Contemporary things are modern and relate to the present time.
modern , present-day , current
She writes a lot of contemporary music for people like Rihanna.
她为蕾哈娜等人创作大量当代音乐作品。
one of the finest collections of contemporary art in the country.
这个国家最好的现代艺术藏品之一。
Only the names are ancient; the characters are modern and contemporary.
只有名字是古代的;人物都现代且摩登。
Contemporary people or things were alive or happened at the same time as something else you are talking about.
drawing upon official records and the reports of contemporary witnesses.
借助官方记录以及当时目击者的证言。
He was easily recognised from contemporary paintings.
很容易从现代画作中识别出他的作品。
contemporaries
Someone's contemporary is a person who is or was alive at the same time as them.
Like most of my contemporaries, I grew up in a vastly different world.
像大多数和我同时代的人一样,我在一个截然不同的世界里长大。