Two stone sculptures, weighing 65 tons each, stand on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, outside the researchers’ entrance to the neoclassical building that houses the National Archives. One is called “Past”. It depicts an old man holding a closed book, gazing down streetward. An inscription on his plinth urges its readers to “study the past”, Confucius’s supposed prerequisite for divining the future. The other is called “Future”. It depicts a younger woman holding an open book, similarly gazeful, and her inscription insists that “what is past is prologue”, from Antonio’s speech in Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
在华盛顿特区宾夕法尼亚(Pennsylvania)大道上、国家档案馆(National Archives)这座新古典主义建筑研究人员出入口外，矗立着两座各重65吨的石雕。一座名为“过去”，雕的是一位手捧合上的书、目光沿街向下凝视的老人。底座上的铭文劝人们“学习过去”，这是据说孔子(Confucius)提出的洞察未来的前提。另一座名为“未来”，雕的是一位同样凝视远方、手持翻开书本的年轻女子。她底座上的铭文写着：“过去只是序幕”，出自莎士比亚《暴风雨》中安东尼奥的一段台词。