Her friends, however, who, though perhaps equally philosophic8, were less consistent, were subjecting themselves to what was known as a "regular freshman9 cram"; and as no one had any time to talk to Patty, or to make anything to eat, she found it an unprofitable period. Her own room-mate even drove her from the study because she laughed out loud over the book she was reading; and, an exile, she wandered around to the studies of her friends, and was confronted by an "engaged" on every door. She was sitting on a window-sill in the corridor, pondering on the general barrenness of things, when she suddenly remembered her friends the freshmen10 in study 321. She had not visited them for some time, and freshmen are usually interesting at this period. She accordingly turned down the corridor that led to 321, and found a "positively11 engaged to every one!!" in letters three inches high, across the door. This promised a richness of entertainment within, and Patty heaved a disappointed sigh loud enough to carry through the transom.
The turning of leaves and rustling12 of paper ceased; evidently they were listening, but they gave no sign. Patty wrote a note on the door-block with reverberating13 punctuation-points, and then retired14 noisily, and tiptoed back a moment later, and leaned against the wall. Curiosity prevailed; the door opened, and a face wearing a hunted look peered out.
"Oh, Patty Wyatt, was that you?" she asked. "We thought it was Frances Stoddard coming down to have geometry explained, and so we kept still. Come in."
"Goodness, no; I wouldn't come in over an 'engaged' like that for anything. I'm afraid you're busy."
The freshman grasped her by the arm."Patty, if you love us come in and cheer us up. We're so scared we don't know what to do."
Patty consented to be drawn15 across the threshold. "I don't want to interrupt you," she remonstrated16, "if you have anything to do." The study was occupied by three girls. Patty smiled benignly17 at the two haggard faces before her. "Where's Lady Clara Vere de Vere?" she asked. "She surely isn't wasting these precious last moments in anything frivolous."
"She's in her bedroom, with a geometry in one hand and a Greek grammar in the other, trying to learn them both at once."
"Tell her to come out here; I want to give her some good advice"; and Patty sat down on the divan18 and surveyed the dictionary-bestrewn room with an appreciative19 smile.
"Oh, Patty, I'm so glad to see you!" Lady Clara exclaimed, appearing in the doorway20. "The sophomores21 have been telling us the most dreadful stories about examinations. They aren't true, are they?"
"Mercy, no! Don't believe a word those sophomores tell you. They were freshmen themselves last year, and if the examinations were as bad as they say, they wouldn't have passed them, either."
A relieved expression stole over the three faces.
"You're such a comfort, Patty. Upper-classmen take things easily, don't they?"
"One gets inured22 to almost anything in time," said Patty. "Examinations are even entertaining, if you know the right answers."
"But we won't know the right answers!" one of the freshmen wailed23, her terror returning. "We simply don't know anything, and Latin comes to-morrow, and geometry the next day."
"Oh, well, in that case you can't get through anyway, so don't worry. You must take it philosophically24, you know." Patty settled herself among the cushions and smiled upon her frightened auditors25 with easy nonchalance26. "As an example of the uselessness of studying at the eleventh hour when you haven't done anything through the term, I will tell you my experience with freshman Greek. I was badly prepared when I came, I didn't study through the term, and, without exaggeration, I didn't know anything. Three days before examinations I suddenly comprehended the situation, and I began swallowing that grammar in chunks27. I drank black coffee to keep awake, and worked till two in the morning, and scarcely stopped cramming28 irregular verbs for meals. I simply thought in Greek and dreamed in Greek. And, if you will believe it, after all that work I flunked29 in Greek! It shook my faith in studying for examinations. I've never done it since, and I've never flunked since. I believe that it's just a matter of fate whether you get through or not, so I never bother any more."
The freshmen looked at one another disconsolately31. "If it's all decided32 beforehand, we're lost."
Patty smiled reassuringly33.
Will happen to the best of men."
"But I've heard they send people home, drop them, you know, if they flunk30 more than a certain amount. Is that so?" Lady Clara inquired in hushed tones.
"Oh, yes," said Patty; "they have to. I've known some of the brightest girls in college to be dropped."
"Many!" said Patty. "The mere37 clerical labor38 of writing out the notes occupies the department two days."
"Is the examination terribly hard?"
"I don't remember much about it. It's been such a long time since I was a freshman, you see. They picked out the hardest theorems, I know—things you couldn't even draw, let alone demonstrate: the pyramid that's cut in slices, for one,—I don't remember its name,—and that sprawling39 one that looks like a snail40 crawling out of its shell: the devil's coffin41, I believe it's called technically42. And—oh, yes! they give you originals—frightful43 originals, like nothing you've ever had before; and they put a little note at the top of the page telling you to do them first, and you get so muddled44 trying to think fast that you can't think at all. I know a girl who spent all the two hours trying to think out an original, and just as she got ready to write it down the bell rang and she had to hand in her paper."
"And what happened?"
"Oh, she flunked. You couldn't really blame the instructor, you know, for not reading between the lines, for there weren't any lines to read between; but it was sort of a pity, for the girl really knew an awful lot—but she couldn't express it."
