Greek1 Take Over on American College Campuses

By Amirah Ahmad

对于大多数刚刚进入大学的美国学生来说，学习已暂不是生活的主旋律，此时必不可少的就是社团活动。每一届新生入学之际，校园里的兄弟会、姐妹会也纷纷登场，招贤纳士，它们有一个共同的名字——“希腊生活”。

College isn’t just about learning.

Contrary to popular belief, once you go to college academics2academics： （院校的）学术活动，学术知识。is about the last thing on your mind. For me at least, I was scouting around the campus looking for valuable extracurricular that would aptly de fine me as a person.3scout around： 侦查，搜索；extracurricular：课外（校外）活动；aptly： 适宜地，适当地。I wanted to be a part of everything imaginable. The merits of joining clubs were the friends I could have made as well as staying busy when my academic workload4workload： 工作量。wasn’t as heavy. By the end of the first semester, however, many first-years felt like they lacked a small group of permanent friends they could always fall back on.5permanent： 永久的；fall back on： 求助于。Students felt like their support network was very limited, and many had dif ficulty coping with the fact that didn’t have the solid friend group they had in high school.

This is where Greek life comes into play6come into play： 开始起作用。.

For those of you who do not know, Greek life is a system of fraternities and sororities.7fraternity：（大学）男生联谊会，男生社团；sorority： （大学）女生联谊会，女子社团。Fraternities are all male and sororities are all female. These fraternities and sororities are essentially groups of girls or boys who partake in various philanthropic events.8partake in： 参加；philanthropic： 博爱的，慈善的。There are multiple fraternities and sororities and each fraternity or sorority has a name, which is usually a fusion of three Greek letters of the alphabet.9fusion： 融合；alphabet：（一种语言的）全部字母。An example would be Delta Delta Delta or Gamma Phi Beta. Apart from coordinating a volunteering event, fraternities and sororities are known to be strong brother or sisterhoods. Each fraternity or sorority has at least 20 members, but this number varies depending on the fraternity or sorority and the size of the school.

The catch10catch： n. 隐藏的困难，意料不到的情况。is, however, not everyone gets to join these groups. Their selection process is about a week and takes place either in the beginning or in the middle of the school year.

Why does Greek life exist? Greek life offers students an opportunity to try something new. Greek life opens up potential friendships within the fraternity or the sorority. Greek organizations are also responsible for admirable charity events and fundraisers11fundraiser： 募集资金的活动。and can be the “life” of the school.

In my opinion, however, the system is flawed12flawed： 有缺陷的。. The selection process is often based on super ficial13super ficial： 表面的，肤浅的。things like what people wear, what brands they’re displaying, and their looks. The process is structured in such a way that it encourages the super ficiality of the entire system. Although the fraternity selection process isn’t as flawed, it still is based on “coolness” and the willingness to party14party： v. 参加社交活动。with the fellow brothers.

After witnessing sorority rush, I am completely morti fied15morti fied： 受辱的，尴尬的。.

For my university, girls “rush”sororities in the spring of their first semester. To “rush” a sorority essentially means to talk to the different sororities and hopefully join at the end of the rush week.The beginning of rush week seemed great. My friends thoroughly were enjoying their time going from one sorority house to another. Each sorority has a house in which many of the girls that are part of that sorority live in. The girls who rush visit each house and converse with a couple of the girls. Many enjoyed this part of the experience, since it was relatively casual and more laid back16laid back： 闲散的，放松的。than the future days to come. As rush week went on, however,many girls started to drop. After a series of rankings and deliberation17deliberation： 仔细的考虑。,the sororities begin to “drop” girls, which means the girls aren’t allowed to join the sorority. By the end of the week, girls were not being called back and so the tears ensued18ensue： 随即发生。. Girls sobbed once they found out they weren’t allowed to join the sorority of their dreams,and many expressed frustration, wondering what exactly went wrong.19有些女生一旦发现自己没有被理想中的社团录取就会开始哭泣，还有很多人会感觉受挫，开始怀疑自己到底哪里做得不对。sob：啜泣；frustration： 受挫，失望。Several girls voluntarily dropped from the entire rushing experience by the middle of the week, unsatis fied with the results.Many girls even conjured theories in which they believed that many sorority pre-picked the girls that would join, betraying the other girls attempting to join fair and square.20甚至还有很多女生认为，许多女生社团早就提前选好了能加入社团的人选，而欺骗了那些试图光明正大加入社团的女生。conjure：想象，提出；fair and square： 光明正大地，公正地。

Although it started out like fun and games, it quickly turned into a mess.

Even prior to21prior to： 在……之前。rush week, I sensed the system was incredibly super ficial. Those who were planning on rushing received a power point presentation mapping out the out fits you were expected to wear.22map out： 计划，安排；out fit： 一套服装，（尤指女式）全套服装。What’s worse, girls shopped relentlessly during winter break to buy the most expensive pieces of clothing to showoff certain brands sorority sisters often wear.23relentlessly： 坚韧地，不懈地；winter break： 圣诞节假期，寒假。

Greek life is present at many colleges in America, particularly in the Southern half of the nation. Although I appreciate the fundraisers and other philanthropic events Greek life participate in, the exclusive24exclusive： 独有的。nature of the organizations is particularly disturbing to me.

College should be an open-opportunity experience. After going through the arduous25arduous： 艰难的。selection process of actually entering college, it seems like the competition never seems to end. There’s competition in academics,sports, social life, extracurricular, even in volunteering. It seems like my peers will forever be my competitors. What I believe, however, is that the competitive atmosphere is detrimental to26be detrimental to： 对……不利。student’s college experience. The competition prohibits students from trying out new things that otherwise they would have been interested in pursuing. Students miss out on potential hobbies, passions, and even careers. For example, many clubs at college require students to apply. After sending in the application, students are often called in for an interview. Based on how the interview went and the students’ credentials27credential： 证书。listed on the application, the student is either rejected or accepted. Say28say： 比如，比方说。, however, that club was a debating club. If the student is denied from joining, there is very little chance the student would have discovered his subconscious passion for debating which may had led to a career as a politician or a lawyer.29如果这个学生被辩论社团拒之门外，那么他几乎没有机会发现自己对辩论的潜在热情，而这种热情原本可能让他成为政治家或律师。subconscious：潜意识的。If accepted to a credible university, I think it’s safe to assume that all students are well-rounded30well-rounded： 全面发展的。and qualify to enter a club. If the student fails to meet the standards of the club, the student must have the chance to improve and meet the standards for his own contentment.

Unfortunately, however, this competitive and exclusive system is rampant31rampant： 猖獗的，泛滥的。throughout many colleges in America, even across the world. As students receive rejections and denials, however, it’s important to maintain our self-esteem32self-esteem： 自尊。and realize our self-worth. No one can tell us otherwise.