弹指三月，更望明天
Three Months of Exchange Brightens the Future
——在美交换有感
——A Memoir on Academic Exchange to the USA
郑哲豪 魏家鑫
Zhehao Zheng Jiaxin Wei
西南交通大学 外国语学院 翻译系 21级1班
Southwest Jiaotong University School of Foreign Languages
Department of Translation Class 1 Grade 2021
还记得8月29日那天，我们踏上赴美的航班，心怀万种期待，兴奋却又紧张地开启了分别属于自己的第一次国际交换。谁知时光的脚步，不经意间已向前迈了三个月，当下我们的交换学期已临近尾声。回首过去的近百天经历，若要概括，便只能说这是一次非凡的旅程。
Still vividly in memory is when on the day of August 29, we boarded the flight to the USA with various expectations, excitingly while nervously starting the first international academic exchange for which each of us uniquely cherished. But how fast time goes that when we look back from now, three months has passed, and now in coming to us is the end of this quarter. In retrospection to the past three months, if to use a word in describing it, that must be extraordinary.
学习在美国
Learning in the USA
我们的交换院校为加州大学戴维斯分校(University of California, Davis)，隶属于庞大而极具竞争力的加州大学系统。校园坐落于临近加州州府萨克拉门托的戴维斯市，没有大城市的喧哗，倒也好拥抱读书时应有的平静。学校的教学体制为Quarter制，每年分别在秋、冬、春有三个为期约10周的短学期，另在暑期开展自愿参加的课程项目。
The university in which we attend our exchange program is the University of California, Davis, subordinating to the giant and competitive UC system. The campus lies in the city of Davis, which is very close to Sacramento, the capital of California. Without the noise from big cities, it is considered as a preferred place for students to embrace the tranquility of study. The education system applied in UC Davis is the Quarter-system, within which there are three short 10-week quarters operated respectively in every fall, winter, and spring, and there are also some extra voluntary curriculum for which students can choose to attend during summer sessions.
来之前，我们曾一度认为在美的学习应当十分轻松，但事实上，每学期虽短，课程容量却没有减少，其结果便是学习强度较大。如郑哲豪所参加的美国历史课程(History of the United States - Since 1865)，本学期要求阅读的历史类文献作品便有5本，其所参加的英语文学通识课(Introduction of English Literature)要求阅读的文学作品更是多达6本，且以讨论以上作品为目的的课程论文占据了课程超过一半的评分。因此，当九月末学期开始的时候，如此的课程强度对我们而言可谓当头一棒，我们所能做的唯有尽最大努力适应美国大学的学习节奏。
Before departure, we thought that studying in America would be very easy, which to a substantial extent was overturned when we were informed that though quarters here are relatively short, the content of courses will not thus be cut to less, which means study here in UC Davis is more intensive. For example, the history course (History of the United States - Since 1865) taken by Zhehao Zheng requires the reading of 5 historical works, while in another course of GE (General Education) English literature (Introduction of English Literature) taken by him, the number raised to 6. Moreover, more than half of the final score in these courses are determined by academic papers written in discussion about topics derived from these readings. For all the very facts, it was such a challenge for us to accommodate and get used to the pace of study here in UC Davis when the quarter was started later this September.
但即便是如此，在美国的大学生活依旧予我们以张弛有度的节奏感。在工作日的校园里，我们可以在任何一个角落看到学习的身影。学校提供了大量且多样化的学习环境，学习既可以是在安静的阅览室，也可以是在舒适的咖啡厅，甚至相对嘈杂的餐厅也成为小组讨论的优选之地。美国多数大学生体现出来的学习方式如其授课方式一样，有较高的强度——学生更倾向于在工作日集中利用好每分每秒专注学习，而在周末为自己创造娱乐放松的条件。这样的学习方式，更有利于学习力的良性循环，让自身在学习与生活之间找到平衡。
Though study here is intensive, life in an American university still delivers us a sense of adaptation. During workdays, you can find almost everywhere in the campus people who are studying. The university provides students with various environments in which they can sit and learn. These may includes the quiet reading rooms, the relaxing cafes, or even the relatively noisy dinning halls which was taken as good places for group works. The way of study that most American students have employed manifested the same character as the way that teaching is operated here, which is very relatively intensive. Students prefer to get fully focused during the workdays, while get themselves relaxed during weekends. This way of studying benefits the benign circle of keeping being motivated, and works when students are trying to reach the balance between study and personal lives.
