今天明显对时间有了敬畏感

一转眼，2026年就过半了。年初立下的那些Flags，你都实现了吗？

今天你练听力了吗？

🤔️小作业：

1. Based on the article, what can be inferred about the relationship between prospective and retrospective time perception?

A. They are always opposite: when one speeds up, the other slows down.

B. They are independent and not influenced by each other.

C. They can be affected by the same activities but in different ways.

D. They are identical when a person is fully engaged in an activity.

无注释原文：

Why is time going so fast and how do I slow it down?

From: The Conversation

How is it July already? What happened to 2026?

To understand why our perception of time seems to bend and warp, we need to dig into how our brains tell time in the first place.

The term “time perception” is actually a bit of a misnomer, because time itself isn't “out there” to be perceived.

But there is no parallel for time – no “time particle” for the brain to detect.

How brains deal with time

Our brains don't perceive time – they infer it.

But unlike a clock, the brain does not have regular ticks to count. To infer how much time has passed, the brain simply adds up how much happened.

If you fill a time interval with exciting stuff, it seems to last longer.

Time… flies?

We also need to distinguish between telling time retrospectively (how much time has passed) versus prospectively (how fast time is passing now).

The more you pay attention to time itself, the more slowly it seems to pass.

The old adage states that time flies when you're having fun, but it doesn't necessarily need to be fun. Whatever you're attending to just needs to distract you from the passage of time.

Keep your mind engaged, whether it's work or play, and time will slip away.

Routine makes the years fly by

This disconnect between prospective and retrospective time perception also explains the saying “the days are long but the years are short”, a phenomenon which tends to increase as we age.

When we are young, lots of things are new: we go to school for the first time, enter a first relationship, start our first job.

All these novel events form a rich store of memories that the brain later looks back on to conclude that a lot has happened, so a lot of time must have passed.

Conversely, when we get older, a lot of our daily tasks become more routine.

Paradoxically though, because these routine tasks are less exciting and novel, they leave weaker and less vivid memory traces.

When our older brain therefore looks back to infer how much time has passed since the start of the year, it concludes that not much has happened, so it doesn't feel very long ago.

How do I slow down time, then?

Slowing down time as you're experiencing it is very easy, although completely dissatisfying: just get bored. Go wait at red traffic lights. Count to ten thousand in your head. Watch paint dry, as they say.

On the other hand, slowing down retrospective time is a little more difficult. Essentially, you need to make sure that come December, you have a year's worth of memories to show for it.

One way to do this is to prevent memories from fading, and the best way to do that is to rehash them.

Write things down in a diary or journal. Look back and reminisce. Keep your memories alive, and you'll keep your past alive.

The other way to ensure you've got a year's worth of memories at year's end takes a little more initiative, but is a lot more inspiring.

Because the best way to prevent the year from feeling like it flew by, is to fill it with lots of exciting memories of new, unique experiences.

So explore. Go adventuring. Do something crazy – something you'll never forget.

Your internal clock will thank you for it.

- ◆ -

注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为AI翻译，仅供参考

含注释全文：

Why is time going so fast and how do I slow it down?

From: The Conversation

How is it July already? What happened to 2026?

怎么一转眼就到七月了？2026年都去哪儿了？

To understand why our perception of time seems to bend and warp, we need to dig into how our brains tell time in the first place.

要弄明白为什么我们对时间的感受会变得“扭曲”，就得先搞清楚大脑最初是怎么感知时间的。

perception /pəˈsep.ʃən/ 1）表示“认识，观念，看法”，英文解释为“a belief or opinion, often held by many people and based on how things seem”举个🌰：These photographs will affect people's perceptions of war. 这些照片会影响人们对战争的看法。

2）表示“知觉；感知”，英文解释为“the way you notice things, especially with the senses”如：visual perception 视觉。

🎬电影《失落的大陆》（Land of the Lost）中的台词提到：he has terrible depth perception 他的深度感知力很差。

bend /bend/ 1）表示“（使）弯曲”，英文解释为“to (cause to) curve”举个🌰：The road bends to the left after the traffic lights. 过了第一个红绿灯后道路弯向左侧。

