举一个具体例子，一辆汽车(M)从A点出发，最后到达B点。如果M走一条直线，则M从A到B经历的时间是直线的，如图b；如果M走的是一条曲线，则M从A到B经历的时间就是曲线的。多说一句，M从A到B经历的时间等于M从A到B每一点的时间累积。（详看3.6 节）
Now taking a real instance, a car (M) started from point A and arrived at point B. If M went along with a straight line, it was regarded the time of M’s travel from A to B was straight (figure b); If M traveled along with a curved line, it was regarded the time of M’s travel from A to B was curved or non-straight line (figure a). The interval of M’s traveling from A to B equaled to the cumulating times, which M spent by going through every point from A to B. Detailed in section 6 below.
看“图表c，”它描述的是“年”与时间（time）的关系。我们暂且把地球绕太阳公转看成是圆形的。这个周期（客观时间）就是这个圆上的时间“一点一点”组成的，我们可以说这个周期（客观时间）是圆形的。 现在我们把这个周期人为定义为“年，” ( year) 大家知道，“年”也是有变化的，“年”并不是绝对的365天，“年”的平均时间是365.2421天。通常“今年”(this year)与 “去年”(last year)是不相同，这就是我们公历（the Gregorian calendar or solar calendar）有闰年（leap year）的原因。再如，一般情况下，我们知道时钟和手表都有“秒针，”时钟和手表的秒针转一圈，它告诉我们时间过去了一分钟，而对于“秒针”来说它经历的时间也是个圆形的。
From Figure c, it depicts the relationship of “year” and “time.” Here, the orbit of the Earth’s moving around the Sun is tentatively considered round. This period (a kind of objective times) consists of every “point of time” on this circle, so we can call this period is round. Now we change to call this period as “year.” “Year” is not exactly equal to “365 days” or “366 days.” It equals to 365.2421 days on average. “This year” is normally different from “last year,” that is why our calendar（the Gregorian calendar or solar calendar）has leap year. For another example, the watch or clock has “second hand.” The second hand goes a circuit that tells us time passes a minute. For the “second hand”, time it went through could be called “round in shape.”
再来看看“图表d，”这个图是用另一种方式表示地球绕太阳公转周期与时间的关系，我们就用“年”（year）概念表示，“年”的变化范围从365天到366天之间。从这个图中，我们看到时间“年”被描述成一个曲线形。
我们还可以得出，如何去描述时间的 规律 性取决于你想告诉大家什么，比如，从“图表c，”你可以说“年”这个时间是圆形的；或者，从“图表d，”你可以说，“年”是在365天和366天之间变化的，并且“年”在这个时间坐标里表现出的是曲线形的。
From Figure d, it shows the relationship of “year” and “time” in different way. “Year” varies from 365 days to 366 days. From this chart, we see the time (“year”) was also described as a curved line. How to describe the regularities of times depends on what you want to tell, for example, “year” is round” (Figure c), or “year” varies from 365 days to 366 days (Figure d) and “year” is curved in the time coordinate.
通过上面的一些图例，我们可以得出这样的结论：时间可以是直线的，时间可以是曲线的，时间可以是圆形的，结论是，时间有形状，但没有固定形状。
According to the paradigms and diagrams above, we can draw a conclusion that time can be straight, time can be curved and time can be rounded. In result, time has shape, but has not fixed shape.
这里需要提醒注意的是，我们应当区分具体时间概念和抽象时间概念。具体时间是可以被度量的，它也是我们度量系统的一部分；抽象时间说的是时间的定义和时间的本质，就是说，抽象时间不可以用来度量的。
上面的章节中，我们已经对具体时间概念（包括客观时间和主观时间等等概念）有了许多讨论，下面我们将讨论时间的一般概念（抽象概念） 问题 。希望以前的讨论会对我们下面对时间的进一步 研究 有所帮助。
It needs to mention that we must distinguish the concrete concept of time from the abstract concept of time. The concrete time can be measured—it is a part of our measurement systems; the abstract time is known as the definition of time and the essence of time, and the abstract time can not be measured.
