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I have said before
我以前說過
That the past experience revived in the meaning
在涵義中復活的以往經驗
Is not the experience of one life only
不僅是一個人一生的經驗，
But of many generations — not forgetting something that is probably quite ineffable:
而且是多少世代人的經驗——不要忘記其中有的很可能根本無法言喻：
The backward look behind the assurance of recorded history, the backward half-look over the shoulder, towards the primitive terror.
返顧典籍記載的歷史的信念后面，回轉頭去，只須稍稍返顧一下，就看到那遠古的恐怖。
Now, we come to discover that the moments of agony
現在，我們終于發現痛苦的瞬間
(Whether, or not, due to misunderstanding,
（至于是否出于誤解，我們一向
Having hoped for the wrong things or dreaded the wrong things, is not in question) are likewise permanent
寄希望于虛妄，或畏懼于不當畏懼的，在不是我們要談的問題）都與時間所具有的永恒性
With such permanence as time has.
一樣永恒。
We appreciate this better in the agony of others, nearly experienced,
在一點我們在別人的痛苦中領會得更深。
Involving ourselves, than in our own.
（與我們有關，幾乎像我們身受的一樣）
For our own past is covered by the currents of action,
因為我們自己的過去被行動和洶涌的激流淹沒了，
But the torment of others remains an experience
而別人的苦惱卻始終是一種經驗，
Unqualified, unworn by subsequent attrition.
確鑿無疑而又不為接踵而來的時間所磨損。
People change, and smile: but the agony abides.
人們變化，微笑，而痛苦常在。
Time the destroyer is time the preserver,
時間這個破壞者也是時間這個保存者，
Like the river with its cargo of dead negroes, cows and chicken coops,
就像這條運載死亡的黑人、牛棚和雞籠的河，
The bitter apple and the bite in the apple.
就像苦澀的蘋果和蘋果上留下的齒痕一樣。
And the ragged rock in the restless waters,
而嶙峋的礁石在永不寧息的流水中
Waves wash over it, fogs conceal it;
浪花沖刷它，濃霧掩蔽它；
On a halcyon day it is merely a monument,
風平浪靜的日子，它不過是一塊標石，
In navigable weather it is always a seamark to lay a course by: but in the sombre season
在適宜航行的氣候永遠是一個確定航道的航海標志，但當陰沉憂郁的季節
Or the sudden fury, is what it always was.
或當它暴怒的時候，就露出了它本來的面目。