2）表示“弯腰”，英文解释为“to move your body or part of your body so that it is not straight”举个🌰：I bent down and picked up the coins lying on the road. 我弯腰捡起路上的硬币。

warp /wɔːp,wɔrp/ 作动词，1）表示“（使）扭曲；（使）变形”，英文解释为“if something warps, or if heat or cold warps it, it becomes bent or twisted, and loses its original shape”举个🌰：The door must be warped. It won't close properly. 这门肯定是变形了，关不严。

2）表示“使（人或人的行为）反常，使变得乖戾；扭曲”，英文解释为“to make a person or their behaviour strange, in an unpleasant or harmful way”举个🌰：Prison warps people. Had it warped Kelley enough that he would kill a stranger? 监狱扭曲人性。它有没有使凯利变态到会杀死一个陌生人呢？

📍《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇关于《沧海鲸吟》（Fathoms）的书评文章中提到：From plastics to toxins, warming oceans, melting sea ice, acidifying waters and modified soundscapes, humanity is warping everything that whales need to live and thrive. 从塑料到毒素、海洋变暖、海冰融化、水体酸化和声景改变，人类正在扭曲着鲸鱼赖以生存和繁衍的一切。

📍time warp /ˈtaɪm ˌwɔːp/ 表示“（幻想一个历史阶段的人物和事件存在于另一个历史阶段的）时间异常，时间错位”，英文解释为“the idea of a change in the measurement of time, in which people and events from one part of history are imagined as existing in another part”

The term “time perception” is actually a bit of a misnomer, because time itself isn't “out there” to be perceived.

“时间感知”这个说法其实不太准确，因为时间本身并不是一个“摆在外面”供我们感知的东西。

misnomer /ˌmɪsˈnəʊ.mər/ 表示“使用不当的名字（或名称）；名字（或名称）的误用；取名（或用词）不当”，英文解释为“a name that does not suit what it refers to, or the use of such a name”举个🌰：It was the scruffiest place I've ever stayed in, so "Grand Hotel" was a complete misnomer. 那是我住过的最不整洁的地方，叫它“尊贵酒店”有点取名不当。

perceive /pəˈsiːv/ 1）表示“感知，察觉，注意到，意识到”，英文解释为“to see something or someone, or to notice something that is obvious”举个🌰：He perceived a tiny figure in the distance. 他注意到远处有个很小的身影。

2）表示“认为；看待；视为”，英文解释为“to come to an opinion about something, or have a belief about something”举个🌰：How do the French perceive the British? 法国人是如何看待英国人的？

📍《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇讲述Bitcoin的文章中提到：Scarcity is a trait of many things that are perceived to have value. 稀缺性正是许多被视为有价值的事物共有的特征。

But there is no parallel for time – no “time particle” for the brain to detect.

但时间没有类似的参照物——大脑找不到什么“时间粒子”来探测它。

particle /ˈpɑː.tɪ.kəl/ 表示“微粒，粒子”，英文解释为“an extremely small piece of matter”举个🌰：Electrons are atomic particles. 电子是原子粒子。

How brains deal with time 大脑的时间处理之道

Our brains don't perceive time – they infer it.

我们的大脑不是直接感知时间，而是推断时间。

But unlike a clock, the brain does not have regular ticks to count. To infer how much time has passed, the brain simply adds up how much happened.

但与时钟不同，大脑没有规律的“滴答”声可以计数。要推断时间过去了多久，大脑只是简单地把发生过的事情累加起来。

作动词，1）表示“（钟表）发出嘀嗒声；滴答地走”，英文解释为“When a clock or watch ticks, it makes a sound every second.”举个🌰：In the silence we could hear the clock ticking. 寂静中，我们能听到钟表滴答作响。

2）表示“进展，进步；正常运转”，英文解释为“to operate as a functioning mechanism”

3）表示“给…标记号，打上钩”，英文解释为“to mark something with a tick”举个🌰：Tick (off) each item on the list as you complete it. 每完成一条就在清单上把这一条划掉。

作名词，表示“核对号，钩号（✓）”，英文解释为“a mark that shows that something is correct or has been done”举个🌰：Put a tick by/against the names of the people who have accepted the invitation. 在接受邀请的人的姓名上打钩。

✓ tick box /ˈtɪk ˌbɒks/ 表示“勾选框”，英文解释为“a small square on a paper form where you can put a tick to show that you want something or that something is correct or has been dealt with”

✓ 动词短语 tick all/a lot of the boxes，字面意思就是所有勾选框都打勾了，指的是“符合一切条件，满足所有要求”。

If you fill a time interval with exciting stuff, it seems to last longer.