We have already discussed the concrete concept of time (included the objective time, the subjective time and many other notions), which could be helpful to understand the abstract concept of time below.
5．时间的定义是什么？ 时间的本质是什么？
What is the definition of time? What is the essence of time?
什么是时间？回答这个问题也就是找出时间的定义和时间的本质。 哲学 家和 科学 家从没有停止过对时间的探讨。科学上两次重大飞跃的代表人物牛顿和爱因斯坦，其 理论 都是和时间概念紧密相连的。可惜的是他们的注意力是在物 理学 上，而并没有认真思考时间的定义和解释时间的本质。
What is time? Answering what is time, namely we would find out the definition and the essence of time. How to define the time is a longstanding issue in science and in philosophy. Two science representatives—Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, their theories intensively referred to time. Regrettably they did not seriously speculate what was the definition of time and what was the essence of time.
我们现在对时间的概念大部分被相对论的时空概念所左右，对时间的理解也仅停留在时间是“相对”的概念上。我认为，相对时间概念不能看成比绝对时间概念优越，不准确地说，它们是“钱币”的两个方面。另外，我们可以得到的时间定义主要来源于字典和百科全书，其定义也是各不相同，下面我列出一些它们对时间的解释，这些诠释基本代表了人类以前对时间的主流认识。
Nowadays our understandings of time, in any case, have been mastered by Relativity, and most people still remain realizing that time was merely relative. In my opinion, the “relative concept” of time was not considered prior to the “absolute concept” of time, and imprecisely they looked like a double-sides coin. In addition, we had to face the different explanations of time while looking up the dictionaries and encyclopedia. The viewpoints I listed below basically represented our previous comprehension of time.
Oxford Dictionary:
Time: the indefinite continued progress of existence, events, etc., in past, present, and future regarded as a whole.
Longman Dictionary:
Time: a continuous measurable quantity from the past, through the present, and into the future.
The American Heritage Dictionary:
Time: a non-spatial linear continuum in which events occur in an apparently irreversible succession.
Interpretation from Wikipedia—web-based encyclopedia (Aug. 22, 2006)
Time generally refers to the concept of a universal process or medium which allows all physical changes in the present to become events in the past. …
Time has been a major subject of science, philosophy and art. Though dictionaries present some (varied) definitions of time, it is difficult to provide an uncontroversial definition because there are wildly divergent views about its meaning, and concerns about where there are any simpler terms with which to define it. … To avoid these definitional problems, many fields use an ‘operational definition’ in which only the units of measurement are defined.
From Encyclopedia Britannica
Time is a measured or measurable period, a continuum that lacks spatial dimensions. Time is of philosophical interest and is also the subject of mathematical and scientific investigation.
我们还可以查到一些其他解释，我不能说它们都是错的，就像我说“时间就是时间”一样，或者绝大多数解释都是描述了一个时间的发生过程。你所看到的对时间的解释，包括上面列出的，也许可以帮助你接下来我对时间定义和时间本质的论述。
We could still find out some other definitions, which I could hardly say they were wrong, such as I said “time is time,” or most of them described a process of time occurrence. Some, including the viewpoints listed above, probably could help you understand the definition of time and the essence of time subsequently.
时间的定义：时间是任何变化的反映或描述。
The definition of time: Time is the reflection or description of change.
所谓变化就是一种状态从原态发成到不同。时间是变化的反映就是说，只要有变化就有时间的发生（产生），或者说，没有变化就不会有时间。因此，我们可以得出这个结论，变化是时间的主体，而不是其他。那人类是不是时间的主体呢，当然不是，因为没有人类，时间依然存在。
Change means that a state occurs from same to different. Time is the reflection of change means there are occurrences of time as long as there are changes, i.e. if there is no change, there is no time. Therefore, we could get a conclusion that Change is the only subject of time, no others. However , if humans are the subject of time, the answer is no, because there are no humans, time still can exist.
