新标准大学英语3 UNIT1-Catching Crabs原文+译文

Catching Crabs 1 In the fall of our final year, our mood changed. the relaxed atmosphere of t

Unit one text and ite translation Catching Crabs 1In the fall of our final year, our mood changed. the relaxed atmosphere of the preceding summer semester, the impromptu ball games, the boating on the Charles River, the late-night parties had disappeared, and we all started to get our heads down, studying late, and attendance at classes rose steeply again. We all sensed we were coming to the end of our stay here, that we would never get achance like this again, and we became determined not to waste it. Most important of course were the final exams in April and May in the following year. No one wanted the humiliation of finishing last in class, so the peer group pressure to work hard was strong. Libraries which were once empty after five o'clock in the afternoon were standing room only until the early hours of the morning, and guys wore the bags under their eyes and their pale, sleepy faces with pride, like medals proving their diligence. 大学最后一年的秋天，我们的心情变了。刚刚过去的夏季学期的轻松氛围、即兴球赛、查尔 斯河上的泛舟以及深夜晚会都不见了踪影，我们开始埋头学习，苦读到深夜，课堂出勤率再 次急剧上升。我们都觉得在校时间不多了，以后再也不会有这样的学习机会了，所以都下定 决心不再虚度光阴。当然，下一年四五月份的期末考试最为重要。我们谁都不想考全班倒数 第一，那太丢人了，因此同学们之间的竞争压力特别大。以前每天下午五点以后，图书馆就 空无一人了，现在却要等到天快亮时才会有空座，小伙子们熬夜熬出了眼袋，他们脸色苍白， 睡眼惺忪，却很自豪，好像这些都是表彰他们勤奋好学的奖章。 2But there was something else. At the back of everyone's mind was what we would do next, when we left university in afew months' time. It wasn't always the high flyers with the top grades who knew what they were going to do. Quite often it was the quieter, less impressive students who had the next stages of their life mapped out. One had landed ajob in his brother's advertising firm in Madison Avenue, another had got a script under provisional acceptance in Hollywood.The most ambitious student among us was going to work as aparty activist at alocal level. We all saw him ending up in the Senate or in Congress one day. But most people were either looking to continue their studies, or to make aliving with awhite-collar job in abank, local government, or anything which would pay them enough to have acomfortable time in their early twenties, and then settle down with afamily, amortgage and some hope of promotion. 还有别的事情让大家心情焦虑。每个人都在心里盘算着过几个月毕业离校之后该找份什么样 的工作。并不总是那些心怀抱负、成绩拔尖的高材生才清楚自己将来要做什么，常常是那些 平日里默默无闻的同学早早为自己下几个阶段的人生做好了规划。有位同学在位于麦迪逊大 道他哥哥的广告公司得到了一份工作，另一位同学写的电影脚本已经与好莱坞草签了合约。 我们当中野心最大的一位同学准备到地方上当一个政党活动家，我们都预料他最终会当上参 议员或国会议员。但大多数同学不是准备继续深造，就是想在银行、地方政府或其他单位当 20 个白领，希望在出头的时候能挣到足够多的薪水，过上舒适的生活，然后就娶妻生子， 贷款买房，期望升职，过安稳日子。 3I went home at Thanksgiving, and inevitably, mybrothers and sisters kept asking me what Iwas planning to do. Ididn't know what to say. Actually, Idid know what to say, but Ithought they'd probably criticize me, so Itold them what everyone else was 1