别虚度光阴
Don’t Waste Time
选编者：徐军(国合处副主任)
Editor: Kevin Xu(Deputy Director of International Cooperation and Exchange Department)
College is the time to try new things, meet new people, and have new experiences. The things is, it can all fall apart if you don’t have a clear idea of what you are getting into. Be sure to make the best of it with these tips for new college students.
大学是尝试新事物、结交新朋友、经历新体验的时机。问题是如果你不清楚自己要做什么，这些机遇就会白白浪费掉。大学新生一定要好好用用下面的这几个方法。
1. Go to class
去上课
Oh, it will be so tempting to sleep in. After all, you’re a college student! You can do what you want, right? Well, you sure can if you want to scramble to make up for it later on. It is much easier to hold a GPA than to attempt to bring it up!
睡觉很诱人呀。毕竟你是大学生了！你可以想做什么就做什么，对吧？好吧，如果你想以后仓促补上那当然可以。保持住学分绩点比尝试提高它要容易得多！
2. Know what you can handle course-wise
知道如何能明智地处理课程
It is much better to finish a semester ‘late’ (who doesn’t these days?) than to have a nervous breakdown because of over-scheduling yourself. In the bigger picture, a few months or even a year does not make that much of a difference, unless you want to brag about how you finished school on time.
推迟完成（现在谁不这样？）比过度安排导致自己精神紧张要好得多。从大局的角度看，几个月甚至一年的时间也不会有多大的不同，除非你想吹嘘自己如何按时完成学业。
3. Get involved
参与进去
You might be attending school in a different state, or even in your own state. Either way you can afford to expand your interests and meet new people. College is an easy way to make contacts and new friends!
你可能要去到另外一个州读大学，也可能还是在自己家乡所在的州。无论是在哪里，你都能够扩大你的兴趣并结交新的朋友。大学是接触和结交新朋友的简单方式！
4. Make friends in your program who are ahead of you
结交班级里成绩比你好的朋友
This way you might be able to borrow their old tests, notes and/or lab reports. This is not cheating, but using your resources and contacts wisely. Many sororities and fraternities have these resources available, some even in database form! You can trade off with this friend or do something nice like bake him/her cookies for their help.
这样你就可能向借他们以前的测验、笔记和/或实验报告了。这不是作弊，而是明智地使用你的资源和人脉。很多姐妹会和兄弟会都有这些资源，有一些甚至存在了数据库里！你可以和你的朋友交换下，或做一些像给他/她烤饼干这样的事情来感谢他们的帮助。
5. On that note, consider joining a sorority or fraternity
说到这里，可以考虑加入姐妹会或兄弟会
Yes, you have to go to social events. Yes, you might get categorized as a snob or fill-in-the-inappropriate-name-blank, but you really can benefit from the social network and resources (such as old tests).
是的，你必须要去社交。是的，可能有同学觉得你很势利，觉得你很烦哪儿哪儿都有你，但你真的可以从这些社交网络和资源中受益（如以前的测验）。
6. Buy your books online or from a friend
从网上或朋友那里买书
Holy cow, the universities make a boatload off of textbooks! Using one book for a semester (even with selling it back) can cost $100 plus! Many companies like Amazon sell textbooks cheaper than at universities and offer gift cards at a decent rate to sell them back.
我的天，大学的教科书可以装满一船！一学期用一本书（甚至把它卖掉后）就得花100多美元！许多像亚马逊这样的公司卖的教科书价格比大学里要便宜，而且还提供礼品卡，用完后卖出去的价格也合理。
7. Keep in contact with your family
和家人保持联系
Yes, you should make contacts and friends at college. This does not mean you should ignore your family who likely supports you, or encouraged you to get to where you are today. Give them a call, Skype them, send them a card, or do something during the semester to let them know you are thinking about them.
是的，在大学里你应该和他人接触、交朋友。这并不是说你该忽视你的家人，你的家人会支持你或鼓励过你才让你有了今天。这个学期给他们打打电话，用Skype和他们通信，送给他们贺卡，或做些什么事情来让他们知道你在想着他们。
8. Keep in contact with old friends
和老朋友保持联系
One of my biggest regrets in life was intentionally falling out of touch with high school friends. I had joined a group of people who convinced me that the only important thing was their group and if friends or family did not understand, they should be cut off. I missed out on so much, and now the stream of mini blog updates from my high school friends makes me sad.
我人生中的一大遗憾是和高中朋友闹翻了。我加入了一个团体，那里的人让我相信最重要的事情就是这个团体，如果朋友和家人不理解的话，应该和他们断绝关系。我错过了这么多，现在我高中朋友微博上的更新让我很难过。
Sometimes something similar happens if you meet the man or woman ‘of your life’ who you can’t stand being away from. Break away and connect with the friends who have been there for you forever.
有时如果你遇到了“生命中的那个人” ，而你又离不开他/她时，也会有相似的事情发生。和他/她分手，并和一直在那里支持你的朋友联系。
9. Learn from mistakes
从错误中学习
If you do something stupid, learn from your mistakes. College is a time not only for learning about Chemistry and the correct way to cite a source, but for learning about life. Learning how to come back from mistakes is a big part of the college experience.
如果你做了一些蠢事，从错误中学习。大学不仅仅是用来学习学科知识和如何去引经据典的，它还是学习生活的地方。学习如何从错误中走出来是大学经验的一大重要部分。
10. Be silly
做些傻事
You have a little bit of margin during this time to get away with crazy things and not look too foolish (hey, it’s college!) Use this time to go on adventures and do silly things that likely will be looked down upon later in life. This is also a great way to bond with your new friends.
在这段时间内，你要留有余地，不要做太疯狂的事情，也不要看上去太愚蠢。（嘿，这是大学！）用这段时间来冒险和做一些傻乎乎的事情，这样以后在生活中还可以回想回想。这也是和你新朋友交流的一个好方式。
11. Be careful
要小心
Yes, have new experiences. Yes, be silly. Do not do things that you know might endanger your life, health or self-image.
对，要有新的体验。对，要做些傻事。但是不要做可能危及到生命、健康或自我形象的事情。
12. Learn how to balance and prioritize
学会平衡和为事情设定优先级
Time management skills are completely necessary to explore all that college life has to offer. There will always be activities, social events, school events, trips, homework, and tests for which to study. Part of life is managing the time that we have, so my advice would be to learn this early on in your college career.
去探索大学生活时，时间管理技巧是非常有必要的。总是有各种各样的活动、社交活动、学校活动、旅行、作业和测验。生活中的一部分就是管理我们所拥有的时间，我的建议是在开始大学生涯时尽早学习它。
13. Learn about yourself
了解自己
Figure out what you want out of life. You don’t need to know right away, but be thinking about this as you experience new things, meet new people, and explore the world of knowledge.
弄清你想要过的生活。你不必现在就知道，但是当你经历新的事情、结识新的朋友、探索世界知识时就要想一想了。