我们先不去管哲学上关于主体和客体的争论，这里说的主体与客体的关系意思是，没有主体(主的，主因)就没有客体(从属的)存在，也就是说，客体（时间）服从（屈从）与主体（变化）。
Regardless of the argument about the subject and object in philosophy, here in the article referring to the subject and object, it means if there is no subject (main or main cause), there is no reason for object (subordinate) to exist, in another word, the object (e.g. time) must yield to the subject (e.g. change).
需要提一句，时间不是唯一描述变化的。我们知道空间有变化，例如，汽球的空间可大可小；物质有变化，例如，物质的运动，物质的体积，物质的形态都可能有变化；我们的思想也有变化，例如，昨天你还认为地球是平的，今天就认为是圆的了；当然，时间本身也有变化，最简单的例子，我们都知道时间是不停往前走，“现在”的后面是“过去，”“现在”的前面是‘未来’。所有这些变化都可以用时间来描述，例如，在重力的作用下，空间从状态A弯曲到状态B，花了3秒钟；月亮绕地球的运行周期大约是29.53天（这就是阴历月的由来），等等。
需要注意的是，时间并不是反映或描述空间，物质等具体的个体的，而是反映和描述它们的变化的，时间，空间，物质都是独立的存在。
Time is also considered merely to describe the change. We know space could change, e.g., the space inside a balloon could be smaller or bigger, or space could be curved; matter could change, e.g., the motion and the volume of matter could change; our thoughts could change, e.g. yesterday he thought the Earth is flat, but today he thought the Earth is round; certainly time itself could change, to take an instance, we know time goes towards the future, the past is behind the present, the future is ahead of the present. All changes mentioned above can be described by using the concept of time, e.g., the change of space which curved by gravitation from state A to state B took three seconds; the period of the Moon’s rotation around the Earth is about 29.53 days(called “month” in lunar calendar) and so on. And time did not reflect or describe the space or matter other than their changes, i.e. time did not mean to describe certain bodies, but their changes. It needs to mention here that time, space and matter are different and independent existences
变化当然也可以用其他概念来描述，例如，长度，质量，温度，力，面积，速度，功率等，它们都可以反映某种存在或现象的变化。用什么概念去描述某种存在或现象，这要看你想去研究这种存在或现象的什么样的规律性或规则。去描述我们生活中的某个事件，我们可以选择用时间这个概念，当然，也可以选择其他的概念，例如，“这辆车的事故发生在3天前；”“这辆车发生了事故是因为天气恶劣。”
Also, change can be described by using other concepts, for example, length, mass, temperature, force, area, velocity, power, etc., they can also tell us the changes of certain existences or phenomena, and what existences or phenomena we want to describe by using the concepts above depends on what regularities or laws we want to tell. To describe the events in our lives, we can choose the concept of time, of course, as well as other concepts, e.g., “the car accident happened three days ago;” “the car accident happened because of the bad weather.”
宇宙中包括宇宙本身，永远存在变化，如果宇宙中没有了变化，宇宙就结束了，时间也无从谈起。说宇宙是物质的或运动的，不如说宇宙是变化的。我们顺便看一下物理上运动的定义：一个物体相应另一个物体的位置变化。（大英百科）
我们知道，要描述和定义一个概念(比如，宇宙)，应该包括它所有的组成。宇宙的组成不仅有物质部分，它还有非物质(non-matter) 部分，例如空间，时间，意识都是非物质部分，因此，不能说宇宙就是物质的。
Always, there are changes in the universe and universe itself. If there were not changes, the universe would end, and we would have no way to talk about time. The universe would rather be called substantial or in motion than the universe is always in change. Now take a look at the definition of motion in physics that motion means the change of position of one body with respect to another ( Encyclopedia).
To depict or define a certain concept (e.g., the Universe), we have to tell the whole compositions of this concept. The universe consists of not only the physical parts but also the non-matter parts (e.g. non-matter parts include space, time, consciousness, etc.), as a consequence, we could not call the universe is only substantial or physical.
