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Unit 1
我认为，
选修第二专业并不适合
每一位本科生。
我大学本科主修英语专业，
大一时就开始辅
修经济学了。无疑，我是班里最用功的学生。我竭尽全力想同时达到两个不同专业的要求，<
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但还是有不及格的时候。因为经济学需要良好的数学基础，我不得不花大量时间钻研数学，
因而忽略了英语学习。
第二学期
,
《英国文学》及《宏观经济学》两门课不及格给我敲响了警钟，这
可是我一
生中第一次考试不及格，这大大打击了我的自信心。虽然我不是一个容易向命运
低头的人，
在暑假结束的时候，
我还是决定放弃经济学，
以免两个专业都难以完成。
当我只需修一个专
业的时候，一切似乎又回到了正轨。
(if you ask me; odds; try as
…
might; sap
one
’
s confidence; given
that; bow to fate; come to a
close; for
fear that; now that)
If you ask me, taking a second major
isn
’
t good for every
undergraduate. In my freshman year as
an English major, I took economics as
my minor. By all odds, I was the most hardworking
student
in
my
class.
But
try
as
I
might
to
meet
the
requirements
of
the
two
different
subjects,
I
still
couldn
’
t do well
enough to pass all the exams. Given that the study
of economics required a good
command
ofmathematics, I had to spend so much time on math
that I neglected my English major.
Failing English Literature and
Macroeconomics in the second semester sounded the
alarm for
me.
This
was
the
first
time
I
did
not
pass
a
course
in
my
life,
which
had
greatly
sapped
my
confidence. Although I was not a man
who would easily bow to fate, as the summer break
came to
a close, I decided to give up
economics for fear that I would fail in both
subjects. Now that I had
only one
subject to attend to, everything seemed to be on
the right track again.
Unit
2
张磊是在毕业工作后才开始意识到读书的乐趣的。
反思自己
的大学教育时，
他感慨不已：
他
的一些
同学都沉浸于从图书馆或书店找到的各种有趣的书籍，
而他却只读了一些教科书，
其
中连一本真正能让他爱不释手、
值得一读的
书都没有。
他可以说是被剥夺了通过书了解作家
奇妙世界的特权
。
It
was not
until after he had graduated from university
and started to work that Zhang Lei
became
aware
of
the
pleasure
of
reading.
Reflecting
on
his
undergraduate
studies,
he
lamented
that
he,
unlike
his
classmates
who
had
immersed
themselves
in
various
interesting
books
they
were
able to lay hands on from the library or bookshop,
had only read textbooks, none of which
was really worthwhile, or could be read
in one sitting. He was deprived of the privilege
of gaining
access to the
writers
’
fantastic worlds
through the windows their books have opened, so to
speak.
如今，
他嗜书如命，
废寝忘食，
好像要把大学期间没机会读的好书全都读一遍。到目
前
为止他已经利用业余时间读了几百本小说、
传记和游记。
他意识到书不仅能向他展示一个充
满希望的前景，
< br>帮他消除现实生活中的压力和疲劳，
而且能够帮他澄清一些误解，
找到生活
的真谛。
(reflect on; in one sitting; lay hands
on; immerse in; worthwhile; privilege; withstand;
vista)
Now he has become an avid and
omnivorous reader. It is as if he wants to make up
for those
marvelous books
he hadn
‘
t had a chance to
read in his university days. By now, in his spare
time,
he has read several hundreds of
books, including novels, biographies and travel
notes. He realizes
that books can not
only reveal to him the vista of a hopeful future
and help him withstand stresses
and
strains, they can also help him clear up some
misconceptions and discover the true meaning of
life.
Unit 3
一个人的穿着似乎能影响他的行为方式。
譬如，
在校内要穿校服是中小学生所必须严格
遵守的规矩之一。
倘若在学生着装整齐划一和行为的统一规范之间不存在一种象征性关联
的
话，
校服便不可能如此盛行。
然而，
多年的学校生活让学生在内心
里对随处可见的校服产
生了抵触情绪，
校服毕竟压制了个性的表
达。
为了弥补这种损失，
学生常常会在周末穿流行
的休闲装。
直到上了大学，
他们才会享受真正的着装
自由，
而服装上的无序与大学培养创造
力、
鼓励自由表达思想及展露才华密切相关。
可惜这样的好景不会太长，
经过一段相对短暂
的自由之后，他们在毕业工作之后将再次经历着装规范的压力
。
(hard
and
fast;
there
is
no
doubt
that;
currency;
correlation;
backlash;
ubiquitous;
compensate
for;anarchy;
obtain; revive)
What you wear seems to
dictate your behavior. Take primary school and
high school students
for example. One
of the hard and fast rules they have to observe is
that they must wear uniforms at
school.
There is no doubt that school uniforms would not
have achieved their currency without a
symbolic
correlation
between
the
uniformity
of
clothes
and
the
students'
conformity
to
some
common
code
of
conduct.
However,
after
years
of
school
life,
there
is
always
a
backlash
secretly
nursed
in
the
students'
mind
against
the
ubiquitous
uniform
which
suppresses
the
expression
of
individuality.
To
compensate
for
this
loss,
students
usually
wear
more
casual
and
popular
clothes
on
weekends.
It
is
not
until
they
start
university,
however,
that
they
can
really
enjoy
the
freedom
of
dress,
an
anarchy
associated
with
the
cultivation
of
creativity
and
the
encouragement
of
free
expression
of
ideas
and
talents.
But
this
situation
won't
obtain
for
long.
After a relatively short time of
liberty, they
may experience again the
revived pressure of dress
code as soon
as they become professionals.
Unit 4
谈及目前经济萧条所带来的影响，
学生活动的减少就是一个很好的例证。
为了活跃校园
生活，
大学愿意划拨一部分资金来资助学生社团活动，
但由于今
年学校的预算大幅减少，
对
社团的资助也相应缩减了不少。
显然，
学生社团要恢复以前的活力就必须想办法克服自身的
经济困难。
有人主张招募更多会员，
因为会员费
的增加可以帮助他们度过难关。
当
然，如
果有更多的会员交年费，
而且缩减一些日常开支，
我们还是能省下一些钱来组织活动的。
但
是，
问题的关键在于社团活动的费用与参加活动的人数是成正比的，
因此这种方法恐怕不太
可行。要推进社团活动，同时又不使经费超支，我们必须群策群力
，拿出别的筹钱方法，而
不是仅仅依赖学校拨款和会员费。
(when it comes to; carve out; pare
down; cut back on; bottom line; go into the red;
pool; in lieu of)
When it comes to the effects of the
current economic downturn, the decrease of student
activities
is a good case in point. To
enliven campus life, the university is always
willing to carve out some
money
for
activities
organized
by
student
clubs
and
societies,
but
such
sponsorships
have
been
pared
down
this
year
because
of
huge
budget
cut.
Apparently,
student
organizations
need
to
weather their own
financial crisis if they want to recover from
their current state of inactiveness.
Some
suggest
enrolling
more
club
members,
on
the
ground
that
the
consequent
increase
of
membership fees may help them get out
of the difficulty.
No doubt, if we have more members
paying
the
annual
fee,
and
if
we
cut
back
on
our
daily
expenses,
we
can
spare
some
money
to
organize activities. But
the bottom line is that the expenses of these
activities are in proportion to
the
number of participants. I'm afraid this won't be
of much help. To boost student activities and to
avoid going into the red, we still need
to pool our ideas and come up with some other ways
of
raising money, in lieu of just
relying on university grants and membership fees.