“難道這就是某某景點？比想象中的也小太多了吧！真讓人失望透頂！”去看世界著名景點，一定要有平常心，否則你可能會陷入“不去會后悔，去了更后悔”的怪圈。因為有些如雷貫耳的景點，并沒有你想象的那么宏偉……

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.
生活可能充滿失望：少年時第一次品嘗啤酒，你會奇怪這東西有什么好喝的；當你打開一個巨大的包裹，發現都是大堆的塑料包裝，禮物只有一丁點兒大；第一次約會，很快就黃了，才發現那個男人和他在Tinder上的頭像判若兩人。

The world of travel is not immune to such shortcomings. 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.
旅游的世界也不能免俗。朋友們的極力推崇和宣傳冊上過度美化的圖片可能讓你相信這座城市/這家酒店/這家餐廳是全世界最棒的，直到你自己親身體驗，你才發現這其實是一個犯罪猖獗的地獄/老鼠出沒的破房子/裝腔作勢、價格虛高、服務員粗魯、食物平淡無奇、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.
有些標志性旅游景點非常出名，也非常繁忙，但近前一看會發現比傳說的小很多。我們指的不是知名度或聚集在周圍的游客數量，而是該景點的真實體積。

Take Stonehenge as an example. There it is above, as postcards intended - the very image of Bronze Age Britain at its most romantic. 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.
以巨石陣為例。上面的這張巨石陣圖片是很多在明信片上看到的樣子，把英國青銅時代表現得要多浪漫有多浪漫。它看上去高大而富有震撼力，就像是新石器時代的巨人們用雙手搭建起來的超越時間的廟堂。只有當你自己親眼見到，或者一群夏至狂歡者們齊聚在巨石陣中看日出時，你才會意識到這些石柱并沒有你想象的那么大。每根石柱高13英尺（4.1米），約等于兩個高個子男性的身高之和。令人印象深刻，但還不足以讓人驚嘆。

還有哪些備受游客喜愛的世界奇景被嚴重夸大，或者讓你被想象所誤導？下面就是其中的幾個：

The Little Mermaid
小美人魚雕像

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.
成千上萬的游客蜂擁去觀看這個坐落在哥本哈根長堤公園步行道上的著名雕像。這座雕像代表著安徒生最感人的童話故事《小美人魚》中的女主人公。雕像離市中心不遠也不近，大概兩英里，但很多游客都徒步尋找到了她。

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.
只有在到達以后，這些游客才意識到小美人魚雕像真的很小。具體而言，她的“身高”是4.1英尺（1.25米）。你最好能有個變焦功能不錯的相機。

Mannekin Pis
噓噓于廉/撒尿小童像

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.
比利時在首都市中心擺放這么一個撒尿小童像是有點詭異，但是這個裸體小男孩歡樂撒尿的著名噴泉是人們爭相拍照的對象。

How small? A mere 61cm of sculpted bronze. Don't plan a weekend in Brussels around it.
這個銅像有多小呢？只有61厘米高。如果你要去布魯塞爾度周末，行程安排不要以它為重心。