tend to do it in tones of a kind of a requiem;

倾向于采用一种挽伤的语气
a requiem, a tragic mode,

挽伤一种悲惜的格调
a mode that is always saying what might have been,

他们总是在说事情本应如何
what was attempted, what was aimed for,

做了那些努力还有他们原本目的之所在
but then failed, fell apart;

但最终还归于失败
what high aspiration, but God they couldn't quite do it.

期许如此之高但是他们就是未能做到
And it is a national requiem, in a sense.

某种程度上来说这如同一曲国家的挽歌
Somebody should write that symphony, the Reconstruction Symphony.

有些人应当把它成交响乐重建的交响乐
We need a Beethoven for that,

为此我们需要一位像贝多芬的高人
and he needs to be really depressed one day.

而且他应在某天感到极端沮丧
But that doesn't mean it won't be great

但这不意味作品会不出色
and we won't learn from it, feel from it.

不代表我们无法从中学习和感悟