美国的授课方式，不但有刚才所提及的高强度，形式上也相对多元。这里的通识类课程大多以讲座和研讨形式组合形成，高阶专业课程大多以完全的研讨形式开展。这里的课程每周少则开展2次，多则每天都会有安排。讲座类课程以教授口述为主，学生可以随时提问；研讨课程一般由相关专业的博士生助教开展，就课上或阅读文献中的某一个话题进行讨论。对于初来乍到的我们，在最初的几周中，最具有挑战的便是听懂教授纯英文且大容量的讲座，以及在研讨课上克服心理阻力，努力积极地发表自己的看法。万事开头难，当我们做出了最初的尝试和努力后，先前的挑战也渐渐变得柔和了一些。
The way that teaching is operated in America is not only intensive, but relatively pluralist in forms. Most of the GE courses here are operated in combination of lectures and discussions, while most advanced major-exclusive courses are operated under 100% of discussion. Courses here are arranged in two to five classes every week. Lectures are operated mainly in the oral teaching of the professors, during which students can raise hands and ask questions at any time; while discussions here usually are operated by PhD Student TAs (Teaching Assistant) in corresponding majors, during which a certain topic derived from the lectures or the readings will be further discussed. During the first few weeks of this quarter, the most challenging thing for us is to understand the intensive lectures which were given in English by professors, and to express our opinions in English during the discussions while overcoming our inner struggle. But after the hardship at the beginning, those challenges gradually turned out to be controllable normal stuffs in our daily life.
除此之外，无纸化学习和科技与课程的高度融合，也成为美国大学教育十分显著的特点。在美国的大学校园里，最为常见的不是学生捧着纸质书在阅读，而是借助笔记本电脑、平板电脑进行学习。大多数学生具有相当成熟的用电脑记笔记的习惯和技巧，其笔记呈现也十分清晰而有逻辑，有助于后期的再整理和复习。课程所用的书本以及阅读文献，大多以电子版的形式发送给学生，借助开发成熟的阅读器，学生可以在电子文献上随时进行批注和笔记。另外，课程内外的学业事务大多建立在学校十分强大的Canvas系统上，其将与课程相关的一切信息，包括课程大纲、作业提交、成绩呈现、邮件往来、电子阅读等纳入系统，让学生高效、清晰而便捷地完成学习任务。
Additionally, paperless study and the integration of technology and education are two of the very prominent features of American College Education. In the campus of American universities, seldom may you encounter someone who is reading a printed book, what is more of a case is that students are generally studying with their laptops and pads. Most of the students here have considerably developed habits and skills in noting with computers, and the notes they made are very clear and logical, which make it more easy to reorganize and revise them. Textbooks and related literature are mostly given in electronic forms, and by applying very developed e-readers, students can easily note and write during their readings. Furthermore, in and after class study stuffs are mostly based on the very powerful and sophisticated Canvas system, in which there are everything about the courses, including syllabuses, submissions, grades, emails, e-readings etc., and by utilizing the Canvas system, students can finish their study works more efficiently, organizedly, and easily.
在美的这三个月中，学习上我们努力跟上节奏，看到、听到了很多，收获颇丰。与此同时，我们更希望通过这段时间的学习经历，为自己今后的学术生涯做好更多的铺垫和指引。
During the past three months, we tried to keep in pace with courses here, while we have also see and hear much, which to a considerable extant enriched our knowledge and experience. Moreover, we wish more preparations would thus be made by such an experience for our future academic careers.
2022年11月26日
于加利福尼亚州戴维斯
November 26, 2022
Davis, California
