I have said before
我以前说过
That the past experience revived in the meaning
在涵义中复活的以往经验
Is not the experience of one life only
不仅是一个人一生的经验，
But of many generations — not forgetting something that is probably quite ineffable:
而且是多少世代人的经验——不要忘记其中有的很可能根本无法言喻：
The backward look behind the assurance of recorded history, the backward half-look over the shoulder, towards the primitive terror.
返顾典籍记载的历史的信念后面，回转头去，只须稍稍返顾一下，就看到那远古的恐怖。
Now, we come to discover that the moments of agony
现在，我们终于发现痛苦的瞬间
(Whether, or not, due to misunderstanding,
（至于是否出于误解，我们一向
Having hoped for the wrong things or dreaded the wrong things, is not in question) are likewise permanent
寄希望于虚妄，或畏惧于不当畏惧的，在不是我们要谈的问题）都与时间所具有的永恒性
With such permanence as time has.
一样永恒。
We appreciate this better in the agony of others, nearly experienced,
在一点我们在别人的痛苦中领会得更深。
Involving ourselves, than in our own.
（与我们有关，几乎像我们身受的一样）

For our own past is covered by the currents of action,
因为我们自己的过去被行动和汹涌的激流淹没了，
But the torment of others remains an experience
而别人的苦恼却始终是一种经验，
Unqualified, unworn by subsequent attrition.
确凿无疑而又不为接踵而来的时间所磨损。
People change, and smile: but the agony abides.
人们变化，微笑，而痛苦常在。
Time the destroyer is time the preserver,
时间这个破坏者也是时间这个保存者，
Like the river with its cargo of dead negroes, cows and chicken coops,
就像这条运载死亡的黑人、牛棚和鸡笼的河，
The bitter apple and the bite in the apple.
就像苦涩的苹果和苹果上留下的齿痕一样。
And the ragged rock in the restless waters,
而嶙峋的礁石在永不宁息的流水中
Waves wash over it, fogs conceal it;
浪花冲刷它，浓雾掩蔽它；
On a halcyon day it is merely a monument,
风平浪静的日子，它不过是一块标石，
In navigable weather it is always a seamark to lay a course by: but in the sombre season
在适宜航行的气候永远是一个确定航道的航海标志，但当阴沉忧郁的季节
Or the sudden fury, is what it always was.
或当它暴怒的时候，就露出了它本来的面目。