    
     to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire
    
     than to destroy them.
    
     2. hence to fight and conquer in all your battles
    
     is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists
    
     in breaking the enemys resistance without fighting.
    
     3. thus the highest form of generalship is to
    
     balk the enemys plans; the next best is to prevent
    
     the junction of the enemys forces; the next in
    
     order is to attack the enemys army in the field;
    
     and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.
    
     4. the rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it
    
     can possibly be avoided. the preparation of mantlets,
    
     movable shelters, and various implements of war, will take
    
     up three whole months; and the piling up of mounds over
    
     against the walls will take three months more.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
     5. the general, unable to control his irritation,
    
     will launch his men to the assault like swarming ants,
    
     with the result that one-third of his men are slain,
    
     while the town still remains untaken. such are the disastrous
    
     effects of a siege.
    
     6. therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemys
    
     troops without any fighting; he captures their cities
    
     without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom
    
     without lengthy operations in the field.
    
     7. with his forces intact he will dispute the mastery
    
     of the empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph
    
     will be complete. this is the method of attacking by stratagem.
    
     8. it is the rule in war, if our forces are ten
    
     to the enemys one, to surround him; if five to one,
    
     to attack him; if twice as numerous, to divide our army
    
     into two.
    
     9. if equally matched, we can offer battle;
    
     if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy;
    
     if quite unequal in every way, we can flee from him.
    
     10. hence, though an obstinate fight may be made
    
     by a small force, in the end it must be captured
    
     by the larger force.
    
     11. now the general is the bulwark of the state;
    
     if the bulwark is complete at all points; the state will
    
     be strong; if the bulwark is defective, the state will
    
     be weak.
    
     12. there are three ways in which a ruler can bring
    
     misfortune upon his army:--
    
     13. (1) by commanding the army to advance or to retreat,
    
     being ignorant of the fact that it cannot obey.
    
     this is called hobbling the army.
    
     14. (2) by attempting to govern an army in the
    
     same way as he administers a kingdom, being ignorant
    
     of the conditions which obtain in an army. this causes
    
     restlessness in the soldiers minds.
    
     15. (3) by employing the officers of his army
    
     without discrimination, through ignorance of the
    
     military principle of adaptation to circumstances.
    
     this shakes the confidence of the soldiers.
    
     16. but when the army is restless and distrustful,
    
     trouble is sure to come from the other feudal princes.
    
     this is simply bringing anarchy into the army, and flinging
    
     victory away.
    
     17. thus we may know that there are five essentials
    
     for victory:
    
     (1) he will win who knows when to fight and when
    
     not to fight.
    
     (2) he will win who knows how to handle both superior
    
     and inferior forces.
    
     (3) he will win whose army is animated by the same
    
     spirit throughout all its ranks.
    
     (4) he will win who, prepared himself, waits to take
    
     the enemy unprepared.
    
     (5) he will win who has military capacity and is
    
     not interfered with by the sovereign.
    
     18. hence the saying: if you know the enemy
    
     and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a
    
     hundred battles. if you know yourself but not the enemy,
    
     for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
    
     if you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will
    
     succumb in every battle.
    
     [to chinese text |to top]
    
     iv. tactical dispositions
    
     1. sun tzu said: the good fighters of old first put
    
     themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then
    
     waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.
    
     2. to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our
    
     own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy
    
     is provided by the enemy himself.
    
     3. thus the good fighter is able to secure himself against defeat,
    
     but cannot make certain of defeating the enemy.
    
     4. hence the saying: one may know how to conquer
    
     without being able to do it.
    
     5. security against defeat implies defensive tactics;
    
     ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive.
    
     6. standing on the defensive indicates insufficient
    
     strength; attacking, a superabundance of strength.
    
     7. the general who is skilled in defense hides in the
    
     most secret recesses of the earth; he who is skilled in
    
     attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven.
    
     thus on the one hand we have ability to protect ourselves;
    
     on the other, a victory that is complete.
    
     8. to see victory only when it is within the ken
    
     of the common herd is not the acme of excellence.
    
     9. neither is it the acme of excellence if you fight
    
     and conquer and the whole empire says, "well done!"
    
     10. to lift an autumn hair is no sign of great strength;
    
     to see the sun and moon is no sign of sharp sight;
    
     to hear the noise of thunder is no sign of a quick ear.
    
     11. what the ancients called a clever fighter is
    
     one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.
    
     12. hence his victories bring him neither reputation
    
     for wisdom nor credit for courage.
    
     13. he wins his battles by making no mistakes.
    
     making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty
    
     of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is
    
     already defeated.
    
     14. hence the skillful fighter puts himself into
    
     a position which makes defeat impossible, and does
    
     not miss the moment for defeating the enemy.
    
     15. thus it is that in war the victorious strategist
    
     only seeks battle after the victory has been won,
    
     whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights
    
     and afterwards looks for victory.
    
     16. the consummate leader cultivates the moral law,
    
     and strictly adheres to method and discipline; thus it is
    
     in his power to control success.
    
     17. in respect of military method, we have,
    
     firstly, measurement; secondly, estimation of quantity;
    
     thirdly, calculation; fourthly, balancing of chances;
    
     fifthly, victory.
    
     18. measurement owes its existence to earth;
    
     estimation of quantity to measurement; calculation to
    
     estimation of quantity; balancing of chances to calculation;
    
     and victory to balancing of chances.
    
     19. a victorious army opposed to a routed one, is as
    
     a pounds weight placed in the scale against a single grain.
    
     20. the onrush of a conquering force is like the bursting
    
     of pent-up waters into a chasm a thousand fathoms deep.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    



商务外语 - 成功创业网

成功创业网·商务外语 © 2006 - 2011 版权所有