"That's just like me."
"Ah, it's like a good many people." A silence ensued, and the freshmen looked at one another dejectedly. "But you can live, even if you should flunk math," Patty continued reassuringly. "Other people have done it before you."
"If it were only geometry—but we're scared over Latin."
"Oh, Latin! There's no use studying for that, for you can't possibly read it all over, and if you just pick out a part, it's sure not to be the same part they pick out. The best way is to say incantations over the book, and open it with your eyes blindfolded45, and study the page it opens to; then, in case you don't pass,—and you probably won't,—you can throw the blame on fate. My freshman year, if I remember right, they gave us for prose composition one of Emerson's essays to translate into Latin, and we couldn't even tell what it meant in English."
The three looked at one another again.
"I couldn't do anything like that."
"Nor I."
"Nor I."
"Nor any one else," said Patty.
"We can flunk Latin and math; but if we flunk any more we're gone."
"I believe so," said Patty.
"And I'm awfully shaky in German."
"And I in French."
"And I in Greek."
"I don't know anything about German," said Patty. "Never had it myself. But I remember hearing Priscilla say that the printed examination papers didn't come but in time, and Fräulein Scherin, who writes a frightful hand, wrote the questions on the board in German script, and they couldn't even read them. In French I believe the first question was to write out the 'Marseillaise'; there are seven verses, and no one had learned them, and the 'Marseillaise,' you know, is a thing that you simply can't make up on the spur of the moment. As for Greek, I told you my own experience; I am sure nothing could be worse than that."
The freshmen looked at one another hopelessly. "There's only English and hygiene46 and Bible history left."
"English is something you can't tell anything about," said Patty. "They're as likely as not to ask you to write a heroic poem in iambic pentameters, if you know what they are. You have to depend on inspiration; you can't study for it."
"I hope," sighed Lady Clara, "to get through hygiene and Bible history, though, as they only count one hour apiece, I suppose it isn't much."
"You mustn't be too sanguine," said Patty. "It all depends on chance. The class in hygiene is so big that the professor hasn't time to read the papers; he just goes down the list and flunks47 every thirteenth girl. I'm not sure about Bible history, but I think he does the same, because I know, freshman year, that I made a mistake and handed in my map of the Holy Lands done in colored chalk to the hygiene professor, and my chart of the digestive system to the Bible professor, and neither of them noticed it. They did look a good deal alike, but not so much but what you could tell them apart. All I have to say is that I hope none of you will be number thirteen."
The freshmen stared at one another in speechless horror, and Patty rose. "Well, good-by, my children, and, above all things, don't worry. I'm glad if I've been able to cheer you up a little, for so much depends on not being nervous. Don't believe any of the silly stories the sophomores tell," she called back over her shoulder; "they're just trying to frighten you."
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1
conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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conscientiously
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| adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实 | |
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judicious
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| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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freshman
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| n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女) | |
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freshmen
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| n.（中学或大学的）一年级学生( freshman的名词复数 ) | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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13
reverberating
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| 回响，回荡( reverberate的现在分词 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射 | |
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14
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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remonstrated
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| v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )；告诫 | |
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benignly
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| adv.仁慈地，亲切地 | |
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divan
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| n.长沙发；（波斯或其他东方诗人的）诗集 | |
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appreciative
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| adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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sophomores
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| n.（中等、专科学校或大学的）二年级学生( sophomore的名词复数 ) | |
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inured
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| adj.坚强的，习惯的 | |
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wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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philosophically
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| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
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auditors
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| n.审计员，稽核员( auditor的名词复数 )；（大学课程的）旁听生 | |
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nonchalance
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| n.冷淡，漠不关心 | |
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chunks
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| 厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分 | |
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cramming
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| n.塞满，填鸭式的用功v.塞入( cram的现在分词 )；填塞；塞满；（为考试而）死记硬背功课 | |
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29
flunked
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| v.( flunk的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）（考试、某学科的成绩等）不及格；评定（某人）不及格；（因不及格而） 退学 | |
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30
flunk
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| v.(考试)不及格(=fail) | |
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disconsolately
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| adv.悲伤地，愁闷地；哭丧着脸 | |
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32
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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reassuringly
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| ad.安心，可靠 | |
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flunking
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| v.( flunk的现在分词 )；（使）（考试、某学科的成绩等）不及格；评定（某人）不及格；（因不及格而） 退学 | |
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35
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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39
sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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40
snail
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| n.蜗牛 | |
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coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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42
technically
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| adv.专门地，技术上地 | |
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43
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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44
muddled
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| adj.混乱的；糊涂的；头脑昏昏然的v.弄乱，弄糟( muddle的过去式)；使糊涂；对付，混日子 | |
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45
blindfolded
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| v.（尤指用布）挡住（某人）的视线( blindfold的过去式 )；蒙住（某人）的眼睛；使不理解；蒙骗 | |
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46
hygiene
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| n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic） | |
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47
flunks
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| v.( flunk的第三人称单数 )；（使）（考试、某学科的成绩等）不及格；评定（某人）不及格；（因不及格而） 退学 | |
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