主题：【原创】这段文章有意思，大家看看，能看出是什么吗？ -- 一足无间
在下孤陋寡闻得很，今天才看到这样的东西。坛子里可能有些牛人早看过了。不过这样的文章如果没上下文和说明，直接看，估计能马上看懂的人不多。大家看看玩玩吧。为了增加点难度，我删掉了几个名词。
(主语已删）,with its tiny territory and a force of only one thousand chariots, nevertheless summonded to itself the eight regions of the world and made its peers pay court to it for more than a century. Later, after it had converted everything within the six directions into its home and made the Hxxxx and Hxx passes into its strongholds, a single fellow created trouble, whereupon its seven ancestral temples straightway toppled, its ruler died at the hands of men, and it became the laughing stock of the world. Why? Because it failed to display humanity and righteousness or to realize that there is a difference between the power to attack and the power to consolidate.
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说的是这段：
翻译得很好笑啊。
唉，知道牛人多，也不必这么早说出来呀。我还想让人家猜猜呢。
另外，你是当场看出来的大牛？还是也是在剑桥史等书上看到的？
就是最后一句。似乎与一般教科书（中学）的解释不一样。一般的解释是，因为仁义不施，所以导致了攻守易势的后果。看翻译，似乎说的有哲理，引申到了打天下守天下的问题，但应该与原文意思及行文习惯不符合。
首先，自然要感谢那位H.M.Chavannes先生了。把史记都翻了遍，对于传播中国文化有贡献。
不过另一方面，这样的翻译有多大的必要，我表示怀疑。翻译的过于直白，倒很像正宗的chinglish.
要是外国人看了肯定是一头雾水。而真正的汉学家和历史学家，如果不会汉语，不能阅读原籍，实在很难想象他们对中国历史和文化能有非常深入的了解；尽管可能比较客观。
不过我放狗搜文的功力只怕也不一般了。
惭愧啊！真正的大牛都是不出声的，不象我，搜到就兴高采烈的来臭显摆了。
教教我。。。
我就搜了半天，看看能不能搜到，如果太容易就要给人笑了，结果我是没搜到。要是知道了出处，还是比较容易的。
with its tiny territory and a force of only one thousand chariots, nevertheless summonded to itself the eight regions of the world and made its peers pay court to it for more than a century.
大致的意思还是在的。
Later, after it had converted everything within the six directions into its home and made the Hxxxx and Hxx passes into its strongholds, a single fellow created trouble, whereupon its seven ancestral temples straightway toppled, its ruler died at the hands of men, and it became the laughing stock of the world.
虽然大意仍在，但是这段翻译怎么看怎么别扭。
Why? Because it failed to display humanity and righteousness or to realize that there is a difference between the power to attack and the power to consolidate.
这个结论就完全弄混了。
如果给我翻：
Qin,
grew from a tiny state, to a power of ten thousands chariots,
and subjugated its peers of eight territories,
and it had been a hundred years and more.
All under heaven would belong to its lineage,
where Fort Xiao, Han would guard its palace.
Yet when one man rise,
its temples fell,
and its king died in the hands of men.
The world mocked.
Why so?
Kindness and Justice was naught,
and thus it had lost its Mandate.
先放狗搜这句
with its tiny territory and a force of only one thousand chariots
知道说的是秦国后，再叫狗狗搜“论秦”二字。
The faults of Ch'in
Ch'ia I
Ch'in,with its [originarlly] tiny territory and a force of only one thousand chariots, nevertheless summonded to itself the eight regions of the world and made its peers pay court to it for more than a century. Later, after it had converted everything within the six directions into its home and made the Hsiao and Han passes into its strongholds, a single fellow [Ch'en shê] created trouble, whereupon its seven ancestral temples straightway toppled, its ruler died at the hands of men, and it became the laughing stock of the world. Why? Because it failed to display humanity (jen) and righteousness (i) or to realize that there is a difference between the power to attack and the power to consolidate.
要说这名字翻的，中国人看了大半都不认识。这种读音系统，是外国人根据读音自创的？还是旧式的拼音系统？
奇怪的是，要在Ch后面加个"'"，但小学读书时讲到的韵母之间的分隔符是一概没的。我敢说他们肯定会把yanan这种词读错。
外国人确实很多地方没有真正理会。你翻得比较意译，这样一般外国人大概看得懂些。有些地方还得再接再厉地完善啊。
有些话，比如All under heaven would belong to its lineage，我估计外国人即使知道意思，也不愿意这么翻。而其译文中，虽然反复出现world，比较符合中国人当时的世界观，但没有一处表明，world都被秦征服了(当然事实上也没有)，因此他们作为world实际上的一员，也许也在看着秦的笑料呢。
另外你的版本好像有些问题，也许是你记忆错了。
然秦以区区之地，致万乘之势，序八州而朝同列，百有余年矣。然后以六合为家，崤函为宫。一夫作难而七庙隳，身死人手，为天下笑者，何也？仁义不施而攻守之势异也！