句1：In the fall of our final year, our mood changed. 此句为主题句，点题：大学最后一年的秋学期,我们的心情变了。下句肯定要说心情怎样变。

Fall semester

Mood: state of mind; how you feel; temper; frame of mind (informal)

  He is in a good mood today.

  He was in no mood to celebrate.

句2：The relaxed atmosphere of the preceding summer semester, the impromptu ball games, the boating on the Charles River, the late-night parties had disappeared, and we all started to get out heads down, studying late, and attendance at classes rose steeply again.

    分析句子结构：3个独立句子，有2个and连接。

    第一个主句：谓语动词：had disappeared，主语是？

  Preceding: previous earlier,past,在前的,在先的;前面的。刚刚过去的夏学期的轻松氛围

  Impromptu (you do without planning in advance): 即兴球赛；

  Boating row a boat 湖上泛舟

第二个主句：get our heads down: 埋头学习 studying late 分词作状语

第三个主句：课堂出勤率急剧上升 attendance: presence; appearance; number of students who show up in class; steeply: abrupt; sudden

以前的轻松氛围没了，开始埋头学习，苦读到深夜，课堂出勤率上升

   Get out heads down: focus on studying

What is the relationship between the first two sentences? 第二句是对第一句的解释说明。心情怎么发生变化了？

句3：we all sensed we were coming to the end of our stay here, that we would never get a chance like this again, and we became determined not to waste it.

    What is relationship between sentence 3 and sentence 2?

我们都觉得在校时间不多了, 以后再也不会有这样的学习机会了,所以都下定决心不再虚度光阴。解释原因，为什么埋头苦读？因为。。。。。。

Sense：become aware of something or realize something, especially something that is not very obvious.  I can sense the teacher’s unhappiness.

  Sense 的宾语：3个并列宾语从句

句4：most important of course were the final exams in April and May in the following year.

    心情发生变化，开始苦读的第二个原因.担心期末考试

句5：no one wanted the humiliation of finishing last in class, so the peer group pressure to work hard was strong. 进一步说明句4，为啥担心期末开始。因为谁都不想考全班倒数第一,那也太丢人了，同学间竞争压力大。

    Humiliation: the embarrassment and shame you feel when someone makes you appear stupid, or when you make a mistake in public.

Peer: the people who are the same age as you or who have the same status as you.

  He is cleverer than his peers. Peer pressure 同伴压力

句6：Libraries which were once empty after five o’clock in the afternoon were standing room only until the early hours of the morning, and guys wore the bags under their eyes and their pale, sleepy faces with pride, like medals providing their diligence.

    分析句子结构：and连接的2个完整句子

第一个句子：libraries were standing room only. No more seats available, crowded

以前每天下午五点以后,图书馆就空无一人了,现在却要等到天快亮时才会有空座,

第二个句子：小伙子们熬夜熬出了眼袋, and their pale, sleepy faces with pride（独立主格结构）他们脸色苍白,睡眼惺忪,却很自豪,好像这些都是表彰他们勤奋好学的奖章

The relationship between sentence 6 and sentence 2-5. 对第二句的说明，是如何苦读的。

 

第二段

Q：what do they worry about besides study?

句1：But there was something else. 主题句：还有别的事情让大家心情焦虑。For us to worry about besides study.

句2：at the back of everyone’s mind was what we would do next, when we left university in a few months’ time.

    每个人都在心里盘算着几个月毕业离校之后该找份什么样的工作. 解释第一句，大家担心的是啥。

句3：it wasn’t always the high flyers with the top grades who knew what they were going to do.

并不总是那些心怀抱负,成绩拔尖的高材生才清楚自己将来要做什么

High flyers:successful people, have the ability and determination to continue to be successful

Those who do not have the best grades.

Top:

句4：quite often it was the quieter, less impressive students who had the next stages of their life mapped out.

    常常是那些平日里默默无 闻的同学早早为自己下几个阶段的人生做好了规划

句3句4进一步解释句2：每个人都担心工作，。。。。。。

Impressive:

Map out:

句5：one had landed a job in his brother’s advertising firm in Madison Avenue, another had got a script under provisional acceptance in Hollywood.

    有位同学在位于麦迪逊大道他哥哥的广告公司得 到了一份工作,另一位同学写的电影脚本已经与好莱坞草签了合约

    Land: get a job you want.

    Provisional acceptance: are accepted but is not yet definite. It is only temporary and could be changed.

    Avenue:

Hollywood:

句6：the most ambitious student among us was going work as a party activist at a local level.

野心最大的一位同学准 备到地方上当一个政党活动家

Activists:

句7：we all saw him ending up in the Senate or in Congress one day.

我们都预料他最终会当上参议员或国会议员

End up:

Congress:

Senate:

句567进一步说明句234：每个人都想着找啥工作，好学生清楚，默默无闻的清楚，比如：张三，李四，最有野心的。。。。。

 

句8：but most people were either looking to continue their studies, or to make a living with a white-collar job in a bank, local government, or anything which would pay them enough to have a comfortable time in their early twenties, and then settle down with a family, a mortgage and some hope of promotion.

    但大多数同学不是准备 继续深造, 就是想在银行, 地方政府或其他单位当个白领, 希望在 20 出头的时候能挣到足够多的薪水, 过上舒适的生活,然后就娶妻生子,贷款买房,期望升职,过安稳日子

    Look to:

    White-collar job:

Settle down:

Mortgage: