By Srose52 譯 / Tanya Zhang

在邁入大學(xué)校門(mén)之前，想必你已經(jīng)聽(tīng)過(guò)關(guān)于大學(xué)生活的許多傳聞。新生會(huì)增肥15磅？大學(xué)里會(huì)遇到未來(lái)的伴侶？進(jìn)大學(xué)就得確定未來(lái)的職業(yè)方向？懷揣著對(duì)大學(xué)的憧憬和一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)緊張，聆聽(tīng)一下過(guò)來(lái)人要對(duì)你說(shuō)的話吧。盡管在通常的情況下，人們寧愿在自己經(jīng)歷一切之后再領(lǐng)會(huì)，但有些事情還是早知道為好。要知道，大學(xué)的精彩一旦錯(cuò)過(guò)，就再難尋覓！

You know that popular phrase， “If I only knew then what I know now？” Sigh. Why is it so true？ After two and a half years as a college student， Ive finally learned the truths to those college myths. Ive also realized a lot about what it means to learn more about yourself during those four years of experience—the good， the bad， and the ugly.

Lets face it： college entails a lot of new ordeals1） and exciting encounters. Yes， you drink （only if you want to！）； you study and work your little butt off； you go to “college” parties， meet a lot of interesting （and sometimes questionable） people， and honestly， you screw up sometimes. The ride is always fun， but there are always those little bits and pieces I wish I had more knowledge of beforehand. So， here I am， sharing the wisdom of a junior in college … but lets be real， I still have a lot to learn myself.

Parents， friends， college graduates， and peers always try to scare you with the “freshman fifteen” factor. They seem to believe that all you will do during your first year of an unfamiliar lifestyle is eat microwaveable pizzas， drink beer five days a week， and sit on your futon2） Saturday and Sunday afternoons watching reruns of Greys Anatomy and cheesy3） eighties movies.

Of course， you will have days like these. But， in reality， the freshman fifteen is so easily avoided. For one， most schools have a gym. You do not have to go every day or on a regular schedule， but its there for you when you feel a little lethargic4） and want to get yourself moving. Even the most exercise-phobic college students will check out the gym when its at their disposal5）. Second， your cafeteria will hopefully offer a variety of food choices besides pizza and grilled cheese. Youll get sick of greasy6） food， believe me. And， for those of you who dont already know， drinking alcohol is an appealing part of college.

For those of you who decide not to drink—thats a great personal choice. I chose to drink as a freshman， and I learned to control myself. It can be considered one of those things that once you get a taste， you go a little crazy. But， like I said， youll learn when the right time to drink is and how much to drink is right for you. It most likely will not be your life at college.

One of the most ANNOYING college myths is that supposedly everybody meets their future spouse at their college of choice. Considering the fact that I am still single， Im starting to believe it just isnt true. For some， it will happen. Im sure the fact that I attend a small， private college with a 60：40 girl-to-guy ratio doesnt give me any advantage. For the most part though， at least when it comes to guys， they will not be dating material. When the male population spreads their wings past their small high school， chances are they are going to want to get to know more than one female bird at college， where there are more options. Every one knows that girls are more sensitive and more prone to relationships. There will be interests and romances and nights where you feel like youve met the one to walk with you hand in hand down the quad7）. Its always possible， but dont be defeated if the next week they tell you theyre talking to the girl in your sociology class. They will eventually grow up. Just be patient until they get bored of being single. Youll start to see that more often around your junior and senior year. I can almost guarantee it. But， if you are in a happy， healthy relationship at college as of8） now， I not only commend9） you， but am also a tad jealous of you！

Now， when I say slack off， I dont mean leave your research paper until the day before its due or totally neglect to study for your test thats in a few days. What I mean is that youll learn to live by the motto that “Everything that has to get done will get done.” I pride myself on being an A-student， but it took me a year or so to learn that I dont always have to stay in the library until all hours of the night just to get some reading done. Ive missed out on some fun nights or group dinners with friends because I was paranoid11） about getting work done by a certain time. As a freshman and sophomore， I thought that if I didnt get something done by the time I had set， it wouldnt be my “best” work. If you havent already， you will learn that pushing things to the side once in a while will not threaten your GPA12） or your ability to score high marks. If you have faith in your academic capabilities and trust your work ethic， all of your hard work will pay off in a positive way.

So this “myth” may be true， at least in my case. The greatest part of meeting friends at college is that it gives you a new perspective of where people come from. Before college， you tend to think everybody will be like the people you went to high school with for four years. You have very little idea of the different opinions， trends， routines， and even language that arise from different states. I was the same exact way—every one was a New Yorker！ Every one hung out in Wendys parking lots！ Every one came from the suburbs where there were traffic lights at every street and a convenience store on every corner！ Every one has been to New York City！ Thats not the case at all. Instead， your horizons expand. You learn about what they did for fun in high school and you visit their hometowns and enjoy the experience of something totally new. Even if you commute to college， you end up learning about people who you may have passed by on the street but knew nothing about. You end up bonding over college itself， which is something you could never do with friends at home or from your high school. That in itself makes it special. High school wasnt always peaches and cream13） for me， so college gave me new opportunities for meeting people. And let me tell you， the memories I have made will be stories to tell my kids one day！ Okay， not every memory will be shared with my kids， but you get the point.

If you have no idea what you want to do with your life as far as your career goes， dont feel the pressure to decide right away. You can take any class you want your first few semesters of college—psychology， drama， music， anthropology， womens studies， Chinese， and art， among many others. The point is to make mistakes， and to figure out what youre not interested in to get you one step closer to figuring out what your true passion is. I chose a major based on what I already knew I excelled in， but what if I could have been the new Freud after taking more psychology classes？ I may never know！ Dont be afraid if youre entering the last half of college and youre still unsure if you made the right choice. I know that for myself. I want to pursue graduate school and do something different with the English and Mass Communication degrees I will be receiving. Also， pursuing a graduate degree these days is highly looked upon. And， depending on what college or university you go to， you may even get to create your own major. You might be overwhelmed with how many options you have when it comes to your choice of study， so take the time to weave through them all. But， remember， all work and no play is never fun … or healthy！

你知道那句俗話嗎？“要是我早知道我現(xiàn)在知道的這些就好了?！卑Γ@話怎么就那么在理呢？進(jìn)入大學(xué)兩年半后，我終于了解了那些關(guān)于大學(xué)傳聞的真相。我也深深意識(shí)到在大學(xué)的四年中怎樣才算更好地認(rèn)識(shí)自己——好的一面、壞的一面以及丑陋的一面。

面對(duì)現(xiàn)實(shí)吧：大學(xué)會(huì)給你帶來(lái)許多新的磨難和令人興奮的際遇。沒(méi)錯(cuò)，你會(huì)喝酒（只是在你想喝的情況下?。?；你會(huì)學(xué)習(xí)，忙得不可開(kāi)交；你會(huì)參加所謂的大學(xué)聚會(huì)，遇見(jiàn)很多有趣（有時(shí)是不靠譜）的人；老實(shí)說(shuō)，你有時(shí)也會(huì)把事情搞砸。這個(gè)過(guò)程總是很有趣，但也總會(huì)有些七零八碎的東西是我希望自己事先多了解一些的。因此，在這里，我要分享一下我作為大三學(xué)生的智慧……當(dāng)然，坦白說(shuō)，我自己還有很多東西要學(xué)呢。

“新生肥胖”是完全可以避免的。

父母、朋友、畢業(yè)生和同輩們總是試圖嚇唬你，說(shuō)“大一新生都會(huì)增重15磅”。他們似乎確信在你大學(xué)的第一年，面對(duì)不熟悉的生活方式，你所做的只能是吃微波爐加熱的比薩，一周有五天喝啤酒，周六和周日下午坐在床墊上看重播的《實(shí)習(xí)醫(yī)生格蕾》和俗套的上世紀(jì)80年代電影。

當(dāng)然，這樣的日子是會(huì)有的。但事實(shí)上，新生肥胖很容易就能避免。首先，大多數(shù)學(xué)校都有健身房。你沒(méi)有必要每天或定期去健身，但當(dāng)你感覺(jué)無(wú)精打采或是想要?jiǎng)悠饋?lái)時(shí)，它就在那里。當(dāng)健身房可供使用時(shí)，即便是最憎惡鍛煉的學(xué)生也會(huì)光顧的。其次，食堂應(yīng)該會(huì)提供豐富多樣的食物供你選擇，而不僅僅是比薩和烤奶酪三明治。相信我，你會(huì)厭倦那些油膩食物的。另外，你們有些人還不知道，喝酒也是大學(xué)生活吸引人的地方之一。

有些人決定不喝酒——這是一個(gè)很棒的個(gè)人選擇。我在大一時(shí)選擇了喝酒，并學(xué)會(huì)了控制自己。喝酒可以說(shuō)是“一發(fā)而不可收”的一類(lèi)事情，但正如我所說(shuō)，你會(huì)了解到對(duì)自己來(lái)說(shuō)何時(shí)喝酒以及喝多少最適合。喝酒不可能是你大學(xué)生活的全部。

你未必會(huì)在大學(xué)里找到未來(lái)的伴侶。

最?lèi)廊说拇髮W(xué)傳說(shuō)之一就是認(rèn)定每人都會(huì)在自己所選的大學(xué)里遇到未來(lái)的伴侶。考慮到我現(xiàn)在依然單身這一事實(shí)，我開(kāi)始相信這個(gè)說(shuō)法是不對(duì)的。某些人可能會(huì)遇到，但我就讀的這所小型私立學(xué)校男女比例為2：3，我確定這不會(huì)給我?guī)?lái)任何優(yōu)勢(shì)。不過(guò)大部分時(shí)候，至少就男生來(lái)說(shuō)，他們都不是約會(huì)的料兒。當(dāng)男生們從自己的小中學(xué)里展翅飛出，進(jìn)入大學(xué)，很有可能他們想認(rèn)識(shí)的女生不止一位，因?yàn)榇髮W(xué)里有更多的選擇。人人都知道女孩子更敏感，也更傾向于戀愛(ài)關(guān)系。你會(huì)對(duì)某人產(chǎn)生興趣，開(kāi)始浪漫戀情，共度美好夜晚，覺(jué)得自己找到了那個(gè)可以和你手牽手在校園里散步的人。這種情況總是可能的，但如果下周他們告訴你他們正在和你社會(huì)學(xué)課上的女孩聊天，你也不要覺(jué)得受到了打擊。他們總會(huì)長(zhǎng)大的。你要做的只是耐心等待，等他們厭倦單身的日子。我?guī)缀蹩梢员ＷC，等到了大三、大四時(shí)，你會(huì)越來(lái)越多地看到這種情況。但是，如果你現(xiàn)在正處在一段快樂(lè)又健康的校園戀情中，我不僅會(huì)贊揚(yáng)你，而且還有些嫉妒你呢！

偶爾懈怠一下也無(wú)妨。

我現(xiàn)在說(shuō)“懈怠”并不是要你把論文拖到截止日期的前一天，或是到臨考前幾天還完全忽略學(xué)習(xí)。我的意思是你會(huì)領(lǐng)會(huì)到“船到橋頭自然直”這句格言。我是個(gè)優(yōu)等生，也對(duì)此感到自豪，但我卻花了一年左右的時(shí)間才意識(shí)到，我不必僅僅為了完成一些閱讀任務(wù)而總是整晚地待在圖書(shū)館。我錯(cuò)過(guò)了與朋友在一起的一些狂歡夜和聚餐，因?yàn)槲姨珗?zhí)著于在某個(gè)時(shí)間之前完成任務(wù)了。大一、大二時(shí)，我曾認(rèn)為如果我不能按照自己事先設(shè)定的時(shí)限完成某件事情，那么它就不會(huì)是我“最好的”成果。如果你還沒(méi)有這種感受，那你將會(huì)了解到，偶爾把事情暫時(shí)放到一邊并不會(huì)威脅到你的平均績(jī)點(diǎn)，也不會(huì)威脅到你取得高分的能力。如果你對(duì)自己的學(xué)術(shù)能力和學(xué)習(xí)態(tài)度有信心，你所有的辛勤勞動(dòng)都會(huì)得到好的回報(bào)。

你會(huì)在大學(xué)里找到終生好友。

這個(gè)“傳說(shuō)”也許是對(duì)的，至少對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)是這樣。在大學(xué)交朋友最棒的地方在于它帶給你一種新的視角來(lái)看待人們來(lái)自何處。上大學(xué)前，你傾向于認(rèn)為每個(gè)人都會(huì)像你中學(xué)四年的同窗一樣。對(duì)于各個(gè)州的不同觀念、潮流、常規(guī)生活甚至語(yǔ)言，你都知之甚少。曾經(jīng)的我就完全是這樣——以為大家都是紐約人！大家都去溫迪餐廳的停車(chē)場(chǎng)閑逛！大家都來(lái)自郊區(qū)，那里每條街道都有紅綠燈，每個(gè)街角都有便利商店！大家都去過(guò)紐約市！可事實(shí)完全不是這樣。與之前相反，你的視野變得開(kāi)闊。你了解到他們?cè)谥袑W(xué)時(shí)如何娛樂(lè)，你拜訪他們的家鄉(xiāng)，享受全新的體驗(yàn)。即使你是走讀生，最終你也會(huì)認(rèn)識(shí)一些人，這些人你原本可能對(duì)他們一無(wú)所知，只是在街頭擦肩而過(guò)。到頭來(lái)你的交際圈不僅僅局限于大學(xué)，而這是不可能與你家鄉(xiāng)或中學(xué)的朋友來(lái)建立的。這一點(diǎn)本身就很特別。對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，中學(xué)生活并不總是陽(yáng)光燦爛的，而大學(xué)為我結(jié)識(shí)朋友提供了新的機(jī)遇。實(shí)話告訴你吧，我現(xiàn)在留下的回憶將來(lái)某天可以講給子女們聽(tīng)！好吧，不是每段回憶都會(huì)與他們分享，但我的意思你懂的。

你不必在踏入校門(mén)的那一刻就決定未來(lái)的事業(yè)或?qū)I(yè)。

如果在事業(yè)方面你還沒(méi)有打定主意將來(lái)想干什么，不要有立刻決定的壓力。在大學(xué)的前幾個(gè)學(xué)期，你可以選擇自己想上的任何課程——心理學(xué)、戲劇、音樂(lè)、人類(lèi)學(xué)、女性研究、中文、藝術(shù)以及其他各種各樣的課程。重點(diǎn)在于犯錯(cuò)誤，在于弄清楚你對(duì)哪些東西不感興趣，這樣一來(lái)，距離找到你自己真正的熱情所在就更近一步了。我當(dāng)初選擇專(zhuān)業(yè)是基于我已經(jīng)知道的自己擅長(zhǎng)的領(lǐng)域，但如果當(dāng)初多上幾堂心理學(xué)課，我也許本來(lái)可以成為下一個(gè)弗洛伊德，那時(shí)又會(huì)發(fā)生什么呢？我也許永遠(yuǎn)沒(méi)法知道答案了！如果你已進(jìn)入大學(xué)的后半段卻仍然不確定自己的選擇是否正確，不要害怕。我對(duì)此有切身體會(huì)。我想讀研究生，想做些與我那將拿到的英語(yǔ)與大眾傳媒學(xué)位不一樣的事情。而且，現(xiàn)如今讀研究生很被人看好。此外，根據(jù)你所就讀的學(xué)院或大學(xué)的不同，你甚至可以創(chuàng)造你自己的專(zhuān)業(yè)。談到將來(lái)選擇研究什么，你也許會(huì)被眾多選擇淹沒(méi)，因此花點(diǎn)時(shí)間將它們都梳理一下吧。但是謹(jǐn)記：只工作不玩耍絕對(duì)毫無(wú)樂(lè)趣，也無(wú)益于健康！