一去不复返了

[wrbt]

I can't make sense of this sentence about Beijing Opera actors in the essay at: http://clavisinica.com/CVP/opera.html

他们身上的精湛技艺和敬业精神都一去不复返了

Thanks in advance for any help.

[muyongshi]

What it's saying is that the current generation will never be able to compare with the last generation. The way the last generation did it, there make-up and such (I'm paraphrasing) has gone and will not come back.

It's kind of like saying it can never be as good as the original.

Hope that makes sense! (does it?)

[wrbt]

Yes that makes sense. Tough idiom to see from the literal, thanks a lot for the help I appreciate it.