Making your way gloomily to the airport after an action-packed holiday, it is easy to feel the days have flown by all too quickly. But there is no need to worry because once you return to the daily grindyour break will suddenly seem like it lasted for a lifetime.[

　　人們總在行程忙碌的度假最後一天收拾行李去機場時感嘆“歡樂時光過得特別快”。但這無需擔心，回歸正常生活之後，這段快樂回憶卻像一輩子般的長久。

　　So say psychologists who believe that the effect is down to the different methods the brain uses to judge the passage of time. Learning to manipulateour perception of time could make our lives feel fuller and reassurethose who feel that the years slip by faster as they grow older.

　　心理學家們説這是由於大腦在處理時間流逝時使用不同的方法導致的結果。學會利用時間的分佈可以讓我們的生活更加充實，也會讓人們隨著年齡增加憶起往事時，覺得日子過得飛快。

　　The mystery behind the so-called "holiday paradox"was explained in a presentation by psychologist and BBC broadcaster Claudia Hammond at the British Psychological Society conference in London last week. Ms Hammond, whose book Time Warped will be published next month, said when we are doing something new and interesting – such as when we are on holiday – time appears to go more quickly than when we are bored or anxious.

　　關於“假日悖論”背後的奧妙，是由心理學家兼英國BBC播報員Claudia Hammond上周在倫敦舉辦的英國心理社會會議上闡述的。漢孟的新書《把時間打包》將於下個月出版，她表示當我們做一些新鮮和有趣的事情時，就例如當我們度假的時候，時間會過的比我們覺得厭煩或焦慮時要快很多。

　　In a normal fortnightthe average person only accumulatesbetween six and nine new memories because so much of what we do is routine.But on a holiday we can build up that number of memories in a single day because everything we experience is new, meaning that when we look back it will seem to have lasted much longer than it really did.

　　人們在平常生活裏，半個月下來頂多記住6至9件新事情，其他大多數則為“例行公事”。但在假期裏，我們可以在一天就建立很多的記憶，因為我們體驗的每件事都是新的，也就是説當我們後來回想追溯時，在時間的評估上會將時程拉長。

　　She said: "The same happens as we get older and time starts to speed up. There are fewer memories of new things, and we do the same things more and more often."

　　她説：“隨著年齡的增長日子會過得飛快，這是因為我們越來越多地做著重復的事情，新鮮事物的記憶越來越少，這也可用‘假期悖論’進行説明。”

　　People who complain that years seem to whizzpast with increasing speed could slow things down by making the most of their weekends and breaking up their daily routine, she added. "Taking a different route to work, getting off your bus a stop early or avoiding having the same sandwich for lunch every day could make life seem a little slower," she said.

　　“抱怨時間越過越快的人們可以充分利用他們的週末，打破常規的生活習慣來放慢時間的腳步”，她補充道。她説：“如果每天換不同線路去上班，吃不一樣的午餐，或許可以稍微改變對時間的感覺。”