How long is it since you were in London? (ALD)
[原译]你在伦敦多久了？（《牛津现代高级英汉双解词典》，商务印书馆，1993，p.1071）
上面的译文符合原意吗？
根据句意来判断,上面的译文是违背原意的。“你在伦敦多久了?”这句话暗含的意思是:“你现在仍在伦敦。”(在这种情况下,英语应当说“How long is it since you have been in London?”)而原文中的were则明明白白地告诉我们:you已不在伦敦了。
请对比：
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When I met him last week, it was the first time we had seen each other since we were at school. 我上星期遇见了他，那是我们从学校分手以后第一次见面。
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What science people learn in school can provide the basic framework. But the rate of scientific progress is now so rapid that there are always new developments that have occurred since one was at school or university. [《大学英语》(全新版)第一册第三单元, 上外教社] 人们在学校学到的科学知识, 可以提供一个基本的框架。但是现今科学进步的速度非常之快, 一个人离开中学或大学后, 新的发展层出不穷。
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I had forgotten about this oddity. It's been years since I was here. (Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code) 这种怪事我都忘了。很多年我都没到这里来了。(《达·芬奇密码》)
[试译]你离开伦敦有多久了？