但是，聪明的，你告诉我，我们的日子为什么一去不复返呢？
But, tell me, you the wise, why should our days go by never to return?
--是有人偷了他们罢，那是谁？
Perhaps they have been stolen by someone.
又藏在何处呢？
But who could it be and where could he hide them?
我不知道他们给了我多少日子；
I don't know how many days I am entitled to all together, but my quota of them is undoubtably wearing away.
在默默里算着，八千多日子已经从我手中溜去；
Counting up silently, I find out more than 8000 days have already slipped away through my fingers.
像针尖上一滴水滴在大海里，我的日子滴在时间的流里，没有声音，也没有影子。
Like a drop of water falling off a needle point into the ocean, my days are quietly dripping into the stream of time without leaving a trace.
去的尽管去了，来的尽管来着；
What is gone is gone, what is to come keeps coming.
去来的中间，又怎样地匆匆呢？
How swift is the transition in between!
早上我起来的时候，小屋里射进两三方斜斜的太阳。
When I get up in the morning, the slanting sun casts two or three squarish patches of light into my small room.
太阳他有脚啊，轻轻悄悄地挪移了；
The sun has feet too, edging away softly and stealthily.
吃饭的时候，日子从饭碗里过去；
Thus the day flows away through the sink when I wash my hands; vanishes in the rice bowl when I have my meal; passes away quietly before the fixed gaze of my eyes when I am lost in reverie.
我觉察他去的匆匆了，伸出手遮挽时，他又从遮挽的手边过去，天黑时，我躺在床上，他便伶伶利利地从我身上跨过，从我脚边飞去了。
In the evening, when I lie on my bed, it nimbly strides over my body and fleets past my feet.
等我睁开眼和太阳再见，这算又溜走了一日。
By the time when I open my eyes to meet the sun again, another day is already gone.
但是新来的日子的影儿又开始在叹息里闪过了。
But, in the midst of my sighs, a new day is flashing past.
在逃去如飞的日子里，在千门万户的世界里的我能做些什么呢？
Living in this world with its fleeting days and teeming millions, what can I do but waver and wander and live a transient life?
在八千多日的匆匆里，除徘徊外，又剩些什么呢？
What have I been doing during the 8000 fleeting days except wavering and wandering?
过去的日子如轻烟，被微风吹散了，如薄雾，被初阳蒸融了；
The bygone days, like wisps of smoke, have been dispersed by gentle winds, and, like thin mists, have been evaporated by the rising sun.
我留着些什么痕迹呢？
What traces have I left behind?
我赤裸裸来到这世界，转眼间也将赤裸裸的回去罢？
I have come to this world stark naked, and in the twinkling of an eye, I am to go back as stark naked as ever.
你聪明的，告诉我，我们的日子为什么一去不复返呢？
O you the wise, would you tell me please: why should our days go by never to return?
生活的经验固然会叫人忘记许多事情。
Lots of things are apt to fade from memory as one's life experiences accumulate.
但是有些记忆经过了多少时间的磨洗也不会消灭。
Some memories will withstand the wear and tear of time.
故乡里那些房屋，那些街道至今还印在我的脑子里。
Those houses and streets in my hometown still remain engraved on my mind.
我还记得我每天到学堂去总要走过的木匠老陈的铺子。
I still can recall how every day on my way to school I would invariably walk past Carpenter Lao Chen's shop.