题目

英语翻译
I travel a lot,and I find out different "styles" (风格) of directions every time 1 ask "How can I get to
the post office?"
Foreign tourists are often confused (困惑) in Japan because most streets there don't have names; in
Japan,people use landmarks (地标) in their directions instead of street names.For example,the Japanese will say to travelers,"Go straight down to the corner.Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market.
The post office is across from the bus stop."
In the countryside of the American Midwest,there are not usually many landmarks.There are no
mountains,so the land is very flat; in many places there are no towns or buildings within miles.lnstead of
landmarks,people will tell you directions and distances.In Kansas or Iowa,for example,people will say,"Go north two miles.Turn east,and then go another mile."
People in Los Angeles,California,have no idea of distance on the map; they measure distance in time,not miles."How far away is the post office?" you ask."Oh," they answer,"it's about five minutes from here." You say,"Yes,but how many miles away is it?" They don't know.
It's true that a person doesn't know the answer to your question sometimes.What happens in such a
situation?A New Yorker might say,'Sorry,I have no idea." But in Yucatan,Mexico,no one answers "I
don't know." People in Yucatan believe that "I don't know" is impolite,They usually give an answer,
often a wrong one.A tourist can get very,very lost in Yucatan!

提问时间：2020-09-30

答案

我经常去旅行,因而每次当我问到“怎么去邮局”这样的问题时,我都会得到不同的指路方式.
外国游客在日本常常会觉得困惑,因为这里的街道通常没有名字.在日本,人们总是用这条路上的地标名来代替街道名.例如,日本人会这样对游客说：“沿着这条路一直走到转弯处,在大酒店那里左拐,再经过一个水果店,那个邮局就在公交车站的对面.”
在美国中西部的乡下,通常没有很多地标.由于没有山脉,因此地形非常平坦.在许多地方,甚至几英里之内都没有小镇或者建筑物.人们指路总是会描述方向和距离而不是地标名.例如在堪萨斯州或者衣阿华州,人们会说：“向北走两英里,然后向东再走一英里.”
加利福尼亚州的洛杉矶人从来没有在地图上有过距离的概念,他们是利用时间而不是长度来来衡量距离的.如果你问：“邮局离这儿有多远?”他们会回答：“哦,大概有五分钟路程.”你要是说：“那有多少英里呢?”他们才不知道呢.
有时一个人不知道该怎么回答你的情况是存在的.那么这种情况下该怎么办呢?纽约人可能会说：“对不起,我不太清楚.”但是在墨西哥的尤卡坦,没有人会回答“我不知道”,尤卡坦人认为“我不知道”这句话是不礼貌的,所以他们通常会作出回答,而这个答案可能是错的.游客们在尤卡坦可能会觉得非常非常困惑!
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