M: Good evening, everybody. Today we are pleased to have invited Maggie Shorts from Harvard University to tell us her feeling of studying together with her mom. Well, Maggie.
W: Thanks. I'm happy to meet you all.
M: Maggie, are you and your mom studying the same major at the university?
W:Not really. She is studying in law school and I'm studying journalism. So, you see she is a graduate student while I am an undergraduate. Since we study at the same time and hers is a four-year night program, our school schedules are synched.
M: Which means?
W: We follow the same schedules of study. We take our exams during the same busy weeks and experience similar relief at the end of December and May. Last spring, we compared notes on our cover letters and interviews for our job applications. Last June, as we were both preparing for our summer internships, my mother and I traded fashion advice. Presently, we will probably graduate within days of each other.
M: Interesting. Then you must have a lot in common at study.
W: You bet. As students, we've shared study habits (take notes by hand), general truths (You can't avoid having a few bad professors), and encouraging platitude(like, it's okay! No one will care how you did on your "Science of Cooking"or "Constitutional Law" midterm!). Where she's listened to my complaints about freshman-year roommates and dining-hall food, I've helped her buy textbooks online and wished her luck in moot-court practice. Occasionally, we've even studied together. When Mom came to visit during Freshman Parents Weekend, I took her into the libraries on the pretext that she was on the library tour. We sat side by side in the big open room on the first floor, she diligently taking notes on a huge red volume that she had lugged from New York City on the train, I casually reading about Greek myths.
M: What do you think is the biggest advantage of having a parent studying together with you?
W: I know that my mother has felt the frustration of a paper that won't write and the excitement of mastering a difficult topic. I don't need to explain my elaborate theory that I am a "bad test-taker", she's said the same thing about herself. And talking with her is a good way to get perspective on those occasional hurdles that crop up in college. Although we are both taking a substantial course load, Mom is also working a full-time job in the financial industry. That urges me to study harder, so I should say encouragement.
M: Any disadvantages then?
W: Well, sometimes I wonder whether we are getting a little too involved in each other's scholastic lives. This usually occurs to me about twice a year, when my mother calls to inform me of her grades. Once, she reached me in the middle of a date ("I got my first A! Aren't you going to congratulate me?"), and often, when the news has been disappointing, I haven't known how to respond. Last fall, I was chastised for passing along a speculative tidbit I had heard in the dining hall--- that, because of grade inflation, GPAs once considered good might be viewed with new scrutiny. "Jane has informed me that 'B is the new F,'" Mom announced at Thanksgiving. I didn't know what to say to comfort her.
男：大家晚上好。很高興我們今天邀請到哈佛大學的瑪吉·肖茨來跟我們分享，和媽媽一起上學的感覺。瑪吉。
女：謝謝。很高興見到大家。
男：瑪吉，你和媽媽在大學學的是同一專業(yè)嗎?
女:沒有。她在法學院學習，我學新聞。她是研究生，而我是本科生。我們在同一時間學習，她上的是四年制夜校，我們的學校時間表是一樣的。
男：這意味著什么?
女：我們遵循相同的學習時間表。我們在相同的幾個考試周里忙著參加考試，在12月底和5月底的時候一起放松。去年春天，我們對比了求職信和面試的筆記。去年6月，當我們都在為暑期實習做準備時，媽媽和我交換了關于穿著打扮的建議。目前，我們兩個可能會在幾天內(nèi)相繼畢業(yè)。
男：很有趣。那你們在學習上一定有很多共同點。
女：當然。作為學生，我們有共同的學習習慣(手寫筆記)，面臨同樣的現(xiàn)實(不可避免地會碰到一些糟糕的教授)，并互相鼓勵(比如，沒關系！沒有人會關心你在“烹飪科學”或“憲法”期中考試中表現(xiàn)怎么樣的?。┧龝犖冶г剐律矣押褪程没锸?，我?guī)退诰W(wǎng)上買了課本，并祝她在模擬法庭聯(lián)系中表現(xiàn)出色。偶爾，我們還一起學習。雙親周媽媽來看望我時，我借口她去書海遨游，帶她進了圖書館。我們肩并肩坐在一樓的大房間里，她翻看著坐火車從紐約市拖來的一本紅色的大書，認真寫筆記，我就隨便讀點希臘神話。
男：你認為父母和你一起學習最大的好處是什么?
女:我知道我的母親面對一篇寫不出來的論文有多么沮喪，也知道掌握一個高難度的話題之后她有多興奮。我是一個“不會考試的人”，這不需要解釋，我媽說她也是這樣。和媽媽聊天可以換一個角度看待大學里偶爾出現(xiàn)的障礙。雖然我們都在承受巨大的課程負擔，但媽媽還在金融行業(yè)做全職工作。這激勵著我更努力地學習，所以我認為最大的好處就是受到鼓勵。
男：有沒有什么缺點呢?
女：嗯，有時候我在想我們是不是對彼此的學習生活干涉太多了。這樣的想法我每年會有兩次，也就是我媽媽打電話通知我她的成績的時候。有一次，我正在約會，她打電話過來(“我得到了我的第一個A!你要恭喜我嗎？”）通常，傳來的不是好消息，我還不知道該如何回應。去年秋天，我因傳播在餐廳里聽到的一段小道消息而受到懲罰。有人說，考試成績給分過高，因此從前比較好的平均分數(shù)，可能會受到新的審查?！昂喐嬖V我，‘B是新的F’，”媽媽在感恩節(jié)這樣說。我不知道該說什么安慰她。
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