<原文>

Think about driving a route that’s very familiar. It could be your commute to work, a trip into town or the way home. Whichever it is, you know every twist and turn like the back of your hand. On these sorts of trips it’s easy to lose concentration on the driving and pay little attention to the passing scenery. The consequence is that you perceive that the trip has taken less time than it actually has.

This is the well-travelled road effect: people tend to underestimate the time it takes to travel a familiar route.

The effect is caused by the way we allocate our attention. When we travel down a well-known route, because we don’t have to concentrate much, time seems to flow more quickly. And afterwards, when we come to think back on it, we can’t remember the journey well because we didn’t pay much attention to it. So we assume it was shorter.

<点评> 今年英语二的翻译在难度上有所上升。文中,虽没有出现太多的生词,但整体要从语义上完整通顺地译出来,这就需要考生结合上下文,采用增词,意译的方式来处理。对于临时抱佛脚的考生而言,实属有难度。

同时也给备考2016的同学以警醒:在掌握翻译技巧的同时,一定要夯实基础,平时多加练习,才能应对自如。

<参考译文>

想想看在一条非常熟悉的路上驾驶的感觉,这可能发生在上班,进城或回家的路上。无论如何,你会熟悉路上的每一个迂回曲折。在这类旅行中,我们很容易会分散注意力并且不太关注路边的风景。结果就是你误以为旅途比实际所用的时间要少。

这是美妙的旅程所产生的效果:人们往往会低估在熟悉的旅程中所用掉的时间。

我们分散注意力的方式会导致这种结果。当我们在知名的路途中行驶时,我们不必过于集中精力,时间似乎过得飞快。随后,当我们回想整个过程时,由于没有特别留神,会变得印象模糊。此时,我们似乎会觉得这段旅程会更短些。