作者简介：Caryn Schwartz，智梦外籍主管，瓦萨学院英语文学与中文专业
翻译：Summer
Freshman Fifteen.Sophomore Slump.JY-Stay. Senioritis. These clever phrases have earned a place in our cultural lexicon, but one has to ask: are they real? Obviously every person’s college experience is different, but I thought I would at least try to explain the reasoning behind each one. This post will cover two major underclassman myths.
“新生增重十五斤”，“大二落差感”，“大三留守”,“大四毕业季”。这些新颖的词汇已经在我们的大学文化词汇中占据一席之地，但是人们不禁开始怀疑：这些是真的吗？毫无疑问，每个人的大学生活各不相同，但我还是想尝试解释一下这些词汇的来源。这个帖子将为你揭开两个关于大学低年级生活的谜团。
The freshman fifteen is a classic case of untested independence gone wrong. Formost college freshman, the dorms are the first place they’ve lived withouttheir parents or guardians. Rules and customs they may have had to observe athome no longer apply, and eating habits are one of the biggest changes.Personally, I wasn’t used to regular family dinners and my parents often subscribed to the “yoyo” method when it came to dinner formy sister and me—that is, “you’re on your own.” So for me, college dining wasn’t as much of a shock. I wasn’t blown away by the concept of eating what Iwanted when I wanted in whatever quantities I wanted, but kids with stricter upbringings don’t always know what to make of it. And even I, having grown up in a house where healthy eating was encouraged if not mandated, succumbed to some unhealthy snacking—just because those snack foods were so readily available.The freshman fifteen is entirely avoidable if you make a conscious effort to doso; remember—that first taste of freedom should include the taste of leafy greens!
“新生增重十五斤”是之前未曾独立生活过的学生进入大学后面临的经典问题。对绝大部分的大学生来说，宿舍是他们人生中第一次远离父母和监护人独立居住的地方。当不再有家庭的规定来限制他们的时候，学生们的饮食习惯往往会经历巨大的改变。个人来讲，我的家庭一直以来都是各自解决三餐，很少有常规的家庭聚餐，所以对我来讲大学自由的饮食并不惊奇。我不会饮食不规律或是暴饮暴食，但是一些之前家庭拘束比较严的学生到了大学有时就失去了自制。即使是像我一样成长在一个强调饮食健康的家庭的孩子，有时也会禁不住垃圾食品的诱惑——这些零食简直无处不在。如果你加以自控的话，“新生增重十五斤”是完全可以避免的。所以请记住，在你刚刚开始品尝自由的美好时，也别忘了绿色蔬菜的滋味！
The sophomore slump is a lesswell-defined problem than the freshman fifteen. Whereas the freshman fifteen is a physical change (albeit with mental underpinnings), the sophomore slump is wholly emotional. I distinctly remember returning toVassar’s campus at the beginning of my sophomore year. I was with my family in New York City the week before, doing all the classic NYC tourist activities. We were planning to spend a week seeing the sights, and then my parents and sister would all help me move into my new dorm room. Despite the plan, I couldn’t wait a whole week once I was so close. I wound up in Poughkeepsie a day and a half earlier than planned, spending that unanticipated night sleeping on my friend’shard wood floor instead of the comfortable bed I had waiting in Manhattan.
“大二落差感”相较“新生增重十五斤”来讲是一个更为模糊的问题。“新生增重十五斤”是身体上的改变（虽然有时候也会和心理有关），“大二落差感”则完全是情感上的困扰。我清楚地记得大二刚开学回瓦萨的时刻。之前我和我的家人在纽约游玩。我们本计划游玩一周，然后我的父母和姐妹将帮我搬回新的宿舍。尽管如此，离学校如此之近，我根本等不了一周。于是我提前离开了曼哈顿舒适的床，比预计的早了一天半到达了纽约波基普西，结果只能在朋友的硬板床上过夜。
Here’s the point of my story: freshman year is a rollercoaster of new feelings, some incredible and some crushingly bad. The summer after freshman year gives many students some much neededdistance to sort through and analyze their experiences; more often than not,the good memories win out over the bad ones. That, I believe, is where sophomore slump comes in.In many ways, no matter how incredible sophomore year is, it can’t ever match up to freshman year. The magic of freshman year can’t be adequately describedby adjectives like “fun” and “happy” because these descriptions don’t acknowledge the thrill of the unknown. By the time you’re a sophomore, evenyour very favorite freshman experiences no longer qualify as the unknown. They may still be enjoyable, but they are familiar, and therefore missing that freshman magic.Sophomores tend to lose some of thatreckless freshman abandon when it comes to joining new activities and making new friends, but this isn’t a bad thing. Really it’s a good one—it’s nice to discover who your real friends are and to understand which activities areactually meaningful to you. Be that as it may, the reality of the situation comes as a shock to some people. It did for me, and it takes a while to adjust. The important thing to remember is this:although college is a cohesive four-year experience, it has distinct segments.Every year of college will be different, and that’s fine. Don’t let expectations mislead you from one period to the next.
通过这个故事我想说的是：大一像做过山车般充满新鲜体验的一年，有些经历令人难忘，有些十分糟糕。大一结束之后的暑假给了新生们一个机会来反思这过去的一年。而往往那些美好的回忆会掩盖掉那些不好的。我个人认为这就是“大二落差感”的来源。因为无论大二的生活有多么的精彩，都无法与第一年相比。“有趣”和“开心”都不足以形容大一的奇妙，因为这些词都没有体现面对未知的激动。等到你大二的时候，即使是你最喜欢的大一经历也不再是未知的了。它们或许依旧有趣，但是已经不再陌生，也就失去了大一的魔力。大二的学生在参加了新的活动，认识了新的朋友之后通常摆脱了大一时孤寂感，而这也不是一件坏事。这事实上是一件非常好的事情—发现谁是你真正的朋友，哪些是真正有意义的活动。话虽如此，很多人还是难以接受这个事实。我也花了一段时间才适应了这个环境。所以请记住重要的一点：虽然大学四年是连贯的，但是每一年也是大不相同的。不要让你的期望在不同的阶段误导了你。
文中生词：
Slump
1) anoticeable deterioration in performance or quality
2) fall or sink heavily
（物价等的）暴跌;（个人、球队等的）低潮状态
Subscribe
1) offer to buy, as of stocks and shares
2) mark with one's signature; write one's name (on)
3) adopt as a belief
4) pay (an amount of money) as acontribution to a charity or service, especially at regular intervals
5) receive or obtain by regularpayment
认捐，捐赠;签署，题词，署名;认购;订阅，订购
Succumb
1. consent reluctantly
2. be fatally overwhelmed