《菜根谭》是明朝还初道人洪应明收集编著的儒家经典，是一部论述修养、人生、处世、出世的语录集。其文字简炼明隽，兼采雅俗，言辞中流露出山林意趣，渗透着万物一体的世界观。开出的处世之方偏重心态和人事，悟虚妄真实之理，指出贫富、尊卑、穷达因为心念使善恶、祸福相互转换，告诫世人及时转念，戒贪少欲，取中庸之道。著作前后内容和深度有所不同，反映出了不同的阅历和境界。

《菜根谭》（人生态度、晚节更重）

声妓晚景从良，一世之胭花无碍；贞妇白头失守，半生之清苦俱非。语云：“看人只看后半截。”真名言也。

If, in later life, a courtesan marries into a good family, her past life is no embarrassment. If a woman who has been upright and haste all her life loses her personal integrity in her later years, all the virtue she has stored up is thrown away. A proverb goes: "When judging a man, look at his later years." This is truly perspicacious advice!

（保罗·怀特 译）

Once a courtesan puts an ending to her trade and gets married into a good family in her later years, all she has done before will not hinder her life any more. Once a chaste woman loses her chastity in her later years, all the hardships she has gone through to keep chastity for first half of her life will be in vain. That is why we have a saying like this: "To judge a person, it is better to observe his moral integrity in his later years." Quite a sophisticated remark!

（周文标 译）

The whore who turns straight in her last years will make good a life of dissipation; the widow who remarries in her old age will spoil half a life of stoic virtue. As the saying goes: "To judge a person's character, one has only to look at the second half of his or her life." What a truthful saying it is!

（蒋坚松 译）

更多精品翻译素材，敬请关注可可英语。