如果你在一段时间里塞满了精彩刺激的事情，这段时间就会显得更长。

Time… flies? 时光真的“飞逝”吗？

We also need to distinguish between telling time retrospectively (how much time has passed) versus prospectively (how fast time is passing now).

我们还需要区分两种计时方式：回顾性计时（过去了多少时间）和前瞻性计时（时间现在过得有多快）。

retrospectively /ˌret.rəˈspek.tɪv.li/ 表示“涉及以往地；追溯地；回顾地”，英文解释为“in a way that relates to or involves thinking about something that happened in the past”举个🌰：Retrospectively, I can see where we went wrong. 回顾过去，我知道我们哪里做错了。

versus /ˈvɜːsəs/ 经常看到缩写vs，vs.或者是单单一个v，就是指的versus，表示“（比较两种不同想法、选择等）与…相对，与…相比”，英文解释为“used to compare two different ideas, choices, etc.”如：private education versus state education 私立教育与公共教育相比，举个🌰：It is France versus Brazil in the final. 决赛是法国队对巴西队。

prospectively /prəˈspek.tɪv.li/ 表示“预期地，前瞻性地”，英文解释为“in order to find out what is going to happen rather than what has already happened”举个🌰：Childhood data were collected prospectively from more than 5,000 people born in the United Kingdom during one week in 1946. 前瞻性地收集了5,000多名1946年某个星期之内在英国出生的孩童的婴儿期数据。

The more you pay attention to time itself, the more slowly it seems to pass.

你越是盯着时间看，它似乎就走得越慢。

The old adage states that time flies when you're having fun, but it doesn't necessarily need to be fun. Whatever you're attending to just needs to distract you from the passage of time.

俗话说，快乐的时光总是短暂的，但其实不一定非得是快乐的事。只要你全神贯注于某件事，能让你忘记时间在流逝，就够了。

adage /ˈædɪdʒ/ 表示“谚语；格言”，英文解释为“a wise saying”举个🌰：He remembered the old adage "Look before you leap". 他想起了那句老话“三思而后行”。

distract /dɪˈstrækt/ 表示“使分心，使转移注意力，干扰”，英文解释为“to make someone stop giving their attention to something”举个🌰：Don't distract her (from her studies). 不要让她（在学习上）分心。

Keep your mind engaged, whether it's work or play, and time will slip away.

让你的大脑保持忙碌，无论是工作还是玩乐，时间都会悄悄溜走。

Routine makes the years fly by 日复一日的重复，让岁月如梭

This disconnect between prospective and retrospective time perception also explains the saying “the days are long but the years are short”, a phenomenon which tends to increase as we age.

前瞻与回顾两种时间感知的错位，也诠释了那句“日子漫长，岁月短暂”的老话——而这一现象，会随着年岁渐长愈发显著。

When we are young, lots of things are new: we go to school for the first time, enter a first relationship, start our first job.

年轻时，很多事情都是头一遭：第一次上学，第一次恋爱，第一次工作。

All these novel events form a rich store of memories that the brain later looks back on to conclude that a lot has happened, so a lot of time must have passed.

这些新鲜经历构成了丰富的记忆宝库，当大脑后来回顾时，会觉得发生了很多事，因此一定过去了很长时间。

Conversely, when we get older, a lot of our daily tasks become more routine.

反之，年岁渐长，日常琐事大多沦为千篇一律的重复。

conversely /ˈkɒn.vɜːs.li/ /kənˈvɜːs.li/ 表示“相反地；反过来”，英文解释为“in a way that is the opposite or reverse of sth”举个🌰：You can add the fluid to the powder, or, conversely, the powder to the fluid. 可把液体加入粉末，或者相反，把粉末加入液体。

Paradoxically though, because these routine tasks are less exciting and novel, they leave weaker and less vivid memory traces.

