中华文化专词双译|善战者求之于势

善战者求之于势

A Person Skilled at Warfare Seeks Victory Through Strategic Positioning

善于打仗的人会凭借或造成对自己有利的态势以取得胜利。“势”即态势，指敌我双方军事力量的部署和行动所形成的整体局面或状态。它蕴含着巨大势能，是影响作战胜败的关键因素。有利的态势不是现成的，而是要通过合理的力量配置或部署、采取灵活机动的战略战术等主体能动的努力，最大限度地发挥己方优势、削弱敌方优势造成的。而谋势、造势、用势，使之有利于己而不利于敌，则是军事指挥官的重要职责。这一思想，后来超越军事范畴，成为商、政等诸领域领导者的智慧。

A person skilled at warfare will achieve victory by using or creating a strategic position favorable to himself. A 'strategic position' refers to the overall situation or state resulting from the deployment and actions of two opposing forces. A strategic position can be enormously powerful and is a critical factor which affects victory and defeat. A favorable strategic position is not ready-made; it is created by the logical allocation or deployment of forces, efforts to take the initiative in employing flexible strategies and tactics, maximizing one's own strengths and minimizing the opponent's strengths. Planning, creating, and using a strategic position that is advantageous for oneself and disadvantageous for the foe is an important responsibility of military commanders. This concept was later extended beyond the military sphere and became part of leadership wisdom for business and governmental affairs.

引例 Citations：

◎势者，因利而制权也。（《孙子·始计》）

所谓势，就是根据对自己有利的原则而采取相应的举措。

Creating a strategic position means using what favors you and taking appropriate measures to gain control. (The Art of War)

◎故善战者，求之于势，不责于人，故能择人而任势。任势者，其战人也，如转木石……故善战人之势，如转圆石于千仞之山者，势也。（《孙子·兵势》）

所以善于打仗的人会凭借或造成对自己有利的态势以取得胜利，而不是一味要求士兵死战，因而他能选择合适的人并顺应当前的态势。所谓顺应态势，就是他指挥打仗，就像转动大木、巨石一样自如……所以善于打仗的人，他所造成的有利态势，就像把圆石从千仞高山上滚下来一样不可阻挡，这就叫作“势”。

Therefore someone skilled at warfare achieves victory by using or creating a favorable strategic position, not just by having his troops fight. Hence, he can choose the right people and adjust to the situation at hand. Adjusting to the situation at hand means that he can direct a battle as deftly as if he were rolling logs and boulders downhill... Thus the favorable strategic position created by someone skilled at warfare is as powerful as boulders rolling down the highest mountain. This is 'strategic position.' (The Art of War)

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供稿：北京外国语大学 外语教学与研究出版社