What I’ve Learned So Far

Sophie Zhang

有人曾用魯迅先生的四部作品來概括大學(xué)四年生活：大一《彷徨》，大二《吶喊》，大三《傷逝》，大四《朝花夕拾》。入學(xué)伊始的茫然，適應(yīng)之后的狂歡，黯然神傷逝者如斯，驀然回首追憶往昔。在經(jīng)歷過所有之后，你是收獲了成功還是嘆息過去的碌碌無為呢？謹(jǐn)以此篇獻給即將畢業(yè)的你。

Why is choosing the right college such a big deal? We dream and hope for the best, and when that wish isn’t ful filled, we are truly devastated.1. fulfill: 實現(xiàn)，滿足；devastated: 被毀壞的 ，文中指垮掉的，不知所措的。I can’t think of another transition in life where your choice is that important. For me, at 17 years old, that was the biggest decision I had ever made in my life. Prior to that, all of the important choices had been made by my parents for me.

That was almost four years ago. I know adults often say time flies,but now that college graduation is looming2. loom: 逼近，隱約可見。closer and closer, I finally understand what they mean. It really doesn’t seem that long ago that my parents dropped me off3. drop off: 讓……下車。in my dorm room, and I experienced a feeling of loneliness that I had never known before. I still remember that first night—no one was on campus, my roommate hadn’t arrived yet, and the weather was that kind of nasty, sticky hot that leaves you sweaty and feeling feverish throughout the entire night.4. 我仍記得那第一夜：校園里沒有人，我的室友還沒來，天氣是那種令人煩躁的潮熱，讓人汗津津的，整個晚上都像發(fā)燒一樣。nasty: 令人不愉快的；feverish: 發(fā)燒的。Fast forward to today, I have friends that will stick with me through a lifetime, I have a boyfriend that I treasure deeply, and knowledge and life lessons that have shaped me into a different person.

What’s the most important thing we learn at college?Well, I can tell you that I know a lot more about statistics and probability methods than I did in high school. I can also tell you all about the history of U.S. consumerism5. consumerism: 消費主義，認(rèn)為人們購買和使用大量商品和服務(wù)有利于國家經(jīng)濟。through the 19th to 21st centuries. But all of that are things you can learn in textbooks and on the internet, as long as you have a little motivation and dedication to follow through.6. dedication: 奉獻，盡心盡力；follow through: 堅持到底。The reason why college has been important to me is the person I have become as a result of it. Here are the top five most important things I have learned in college:

1. Negotiation.The art of getting what you want isn’t an easy one to master, and it takes a lot of practice and interacting with7. interact with: 與……打交道。dif ficult people. I learned this the hard way upon going to my first fraternity8. fraternity: 兄弟會，大學(xué)生聯(lián)誼會。party freshmen year. Who knew that the frat brothers at the door needed their egos to be nurtured and sweetened before they would let anybody in?9. 誰知道那些兄弟會成員們要在得到極大的自我滿足之后才會讓你入場呢？frat: 兄弟會成員；ego: 自我；nurture: 滋養(yǎng)。If you’re traveling with a group of girls, your chances of admittance are signi ficantly higher. If you’re traveling with even one boy, you’re going to need to up your sweet talk game10. up one’s game: 即step up one’s game，意為提高、改進（技能、策略等）。even more.

2. Taking care of yourself.We’ve all made fun of the typical college student who lives off instant noodles and left-over pizza.11. 我們都取笑過那些靠方便面和剩披薩度日的學(xué)生，他們是大學(xué)生中典型的一類人。live off: 以……為食料，靠……為生；left-over:剩飯。Yes, we’ve all been there—junk food tastes good at 2a.m.in the morning, when you’ve just finished a problem set and you want to relax with your computer and a nice bag of chips. But at a certain point, you realize it’s not worth it waking up every morning feeling like absolute garbage.

3. Learning how to say no.This is a lot harder than it seems. I always thought of myself as a fairly assertive12. assertive: 堅定而自信的。person, but I often found myself having trouble saying no when it came to friends. I had friends who would take and take and take, and never reciprocate13. reciprocate: 回報，報答。when it came time to me needing help. I used to feel bad about saying no, but then I felt worse once I was being used.Don’t be a pushover14. pushover: 易被勸服的人，易受影響的人。. Stand up for yourself, but never be rude. Learn how to say no diplomatically15. diplomatically: 圓滑地，婉轉(zhuǎn)地。.

4. Accepting failure.No matter how successful you were in high school, there will come a time in college (and life after)where you fail. It might come in the form of a failed test, a failed friendship, or a failed relationship. I’ve had all three happen to me over the course of the past four years, and it never feels good. It’s easy to fall down a slippery slope and think, “Well, because I failed this test, I’m not going to get an A in this class, and then my GPA will go down, and then I won’t get into grad school, and if I don’t get into grad school,16. fall down: 失敗；slippery slope:災(zāi)難性的急劇下滑；GPA: Grade Point Average，平均成績點數(shù)，平均分?jǐn)?shù)；grad school: 研究生院。what am I going to do with my life?” College isn’t out to17. be out to: 試圖。destroy your life, it’s out to build it. You can’t go back in time and fix things. But you can avoid making the same mistake again.

5. Seeing the bigger picture.This stems a little bit from18. stem from: 起源于。#4.In high school, it’s harder to imagine life beyond your small world of friends, parties, and school. In college, you realize the world is huge. There are so many opportunities to seize, people to meet,and things to learn. But many people feel overwhelmed19. overwhelmed: 不知所措的。by these possibilities. The sheer amount20. sheer amount: 巨大的數(shù)量，sheer意為“十足的，完全的”。of decisions to make defeats them,and they become indecisive and unmotivated as a result. Don’t let this be you. Be positive. Know that at any point in time, a single decision will not decide your fate. Decisions are not reversible21. reversible: 可逆轉(zhuǎn)的。,but you can make different choices in the future. Your life is never ruined. It’s never the end of the world.

I still have one semester left of college, and though the changes have been gradual, they have also been perceptible22. perceptible: 可察覺的，可感知的。. I feel like I’ve grown up.

I feel like an adult.