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Unit 8 Love and Friendship
Passage A Freshman Friendship
Almost
two
years
ago,
I
stood
on
a
balcony,
joined
hands
with
my
three
most
intimate
friends
and
listened
to
one
of
them
tell
a
story
about
four
girls
with
different
backgrounds
and
talents
who
left
home
and
went
to
college
at
a
mythical
place
called
Happy Valley.
After we left
our friend's apartment that last night of our
freshman year, we ended up
on the lawn,
playing frisbee at 3 a.m. and sitting on the
dormitory steps talking for hours.
Alisa,
Karen,
Gabrielle
and
I
had
spent
that
day
together
just
being
freshmen
----
going
to
the
sandwich
shop
for
the
last
lunch
of
the
semester,
trying
on
each
other's
clothes, watching movies and acting
like we would never see each other again.
Three Months is a Long Time
For freshmen, and
especially for us, saying goodbye at the end of
the first year can
feel like saying
goodbye forever.
Three
months
can
seem
like
a
long
time
when
you
are
leaving
friends
and
acquaintances whom you
have only known for a year. Your freshman year
moments are
irreplaceable.
My advice to
any freshmen reading this is to cherish those
moments. You may grow
completely apart
from the people you spent your first year with, or
you may find yourself
fortunately
comparing them to siblings at the end of your
junior year as I did.
Even
if
you
have
almost
forgotten
your
freshman
year
roommates
two
years
later,
and
barely recognize them when you encounter them in
front of the gymnasium, you can
never
replace that year and the brand-new feeling that
your first year of college brings.
A
lot
will
change
after
your
freshman
year.
You
will
meet
new
people
and
do
new
things.
You will do a lot more growing up.
At the beginning of our senior year,
Karen took her hometown boyfriend Kevin on a
tour
of
campus
and
downtown.
where
we
grew
up,
she
told
him,
motioning
toward Atherton
Hall, where the four of us spent our first two
years at Penn State.
We
learned
more
outside
the
classroom
than
we
learned
inside
it.
That
dorm
is
where
we
learned
and
discussed
the
lessons
of
our
freshman
and
sophomore
years.
I
think the principal lesson
I learned was the definition of true friendship.
And I have never
had nor will ever have
better teachers than Alisa, Karen and Gabrielle.
That lesson can best be summarized by
something Alisa and Karen told me when I
was
upset
at
the
end
of
last
semester
and
needed
a
shoulder
to
cry
on.
They
said
no
matter how far we drift apart or who
else we become friends with after college, we will
always incline to recall each other
first whenever we think of college.
I couldn't agree more.
The
story
Alisa
told
on
that
balcony
is
far
from
over.
I
sometimes
wonder
if
the
following is how it will end:
…
and
those
four
little
girls
grew
up
and
realized
their
dreams.
They
found
themselves
all
over
the
country,
from
farms,
to
cities,
to
the
suburbs,
doing
everything
they wanted to do
- a computer technician, a physician, an attorney,
and an architect
–
with the companions they wanted in
husbands, children and pets.
And
occasionally they would make it back to reunions
at that mythical valley and see
their
old friends, laughing about the good times. They
had succeeded in forgetting any of
the
bad times.
And they lived happily ever
after.
A
篇
新生的友谊
大约两年前，
我与三个最亲密的朋友手拉手站在寝室的阳台上，
听其中一个讲述有关四
个女孩的故事。这四个女孩背景不同，天赋各异。她们离开家，来到大学校园，一个叫作< p>
幸福谷
的神秘地方。
大学一年级的最后一个晚上，
我们离开朋友的寝室，
来到校园的草坪上，
在凌晨三点玩
起了飞盘，然后坐在宿舍的台阶上一聊就是好几个小时。
艾莉莎
、
卡伦、
加布里埃尔莉和我就像大学新生一样度过了那一天。<
/p>
我们去了三明治店
享受那个学期的最后一顿午餐，
换穿彼此的外衣，
去电影院看电影，
仿佛我们再也不会
相见。
漫长的三个月
对新生来说，特别是对我们来说，
在第一年的年末相互道别确实就像要永别似的。
当你离开刚认识一年的朋友和熟人
，
三个月也许是一段漫长的时间。
但大学第一年的时
光却是无法替代的。
我给每一位读到这篇文章的新生的建议是：
< br>珍惜那段时光。
随着你成长，
也许将完全远
离那些与你一起共同度过大学一年级生活的人，
或者你也许能像我一样幸运，
能在大学三年
级有她们这些情同手足的朋友。
< br>
即使两年以后，
你可能几乎完全忘却了大学一年级时候的室友，
在体育馆门口碰到时也
几乎认不出他们，但是大学第一年和这一年所带给你的全新感觉
却是绝对无法替代的。
第一年过后，很多东西都会改变。遇到新朋友，尝试新事物。
你会在成长过程中经历更
多的事情。
大学四
年级开始的时候，
卡伦带着她家乡的男友凯文游览我们这座城市和参观我们的校
园。
她指着我们在宾夕法尼亚州的头两年住过的阿瑟特顿大厦说：
这就是我们长大的地方。
我们在课外学到的东西要比课内多。寝室是我们学习讨
论大一和大二的功课的地方。
我学到的最重要的东西就是真正的友谊是什么。
我从未有过比艾莉莎、
卡伦、
加布里埃尔莉
更好的良师益友，以前没有，将来也不会有。
那一课可以用艾莉莎和卡伦对我说过的一番话来做一个最好的总结。
当时是最后一个学
期期
末，我很难过，需要靠在一个人肩上痛哭一场。艾莉莎和卡伦对我说：
不管以后我们各奔
东西相距多远，
< br>也不管毕业以后我们交上任何别的朋友，
只要我们想起大学生活，
我们首先
就会想起彼此。
我完全同意。
艾莉莎在阳台上讲的那个关于友情
的故事还远远没有结束。
有时候，
我想故事的结局会
不会是这样：
那四个小女孩长大了，实现了自己的
梦想。她们现在天各一方，做自己想做的事情，
从农村到城市，
到郊区都能找到她们的身影，
--
一个是电脑技师，
一个是医生，
一个是律师，
还有一个成了建筑师，
有自己心爱的丈夫、孩子和宠物相伴。
有时候，她们还会回到那个神秘的
山谷，
与老朋友见面，
笑谈那些美好的时光。将失意
完全抛到脑后。从此过着幸福的生活。
Passage B Love Beyond the Grave?