"Let us not generalize. The common captivity in time is felt differently by different people, and some people may not feel it at all. Generalizations are full of loopholes and traps. I know elderly men for whom 'time' only means 'timepiece.'" (SO, pp. 141-142)

「我們且勿一概而論。對通常的時間羈束，不同的人各有不同的感受，有些人或竟全無所感。概論不免充滿了漏洞與陷阱。我認識一些老人，對他們而言，『時間』只是『時鐘』而已。」*

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"The present is only the top of the past, and the future does not exist." (SO, p. 184)

「現在只是過去的頂端，而未來實不存在。」

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"[Time is] the dim hollow between two rhythmic beats, the narrow and bottomless silence between the beats, not the beats themselves, which only embar Time. In this sense human life is not a pulsating heart but the missed heartbeat." (SO, p. 186)

「〔時間是〕兩個節拍間那幽暗的空洞，是兩拍間那狹窄而無底的寂靜，而不是規限時間的拍子本身。據此而觀，人的生命就不是一顆脈動的心，而是那個錯失的心跳。」

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【摘自《Strong Opinions》】


* 潘小松《固執己見》（吉林長春：時代文藝出版社，1998）譯本中誤以「timepiece」為「時間塊兒」，而此段後半就被譯為：「一概而論害人不淺。我知道對老人來講『時間』只意味著『時間塊兒』。」（！！！）