On College Students’ Occupying Seats 論大學(xué)生的占座行為

On College Students’ Occupying Seats

In English, there is an expression “First Come, First Served” (FCFS). This stresses the need for orderliness, which also applies to college students’ searching for seats in the reading rooms of a library. However, in China, things are somehow complicated. Instead of occupying seats with their own persons, students tend to use books, backpacks or other personal objects to stand for their “legitimate” ownership of the seats.

To such extent, the emergence of such a practice, now almost ubiquitous on all campuses, is justified. The seats for students to conduct self-study are limited and university authorities should endeavor to increase such facilities to satisfy students’ needs. At least, students’ efforts to fight for seats indicate they are enthusiastic about their studies—their academic initiatives should be duly recognized and encouraged! However, using personal belongings to occupy seats may exacerbate the scarcity of facilities—some irresponsible students might never turn up, sometimes even for days. They waste the precious resources and damage the interests of other students who have real needs. Such behavior deserves unconditional criticism and condemnation.

Both university authorities and students should do their best to solve the problem. The authorities should create more reading rooms to satisfy students’ needs whereas students should not waste the already limited resources. In this way, an optimum allocation of resources can be realized and all students would enjoy their studies.

【參考譯文】

論大學(xué)生的占座行為

在英語里有個說法，叫做“先到者先得”。它強調(diào)的是，人們必須遵守秩序。這一點也適用于大學(xué)生們在學(xué)校圖書館的閱覽室里尋找座位的行為。然而，在中國，事情似乎稍顯復(fù)雜。學(xué)生們不是親身去占有座位，而往往是用書本、書包或其他個人物件來代表他們對于某個座位的“合法”占有權(quán)。

在某種程度上，這種在每個校園里幾乎無所不在的做法有其合理之處。學(xué)生們用于進行自習(xí)的座位數(shù)量有限，學(xué)校當(dāng)局應(yīng)盡力去增加此類設(shè)施，以滿足學(xué)生們的需求。不管怎么說，學(xué)生們努力去爭奪座位，表明他們熱衷于他們的學(xué)習(xí)——他們的學(xué)習(xí)主動性應(yīng)得到應(yīng)有的認(rèn)可和鼓勵。然而，用個人物品去占座，卻很有可能使設(shè)施的匱乏更趨嚴(yán)重——有些不責(zé)任的學(xué)生可能一整天甚至數(shù)天都不會現(xiàn)身!他們浪費了寶貴的資源，損害了其他真正有需求的學(xué)生的利益。這種行為理應(yīng)受到無條件的批評，乃至譴責(zé)。

無論是校方還是學(xué)生們自己，都應(yīng)盡力去解決這一難題。校方應(yīng)開辟更多的閱覽室來滿足學(xué)生們的需求，而學(xué)生們也不應(yīng)去浪費早已捉襟見肘的資源。如此一來，一種最佳的資源配置就能得以實現(xiàn)，而所有的學(xué)生終將盡享他們的學(xué)習(xí)。

【值得熟記的句式與短語】

1. First Come, First Served. 先到者先得。

2. apply to適用于

3. stand for代表

4. “legitimate” ownership“合法”占有權(quán)

5. almost ubiquitous on all campuses在每個校園里幾乎無所不在

6. be justified合理的

7. conduct self-study進行自習(xí)

8. endeavor to盡力

9. satisfy students’ needs滿足學(xué)生們的需求

10. their academic initiatives should be duly recognized and encouraged他們的學(xué)習(xí)主動性應(yīng)得到應(yīng)有的認(rèn)可和鼓勵

11. personal belongings個人物品

12. exacerbate the scarcity of facilities使設(shè)施的匱乏更趨嚴(yán)重

13. turn up出現(xiàn)，露面

14. precious resources寶貴的資源

15. damage the interests of other students who have real needs損害了其他真正有需求的學(xué)生的利益

16. deserves unconditional criticism and condemnation應(yīng)受到無條件的批評，乃至譴責(zé)

17. do one’s best盡力

18. limited resources有限的資源

19. an optimum allocation of resources資源最佳配置

20. To some extent在某種程度上