传统上，科学的 发展 是围绕“物质概念”展开的，因此上，从某种角度说，这个世界是也就建立在某种“物质”上了，因而，对宇宙中非物质部分的研究相对进展较慢，尽管对意识对争论持续了几千年，但到现在我们还是没有弄懂意识的本质是什么，可喜的是，我们已有了思维科学的研究，当然，伦理和道德规范也包括在里面了，困难的是，我们必须用思维去研究思维。
In tradition, science developed around the “the concept of matter,” and similarly, in some ways, our world was built up by “matter,” and the researches of non-matter parts developed slowly. Though the arguments of consciousness lasted for thousands of years, we have not known what the essence of consciousness should be. It is congratulated that some people established the brain science or thinking science, as well as “ethics”. The hard thing is to use thinking to think thinking.
相对论让我们对空间和时间有了进一步认识，令人困惑的是，爱因斯坦把时间和空间绑在了一起，而后来的继承者也无没有把时空(space-time)拆开，也就是说，他们忽略了时间的客观性，即时间是一种客观存在，并不是他们认为的是想像的“东西。”另外，根据相对论，时空是一起被弯曲的，我们已经知道变化是时间的主体，我很想知道引力如何能扭曲“变化。”还有，我也想知道，为什么没有定义空间的国际单位，也没有人合理地解答空间的本质，相比之下，我们却有时间的国际单位，而接下来我会对时间的本质进行解释，这里，我不想谈论太多关于空间的事，我想强调的是，时间是用来描述空间的变化的，而不是用来描述空间本身，时间是不从属空间的。
And Relativity has made us understand space and time more, but it was confusing that Albert Einstein bound up space and time into together. Moreover, the successors were not able to take “space-time” apart, i.e. actually they neglected time’s objectivity--time is a kind of existences and it is not an imaginary thing. In addition, according to Relativity, space-time could be curved together. We have already known that change is the subject of time，and I really want to know how the gravitation would curve the “change.” And also I was wondering why we could not define the unit of space or could not answer the essence of space, by contrast, time had its unit(s), and I will answer the essence of time later on. I would not like to talk space much here, what I concerned is that time is to describe the change of space, and not space itself. Time does not subject to space.
时间的本质是什么？
What is the essence of time?
几乎每个人家里都有时钟（clock）。时钟的“滴答声”让我们意识到时间的存在，它还告诉我们时间正在流逝。时间总是流向未来，就算宇宙膨胀到一定时候往回坍缩，宇宙时间还是向前走的，膨胀（Big Rip）和坍缩（Big Crunch）应看成是宇宙变化全过程中的一部分。时间是否可以回到过去？我觉得想像是一种财富，我的确很想重过大学生活。
Almost every family has the clock on the wall. The ticks from the clock tell us the existence of time, and also let us know time is elapsing. Time always flows towards the future, even if the universe should collapse back when the expansion stopped, the universal time would still proceed. The collapse (Big Crunch) and expansion (Big Rip) should be regarded as the parts of the whole evolution of the Cosmos. Could time go back to the past? I really think the imagination is a kind of treasures, and I really wish to go back to the university to study again.
时间是一种存在，它既是客观的，又是主观的。客观性就是不受思想所支配，或独立于意识之外的存在，例如，月亮绕地球的运行周期，它在人类出现之前就存在着。时间又是主观的，例如，我们日历的月份（month）可以定义为30天，也可以定义为31天，而2月份（Feb.），我们有28天和29天。最好不要去修改客观时间，比如，把月亮“推”得运行快一些，但主观时间可以根据具体情况进行调整，夏时制（Daylight Saving Time）就是一个例子。
Time is a kind of existences, and it is objective as well as subjective. Talking about its objectivity—a thing external to the thinking mind (consciousness) or subject, for example, as known, the period of the Moon’s rotation around the Earth, it existed much earlier than humans did. Time could be subjective, for example, the “month”, a kind of subjective times, in our actual calendar is defined as some are 31 days, some are 30 days and February can be altered as 28 days or 29 days. It would be the better way not to change the objective time, e.g. “pushing” the Moon to move more quickly. But the subjective time can be adjusted by us, which Daylight Saving Time (DST) is a good example.