然而，吊诡之处在于：这些重复之事缺乏激情与新奇，留下的记忆痕迹也愈发浅淡、模糊。

paradoxically /ˌpær.əˈdɒk.sɪ.kəl.i/ 表示“似乎互相抵触地，看似互为矛盾地”，英文解释为“in a way that seems impossible or difficult to understand because of containing two opposite facts or characteristics”举个🌰：The big thing in video equipment is, paradoxically, sound. 矛盾的是，视频设备中最重要的是声音。

When our older brain therefore looks back to infer how much time has passed since the start of the year, it concludes that not much has happened, so it doesn't feel very long ago.

于是，当那颗日渐成熟的大脑回望年初，试图推算时光流逝的刻度时，它得出的结论是：平淡无奇，岁月似乎并未走远。

How do I slow down time, then? 那么，怎样才能让时间慢下来呢？

Slowing down time as you're experiencing it is very easy, although completely dissatisfying: just get bored. Go wait at red traffic lights. Count to ten thousand in your head. Watch paint dry, as they say.

想让时间在当下过得慢一点，其实很容易，只不过这种体验并不令人愉快——让自己无聊就行了。去等红灯，在心里从一数到一万，或者像人们常说的那样，坐着看油漆慢慢变干。

On the other hand, slowing down retrospective time is a little more difficult. Essentially, you need to make sure that come December, you have a year's worth of memories to show for it.

要让回顾性的时间慢下来，难度要大一些。本质上，你得确保到了十二月，你有一整年的记忆可以拿出来“炫耀”。

One way to do this is to prevent memories from fading, and the best way to do that is to rehash them.

一个办法是防止记忆褪色，而最好的办法就是反复回味。

fade /feɪd/ 作动词，表示“（使）褪色；（使）变暗；（使）衰弱”，英文解释为“to (cause to) lose colour, brightness, or strength gradually”举个🌰：If you hang your clothes out in the bright sun, they will fade. 衣服挂在光线强的地方晾晒会褪色。

在理发行业，“fade”指渐变式发型，通常用于描述极短或几乎剃光的发型，其中头发的长度从顶部到底部（通常是耳朵以下，包括两鬓和颈后）逐渐变短，最后接近或完全剃光。Fade发型可以进一步分为多种类型，包括低fade，中fade和高fade，这取决于fade开始的位置。

fade /feɪd/ away 表示“逐渐消失；变得无足轻重；变弱”，英文解释为“to slowly disappear, lose importance, or become weaker”举个🌰：The voices became louder and closer and then faded away again. 人声越来越嘈杂，越来越近，接着又逐渐消失了。

rehash /ˈriː.hæʃ/ 表示“（稍作改动）重新推出；以新形式表达旧内容；换汤不换药”，英文解释为“a book, film, piece of music, etc. that is very similar to previous ones and has no new ideas or improvements”举个🌰：His new book is just a rehash of his previous ones. 他的新书只不过是新瓶装旧酒（重复他以前的观点）而已。

Write things down in a diary or journal. Look back and reminisce. Keep your memories alive, and you'll keep your past alive.

把经历写在日记或日志里。时常回顾、追忆。让记忆保持鲜活，你的过去也就不会褪色。

reminisce /ˌremɪˈnɪs/ 表示“（对愉快的往事）追忆，回忆，缅怀”，英文解释为“to talk or write about past experiences that you remember with pleasure”举个🌰：My grandfather used to reminisce about his years in the navy. 我祖父过去常回忆起他当海军时的岁月。

The other way to ensure you've got a year's worth of memories at year's end takes a little more initiative, but is a lot more inspiring.

另一种确保年底时有一整年记忆的方法，需要你更主动一些，但也更令人振奋。

Because the best way to prevent the year from feeling like it flew by, is to fill it with lots of exciting memories of new, unique experiences.

因为防止一年感觉一晃而过的最好办法，就是用大量新奇、独特的经历，填满激动人心的记忆。

So explore. Go adventuring. Do something crazy – something you'll never forget.

所以，去探索吧。去冒险吧。去做一些疯狂的事——那些你永远不会忘记的事。

Your internal clock will thank you for it.

你体内的生物钟会为此感谢你的。

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