【口语】What’s Your Major 你主修什么

【口语】What‟s Your Major? 你主修什么?
情景: 在上集中，乔和林芝谈起了自己的大学生活，今天的话题将涉及到大学入取条件以及在大学中选专业的问题。

Lin Zhi: How do people normally choose their universities? By where their parents went?
Joe: Not normally. That was just a bit of sentimentality(n.情感,多愁伤感) on my part. Um, it depends on a lot of things. The most important is where will take you, of course—you have to apply before you do your final exams, so most of the offers are …conditional‟—that is, you have to get certain grades at A-Level before you take them. Like my offer was AAB—I needed to get 2 As and a B- to get in.
Lin Zhi:What would have happened if you didn‟t get them?
Joe: If you only miss it by a grade(n.评分), you can normally persuade them to let you in anyway. Otherwise, you have to go to your backup(n.后援,支持) choice—normally you pick one university with a high offer, and one that you‟re pretty certain you‟ll get the grades for.Like I picked Oxford and Manchester, where I had a BBB offer.
Lin Zhi: Is it the same in America?
Joe: I don‟t think so.I think there they just either accept you or don‟t, because they don‟t have as unified an exam system—well, they have the SATS, but you take those before you apply. And to get into the best universities you have to have a lot of extracurricular activities, doing charity work and hobbies and things, but that‟s much less important in the UK.Plus of course in the US you have to think about cost, whereas our universities are almost free.
Lin Zhi: when did you pick your major? In the second year?
Joe:Nah, we don‟t have …majors‟. We pick our subject from the start, and we don‟t call it a …major‟- we say we‟re …reading‟ something.
Lin Zhi:That‟s confusing!
Joe: I know! But you get used to it. Like, I read History at Oxford, my sister read Natural Sciences at Edinburgh. And our degrees are only three years, so they‟re more concentrated than the American ones.
Lin Zhi: So you have to decide straightaway when you apply? At 17? That seems too early.
Joe: Yeah, you just have to decide what you think is best for you. But it‟s very easy to switch once you‟re there-or even to do one year of one course, and two years of another. So you‟re not locked into it.
林芝：人们通常都是怎样选择大学的？家长上哪儿就上哪儿？
乔：这样的不多。

只是我对它有感情。

哦，这取决于很多方面。

当然，最重要的是哪里要你，你必须在期末考试前申请，所以多数的录取机会都是“有条件的”，也就是说，你的预科成绩必须达到一定分数才能去上。

比如我大学要求的成绩是AAB，因为我要取得两个A和一个B, 才能考上。

林芝：如果你成绩达不到会怎么样？
乔：如果你只差一份，你通常可以请求他们录取你。

不然的话，你就得选择后备学校——通常你选择一家成绩要求高的，以及一家你十分确定自己的分数达到要求的。

比如我选择了牛津和曼彻斯特，后者要求的成绩是BBB。

林芝：美国也是这样么？
乔：我觉得不是。

我想在美国是要么录取你，要么不录取你，因为他们没有统一的考试体制，他们虽然有标准成绩考试，但你要先参加考试，然后才能提出申请。

而且要想上顶级学府你还得有很多课外活动，参加慈善工作，有业余爱好，等等，但这些在英国就没那么重要了。

另外，在美国你还得考虑上学成本，而英国大学基本上是免费的。

林芝：你是什么时候选的专业？大二的？
乔：不是，我们没有“专业”。

我们一开始就选了课程，但我们不称之为“专业”，我们是说在“读”什么。

林芝：这我就不明白了。

乔：我知道。

但你得适应它。

比如说，我在牛津度历史，我妹妹在爱丁堡读自然科学。

而且我们取得学位只需要三年，因为课程比美国密集。

林芝：那你得在申请时就做好决定？17岁时么？太早了吧。

乔：是啊。

你得决定什么是对你最好的。

但上大学后更换很容易，甚至可以在一年上这种课程，另外两年上别的课程。

所以你不是固定在一个课程。