“难道这就是某某景点？比想象中的也小太多了吧！真让人失望透顶！”

去看世界著名景点，一定要有平常心，否则你可能会陷入“不去会后悔，去了更后悔”的怪圈。因为有些如雷贯耳的景点，并没有你想象的那么宏伟……

Life can be full of let-downs and disappointments — the first time you taste beer as a teenager and wonder what all the fuss is about; that feeling when you open a giant parcel to find a tiny gift and an awful lot of plastic packaging inside; that first date, soon abandoned, with the guy who, it transpires, looks nothing like his Tinder profile.

生活可能充满失望：少年时第一次品尝啤酒，你会奇怪这东西有什么好喝的；当你打开一个巨大的包裹，发现都是大堆的塑料包装，礼物只有一丁点儿大；第一次约会，很快就黄了，才发现那个男人和他在Tinder上的头像判若两人。

The world of travel is not immune to such shortcomings.

旅游的世界也不能免俗。

The breathless opinions of your friends and the hyperbole of glossy brochures might lead you to believe that such and such city/hotel/restaurant is the greatest thing in all eternity - only for your own experience to unearth a crime-ridden hellhole/rat-infested hovel/overpriced mess of posing hipsters, rude waiters and food which is as bland as the portions are miniscule.

朋友们的极力推崇和宣传册上过度美化的图片可能让你相信这座城市/这家酒店/这家餐厅是全世界最棒的，直到你自己亲身体验，你才发现这其实是一个犯罪猖獗的地狱/老鼠出没的破房子/装腔作势、价格虚高、服务员粗鲁、食物平淡无奇、菜量很小的地方。

Then there are the landmarks which are very famous and very busy — but which, on close inspection, turn out to be rather smaller than legend has it. Not in terms of popularity or the number of other tourists clustered around, but in actual physical size.

有些标志性旅游景点非常出名，也非常繁忙，但近前一看会发现比传说的小很多。我们指的不是知名度或聚集在周围的游客数量，而是该景点的真实体积。

Take Stonehenge as an example. There it is above, as postcards intended - the very image of Bronze Age Britain at its most romantic. 

以巨石阵为例。上面的这张巨石阵图片是很多在明信片上看到的样子，把英国青铜时代表现得要多浪漫有多浪漫。

It looks huge, seismic, a timeless temple assembled by the hands of neolithic giants. It is only when you see it in person - or when a load of Summer Solstice revellers are allowed to go goo-goo for the sun in the middle of the main circle - that you realise those colossal slabs are not quite as colossal as you might think. Each standing stone measures 13ft (4.1m) - roughly the combined height of two averagely tall men. Impressive but not gargantuan.

它看上去高大而富有震撼力，就像是新石器时代的巨人们用双手搭建起来的超越时间的庙堂。只有当你自己亲眼见到，或者一群夏至狂欢者们齐聚在巨石阵中看日出时，你才会意识到这些石柱并没有你想象的那么大。每根石柱高13英尺（4.1米），约等于两个高个子男性的身高之和。令人印象深刻，但还不足以让人惊叹。

还有哪些备受游客喜爱的世界奇景被严重夸大，或者让你被想象所误导？下面就是其中的几个：

Tourists flock in their thousands to this celebrated statue, which sits on the Langelinie promenade in Copenhagen. A representation of the titular heroine of one of Hans Christian Andersen's most affecting fairytales, she sits a reasonable walk - about two miles - from the centre of town, but many visitors still make the hike in search of her.

成千上万的游客蜂拥去观看这个坐落在哥本哈根长堤公园步行道上的著名雕像。这座雕像代表着安徒生最感人的童话故事《小美人鱼》中的女主人公。雕像离市中心不远也不近，大概两英里，但很多游客都徒步寻找到了她。

It is only when they arrive that they realise the mermaid really is little. Specifically, she is about 4.1ft (1.25m) in "height". Better hope your camera has a decent zoom feature.

只有在到达以后，这些游客才意识到小美人鱼雕像真的很小。具体而言，她的“身高”是4.1英尺（1.25米）。你最好能有个变焦功能不错的相机。

Belgium keeps it mildly weird at the heart of its capital, where the notorious fountain of a small naked boy merrily urinating is a constant source of camera clickery.

比利时在首都市中心摆放这么一个撒尿小童像是有点诡异，但是这个裸体小男孩欢乐撒尿的著名喷泉是人们争相拍照的对象。

How small? A mere 61cm of sculpted bronze. Don't plan a weekend in Brussels around it.

这个铜像有多小呢？只有61厘米高。如果你要去布鲁塞尔度周末，行程安排不要以它为重心。

By artistic definitions, Leonardo Da Vinci's 1503 depiction of silk merchant's wife Lisa del Giocondo is a Renaissance titan - a captivating creation on canvas so sizeable in impact, influence and fame that it practically has its own gravitational field.

按艺术的定义，达芬奇1503年的这幅丝绸商人妻子丽莎·乔康多的肖像画是文艺复兴时期的巨作——这幅让人着迷的油画无论是影响力还是名气都已经自成气候。

It is only when you try to gain a glimpse of that slight smile, pushing your way through the crowds in the Louvre, that you realise just how small "La Gioconda" is in the flesh. Specifically, the painting measures 77 cm × 53 cm. Watch where you're waving that selfie-stick, you almost had my eye out.

