And Yesterday, or Centuries before?

昨天，还是几个世纪以前？

youdao

That night, Death took the old woman, and he was busy long after carrying off the souls of people who, if not for the music, would have died years or centuries before.

那天夜里，死神抓走了老妇人，然后他又忙着带走那些本该在几年前，甚至几个世纪前就该死去的人们。

youdao

Washing up or changing clothing before a meal has been a ritual in cultures around the world for centuries, as is saying a prayer or blessing.

在全世界多个世纪以来，进餐前洗手洗脸或者换衣服已经是已经是一种文化仪式了，也被说是一种祈祷或祝福。

youdao

Mr. Lenz and other German bomb disposal experts said it could be still decades, or even centuries, before nearly all of the tens of thousands of still-unexploded bombs estimated to be buried throughout Germany are discovered.

WSJ: German City to Evacuate as 2-Ton Bomb Is Defused

But centuries before intercontinental carbonation or the rise of the European coffee house filled with intellectuals with brains sharpened by caffeine, the first beverage which marked civilization's improvement upon nature was beer.

NPR: Looking at the World Through Beer Glasses

Heroic voyages in search of profit or Buddhahood were the subjects of legend centuries before the Atlantic and Pacific were crossed.

ECONOMIST: Historical geography