时间的本质，我归纳以下几点：
时间是一种存在，既是客观的，又是主观的。
变化是时间的主体，而不是其他；没有变化就不产生时间。
时间由时间单位组成。
时间没有固定形状，时间流向未来。
The essence of time is concluded below by far we know:
Time is a kind of existences; it is both objective and subjective.
Change is the only subject of time, no others; if there is no change, there is no occurrence of time.
Time consists of the unit (units) of time.
Time has not fixed shape; time goes (flows) towards the future.
6. 时间的表达式（the formulation of time）
The formulation of time
时间是客观世界的一种存在；时间也可以有规律性。我们以往习惯于通过时间坐标研究某种事情的变化(例如，运动)；实事上，我们很少通过坐标来研究时间的变化。方便起见，我建议今后使用坐标系来研究时间时，用x-time 暗示“x”为纵坐标轴，“time”为横坐标轴；time-x 暗示为“time”为纵坐标轴(ordinate)，“x”为横坐标轴(abscissa)。
为 计算 和测量某一具体时间(t)，我这里给出一个时间的表达式：
总体阐述：
• 时间(t)等于每一事情(every thing)从原状态Ａ发生到不同状态Ｂ的每一个时间单位的积分。
• 时间不会自行倒退。
时间的数学表达式：
• t = f(x)
• t = ∫abf(x)dx
x在区间[a,b]里。
Time is a kind of existences in the universe, therefore time could have regularity. Before now, we usually studied the changes of the certain “things” by time coordinates, and in fact we seldom studied the changes of time by the coordinate systems. For the convenience, I would like to suggest, when we depict the coordinates referring to time in the future, that “x-time” would imply “x” as ordinate and “time” as abscissa; “time-x” would imply “time” as ordinate and “x” as abscissa.
To compute or measure a certain time (t), below indicate the formulation of time.
General formulation:
• Time (t), that occurred when every thing happened from same state (A) to different state (B), equals to the integrals of every unit of time.
• Time can not go backwards automatically.
The expression in mathematics：
• t = f(x)
• t = ∫abf(x)dx
x on the interval [a,b]
7. 时间系统图
The chart of “Time System”
具体的时间包括客观时间和主观时间，我们可以发现和利用客观时间，而主观时间则是我们人类的 应用 时间。下面这个图表或许可以帮助你理解和记忆整个时间概念。
The concrete times refer to the objective time and the subjective time. The objective time might be discovered and utilized by us, and the subjective time is our applied time system. This chart might help us remember and comprehend the concept of time.
结束语：
End remarks：
时间理论不仅是呈现了对时间进行了分类和对时间的全面阐述，而更重要的是它反映出的是我们在探索宇宙真理过程中的一次努力。所谓的“宇宙真理，”我的理解是应当包括以下 内容 ：
创造或 自然 发生。即宇宙与人类起源问题。
简单说一句，世界上许许多多的人相信创造论，先不去管谁对谁错，大家都是在探讨真理和生命的意义。
存在与现象的解释。即宇宙与宇宙中的规律性问题。
宇宙的定义与本质。即哲学上的宇宙概念问题。
宇宙与人类命运问题。
寻求宇宙真理使得我们的生命和人类的生活变得有了意义。
The theory of time has shown not only the classification and interpretation of time, but also importantly it reflected one of our efforts of the explorations for the Truth of the Cosmos. So-called the Truth of the Cosmos, I realized it should include some contents below:
Created or occurred naturally, namely the questions about the origin of the Cosmos and man.
Interpretations of existences and phenomena, namely the questions about the laws or rules of the Cosmos itself, existences and phenomena in the Cosmos.
Definition and essence of the Cosmos, namely the philosophical notion of the Cosmos.
Destiny of the Cosmos and human beings.
Seeking for the Truth of the Cosmos makes the life of humankind become significant.