只有当你在卢浮宫的人群中艰难前行，只为看一眼那若有若无的笑容时，你才意识到“蒙娜丽莎”的真容原来这么小。具体来说，这幅油画尺寸为77厘米*53厘米。你可别乱挥你的自拍杆，小心打到我的眼睛。

The companion-piece to the pyramids of Giza was hewn from the limestone of ancient Egypt by the gods who oversaw this early civilisation. They created a figure of size and splendour, part human, part lion, to inspire awe and devotion through the ages.

吉萨金字塔旁边的这座狮身人面像是见证了古埃及早期文明的众神用石灰岩凿出来的。他们创造了一个庞大壮观的半人半狮像，让人们世世代代心生敬畏，永远忠诚。

Well, that's roughly the spiel. In fact, Cairo's most notable cat-man hybrid is significantly smaller than the fabled tombs it loiters next to. Its statistics - 238ft (73 m) long, 66ft (20m) high - mean it is big, but nothing like as large as many imagine. Oh, and it was made by mortal craftsmen some time between 2558 and 2532 BC.

好吧，刚才那些都是夸张的宣传说辞。事实上，开罗最著名的这座狮身人面像比它旁边的金字塔要小得多。从数据来看——宽238英尺（73米），高66英尺（20米）——狮身人面像并不小，但也绝不像很多人想象的那么大。还有，狮身人面像是在公元前2558年到2352年间由凡人工匠造成的。

Never has one statue dominated a city's skyline as much as Cristo Redentor - soaring above the beaches, bars and barrios of Rio de Janeiro, the crowning glory atop the swarthy jungle-clad peak Corcovado.

从来没有哪座雕像如救世主基督像这般鲜明地刻画出一个城市的天际线，它高高地耸立在丛林密布的科尔科瓦杜山上，俯瞰着里约热内卢的海滩、酒吧和贫民区。

What do you find when you reach the top of the mountain? The slightly deflating truth that this particular Christ is a "mere" 98ft (30m) in stature. To put this in context, the Eiffel Tower prods the clouds at 1,063 ft (324m). Now that is an urban giant.

当你到达山顶的时候你看见了什么呢？这座基督像真实的身材“只有”98英尺（30米）高，比想象中的略有缩水。作为对照，直插云霄的埃菲尔铁塔的高度为1063英尺（324米）。那才称得上是都市巨人。

The same case of slight return perhaps applies to the most famous American lady who is carved from copper and lives on an island opposite the skyscrapers of lower Manhattan.

同样的缩水也发生在最著名的美国女士身上。这位用铜雕成的女神像位于下曼哈顿区摩天大楼对面的一个岛上。

Again, it is not that Liberty is tiny. The statue, to the tip of the torch, measures 151ft (46m). The whole construction from ground level up is 305ft (93m). And yet, all those representations in films, TV shows and American mythology leave you expecting just a little more.

话说回来，自由女神像并不小。从火炬的顶端开始计算，雕像本尊高达151英尺（46米）。从地面开始计算，雕像高305英尺（93米）。但是，电影、电视剧和美国神话呈现出的自由女神像会让你对她的期待更高一些。

It is not that this feature is determined to lambast America's most noted landmarks. "You call that big? That's not big. I should have gone to Russia."

本文并非志在抨击美国最著名的地标。“你管那叫大瀑布？这根本不算大。后悔了，我应该去俄罗斯的。”

It's just that, for all its image as a Grand Canyon of the US north-east, all frothing water and clouds of spray, Niagara Falls is not really in the top league of waterfalls. At least, not when it comes to height. Consider these numbers. The Horseshoe Falls segment of Niagara Falls drops 188ft (57m). Victoria Falls in Zambia and Zimbabwe manages a plunge of 355ft (108m). Angel Falls in Venezuela goes the whole hog at 3,212 ft (979m).

只不过，虽然位于美国东北部大峡谷的这个瀑布拍出的腾雾溅珠的照片很壮观，但尼亚加拉瀑布真不是最大的瀑布。至少，不是最高的。来看看下面这些数字。尼亚加拉大瀑布三大分支当中最大的一支瀑布——马蹄瀑布高188英尺（57米）。赞比亚和津巴布韦的维多利亚瀑布高355英尺（108米）。委内瑞拉的天使瀑布最高，达3212英尺（979米）。

No visit to Iceland can be complete without a dip in this well-named attraction about 25 miles outside Reykjavik. With good reason. The water is indeed blue (or appears to be). It is also warm. People bathe in its soothing heat and feel happy - seemingly ensconced in a steaming inland ocean. Look at the picture above for proof.

蓝色礁湖距离冰岛首都雷克雅维克大概25英里。去冰岛不去蓝色礁湖是不完整的。理由很充分。湖水确实是蓝色的（或者看起来是蓝色），而且很温暖。在湖里泡澡的人会感到热水的温度很舒服，心情很愉快，仿佛身处于冒着蒸汽的内陆海之中。上面的图就是证明。

This is all fine and dandy. It is only when you see a wider photo of the lagoon that you realise it is a) not huge and b) an off-shoot of the adjacent Svartsengi geothermal power plant.

这一切都很好。只不过当你看到蓝色礁湖的全景图时，你会意识到：第一，这个湖不大，第二，它只是附近的史瓦特森吉地热发电厂的衍生物。

你还去过哪些“缩水”的景点呢？留言区见吧！

编辑：丹妮

英文来源：每日电讯报

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