I was born in a small town, up in the mountains. Because of the high altitude, few people lived there. I was always amid my neighbors and friends, people I had known for all of my life. When I was in my hometown, I felt like those days would last forever. But the days went by quickly, and soon I found myself packing my bags for college. I was full of ambition, and had applied to go to university in a big city.

我出生在高山上的一个小镇。由于海拔高，住在那里的人很少。我总是生活在邻居和朋友们中，他们是我整个人生中所结识的朋友。在家乡时，我觉得那种生活会永远持续下去。但时光飞逝，很快我就收拾行装，要去读大学了。我雄心勃勃，申请到大城市读大学。

When I first got to my university, I was on the alert for everything. I felt very much alone without my family and friends. I was like an alien arriving on a new planet. I felt like an ambassador from another world. Once classes started, things were better. I was busier, because I had to allocate most of my time to studying. I wanted to work hard, and did not allow myself to go to a large amount of parties.

刚进大学时，我对一切都心存戒备。周围没有家人和朋友我感觉非常孤单。我好像一个踏上新星球的外星人，又像是来自另一个世界的大使。一开始上课后，情况才好了些。因为必须把大部分时间分配给学习，所以我比以前忙了。我想努力学习，不允许自己参加大量的聚会。

I wanted to find an alternate social life that would let me have fun, without always drinking alcohol, like some university students do. Many people allege that this is why some students get bad grades their first year at university.

我想找到一种能给自己带来快乐的可选择的社交生活，而不是像某些大学生那样总是酗酒。许多人断言酗酒是某些大一学生成绩很糟糕的原因。

Because I felt very ambiguous about what I wanted to study, I took many different classes. I tried many different things, but still hadn’t found the perfect match for me. This made me feel even more lost at school, and I knew I had to find a way to amend things. In order to make new friends, and alleviate my loneliness, I joined the drama club at my school. It was there I met my first ally.

由于没有确定想学什么，所以我选了许多不同的课程。我做过很多不同的尝试，但还是没能发现什么最适合我。这使我更失落了，但我明白我必须想办法改进这一局面。为了多交朋友，减少孤独，我参加了学校的戏剧俱乐部。在那里结识了我的个同伴。

The president of the drama club was an older student, named Betty. She was quite amiable, and helped give me advice about school. She helped me to alter my schedule so that I had the best classes.

俱乐部的主席是我上届的学生，名叫贝蒂。她友好和善，给了我一些学习建议。她还帮我修改了选课表，这样我就能上最的课程了。

Soon our drama club put on its first show. It was a comedy, full of jokes to amuse the audience. My parents and friends even drove out to watch me. We were only amateur actors, but I think we did a good job. After the show, my father said, “Sarah, you amaze me, I didn’t know you were so good at acting!” Such ample praise made me very proud. That was when I realized what I wanted to be, an actress!

不久，我们俱乐部的首场演出与观众见面了。那是一部喜剧，幽默滑稽，逗得观众哄堂大笑。父母和朋友们都驱车前来观看。我们只是业余演员，但我认为我们很成功。演出结束后，父亲说：“萨拉，你真让我吃惊，我不知道你这么擅长表演！”如此多的赞誉之词让我感到无比自豪。正是那个时候我明白了自己想做什么——当演员！

单词记忆