painful

1.painful作“使感觉痛苦的”解。例如：He has a painful cut in a finger.和This is a painful piece of news. His painful eyes made it very difficult for him to sleep里的painful也作“使感觉痛苦的”解，就是“使（他）感觉痛苦的”。不可用作“（人）感觉痛苦的”解，如不可说He is painful in the eyes或I am painful to see this，该改作He has painful eyes 和I am pained to see this。

2.The story of his sufferings is painful to listen to和It is painful to listen to his story of sufferings都可以说。