《老子》中有三章提到以無事「取天下」的觀點。當代學者大多據河上公注把「取天下」之「取」解釋和翻譯成「治理」之「治」。這似乎是為了遷就老子「自然」「無為」的一貫主張。然而，河上公之注並沒有提供任何論證和旁證，在先秦典籍中也很難發現典型的例句來印證以「取」為「治」是必要和可靠的訓釋。古代的老子注疏很少採用河上公之說，說文、韻書、辭書類典籍也不收河的解釋。本文論證，《老子》中「治天下」之治應參考《左傳》中「取國」「取邑」之取。《左傳》多次明確指出，用「取」「言其易也」。按照「取」的這一特殊意義來解老子以無事「取天下」的思想就若合符節，與老子主張自然無為的思想亳無矛盾了。

　　　　　It is a commonplace that the essential meaning of the Chinese work ch'u is " to take" or "to get". However, many may modern scholars who have annotated or translated the Tao-te-ching have rendered the ch'u in the sentence " to get the world" (ch'u tien-hsia) into " to govern" instead of "to get" or "to take." Although this rendition followa the oldest commentary of Ho-shang-kung back in the Han Dynasty, it is a weak or groundless annotation. Firstly, we cannot find good evidence that ch'u should be understood as "to govern" in pre-Ch'in texts. Few ancient Tao-te-ching commentaries or classical dictionaries defined the meaning of ch'u as "to govern." Secondly, even Ho-shang-kung, who initiated the interpretation of ch'u as " to govern," didn't present any examples or evidence to support his unusual annotation. In addition, although three chapters of the Tao-te-ching contain the sentence " to get the world"(ch'u tien-hsia), Ho-shang-kung only rendered ch'u as "to govern" in one instance. How should we understand the sentence "to get the world"(ch'u tien-hsia)? This paper argues that in rendering the sentence, we should adopt the special interpretation of ch'u in the Tso-chuan as it appears in the compounds "ch'u-yi"(to get a city) and "ch'u-kuo"(to get a stage). The Tso-chuan repeatedly and explicitly asserts that the ch'u in "ch'u-yi" and "ch'u-kuo" is to be interpreted as "to get easily without strife or conflict". This special interpretation fits perfectly with the sentences in the Tao-te-ching, and embodies Lao-tzu's essential concepts of naturalness (tzu-jan) and non-action (wu-wei).