寓言是一种历史悠久而生命力强大的古老文体，虽多形制短小，却有丰厚的内涵。中国古代寓言大多数以人物故事为载体，说理深刻透辟，包含许多人生智慧。中国先秦时期寓言创作最为兴盛，不少寓言作者是世界一流的思想家。《庄子》、《列子》中的寓言，想象飞驰，语言富丽，表现了道家重道、贵虚、齐物、逍遥的思想；《韩非子》中的寓言，文字简洁准确，表现了法家因时变法、严刑峻法的主张；《战国策》中的寓言，手法铺张，气势宏伟，针对外交、内政、军事方面的大事，随机应变，往往能够收到化险为夷的效果。《大中华文库·中国古代寓言选(汉英对照)》从这些先秦著名典籍中编选了许多寓言，同时还收录了后世其他寓言佳作，共选取121篇作品。它们流传广，饱含智慧，对文学创作和语言的发展影响很大。《大中华文库·中国古代寓言选(汉英对照)》英译者为著名文学翻译家杨宪益、戴乃迭先生。歧路：岔路；亡：丢失，失去。字面意义是因岔路太多无法追寻而丢失了羊，现比喻事物复杂多变，没有一个固定目标就会迷失方向，无所适从。
《古代寓言·歧路亡羊》
杨子之邻人亡羊。既率其党，又请杨子之竖追之。
杨子曰："咦！亡一羊，何追之者众？"
邻人曰："多歧路。"
既反，问："获羊乎？"曰："亡之矣。"曰："奚亡之？"曰："歧路之中又有歧焉。吾不知所之，所以反也。"
杨子戚然变容，不言者移时，不笑者竟日。
门人怪之，请曰："羊贱畜，又非夫子之有， 而损言笑者何哉？"
杨子不答。门人不获所命。弟子孟孙阳出，以告心都子。
心都子曰："大道以多歧亡羊，学者以多方丧生。非本不同，非本不一，而末异若是。唯归同反一，为亡得丧。子长先生之门，习 先生之道，而不达先生之况也，哀哉！
——《列子》
Too Many Paths
One of Yang Zi's neighbours, who lost a sheep, sent all his men out to find it, and asked Yang Zi's servant to join in the search.
"What!" exclaimed Yang Zi. "Do you need all those men to find one sheep?"
"There are so many paths it may have taken," the neighbor explained. When his servant returned, Yang Zi asked him: "Well, did you find the sheep?"
He answered that they had not. Then Yang Zi asked how they had failed to find it.
"There are too many paths," replied the servant. "One path leads to another, and we didn't know which to take, so we had had to come back."
At that Yang Zi looked very thoughtful. He was silent for a long time, and did not smile all day.
His pupils were surprised.
"A sheep is a trifle," they said, "and this wasn't even yours. Why should you stop talking and smiling?"
Yang Zi did not answer, and his pupils were puzzled. One of them, Mengsheng Yang, went out to describe what had happened to Xindou Zi.
"When there are too many paths," said Xindou Zi, "a man cannot find his sheep. When a student has too many interests, he fritters away his time. The source of all knowledge is one, but the branches of learning are many. Only by returning to the primal truth can a man avoid losing his way. You are Yang Zi's pupil and study from him, yet you seem to have failed completely to understand him."
Lie Zi
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