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.
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【参考译文】
想象自己行驶在一条非常熟悉的路上。它可能是你通向上班的路，也可能是你进城或回家的路。不管是哪条路线，你熟知这条路上的每一个迂回曲折，就像熟悉自己的手背一样。在这样的旅程中，你很难专注于驾驶，不关注路过的风景。结果，你感觉行驶的时间比实际的时间要少。
这就是“熟悉路线效应”：人们常常低估行走熟悉路线所用掉的时间。
这种效应是由我们注意力分配方式的不同引起的。当我们行走在熟悉的路线上，我们不必聚精会神，时间似乎流逝得更快。以后，当我们回想起这段旅程，我们不能清楚地回忆起它，因为我们并未留意过它。这样，我们会觉得这段旅程的时间相对较短。
【难句解析】
（1）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 zone out from the actual 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.
【解析】本文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，需要结合上下文，采用增词、意译的方式来处理。第一句是祈使句，翻译时可以加上宾语。第二句可以直接根据语序翻译出来。翻译第三句时，注意every twist and turn意为“迁回曲折”。
（2）This is the well-travelled road effect: people tend to underestimate the time it takes to travel a familiar route.
【解析】underestimate意为“低估”，在句中可以直译。effect本意为“影响，效果，作用”，常用在各种术语中，翻译为“效应”，如Butterfly Effect“蝴蝶效应”。故本题翻译the well-traveled road effect时，可以直接译为“熟悉路线效应”，加上双引号，以示强调。
（3）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.
【解析】The effect指代的是the well-travelled road effect，可直接译为“这种效应”。allocate意为“分拨，配给，配发”。the way allocate our attention可译为“我们分配注意力的方式”。
