Academic Regalia1

Betty Liu

每逢大学毕业季，网上总会涌现各类毕业生穿着学位服所拍的照片，或搞笑，或奇幻，把一成不变的长袍礼帽别出心裁地展现出来。然而这一身身看似沉闷的毕业礼服可是历史悠久，每处细节都有讲究，必须一丝不苟，严谨如学术研究。且待讲解员从头到脚，细细道来。

It is graduation season right now, which means that graduates everywhere are donning2their academic regalia. This means sporting the traditional “cap and gown,” consisting of a robe,hood, cords, and the cap with a tassel.3. sport: v. 惹人注目地穿戴；cap and gown: 方帽长袍，指学位服；robe: 长袍；hood: 垂布；cord:（两头带流苏的）编绳；tassel: 流苏。With all of these traditions for academic dress, one might wonder, what are the origins of this academic dress? What do all the different parts represent? What do all of the colors mean? Hopefully, this article can address some of these questions.

The history of academic regalia goes all the way back to the middle ages in Europe when the first universities were starting to emerge.During this time, many of the scholars were monks and priests, who generally wore long gowns and had shaved heads.4. monk: 僧侣，修道士；priest:牧师，教士；shaved: 剃光的。Another possible reason that this style of dress emerged as the costume of choice was

2. don: 穿上。because most universities consisted of drafty stone buildings,making it so that long gowns and hoods were required to keep warm in the winters.5. 这种风格的服饰成为约定俗成的装束的另一个可能原因是，当时大多数大学都是通风的石砌建筑物，因此长袍和套头的垂布就成了冬日里保暖的必需。drafty: 通风良好的。Later on in 1321, this style of dress was formalized with a statute of the University of Coimbra in England requiring scholars to wear gowns.6. formalize: 使（计划、决定或想法）正式化，使定型；statute: 规章。This was also extended in the late 14th century when other English colleges required their scholars to wear gowns.

博士生学位服

Today, each country has its own requirements for academic dress, but it is still very similar to the traditional robes.In America, there has since emerged a detailed code for standardizing the minutia7. minutia: 细节。of academic dress for different institutions. These details are based on a variety of factors,including education level, the field of study, honors earned, etc.While some colleges stray away from these generally accepted standards, most institutions still adhere to the basic guidelines.8. 虽然某些院校偏离了那些广为接受的标准，大部分机构仍然秉承基本准则。stray away: 偏离；adhere to: 坚持，拥护。

To start off9. to start off: 从一开始。, there is a standard for the type of robe one wears.For individuals with a Bachelor’s degree, the robe is worn closed and the sleeves are square at the end. For masters, the robe can be worn opened or closed and the sleeves are oblong10. oblong: 椭圆的。instead of square. Doctoral graduates have yet another style of robe, with a trim depicting the field of study (for example, dark blue for Ph.D,scarlet for Th.D).11. trim: 饰边；depict: 描绘；Ph.D:Doctor of Philosophy，哲学博士；scarlet: 深红的；Th.D: Doctor of Theology，神学博士。These robes can be worn opened or closed and feature bell shaped sleeves with three velvet bands12. velvet band: 天鹅绒条带。. Most often these robes are black, but occasionally schools decide to use their school colors instead. One example of this is Princeton University,which offers an orange and black gown, representing the school’s of ficial colors. Other schools that do this include Harvard (which has crimson13. crimson: 深红色的。robes) and Yale (which has blue robes) among many others.

Along with the gown, academic regalia also features a hood to wear. Generally the outside of the hood is black, the interior lining of the hood is the color of the institution, and the trim is colored depending on the major of the individual.14. 通常，垂布的外面是黑色的，内衬是院校的代表色，而饰边的颜色则依个人的专业而定。There is an intercollegiate15. intercollegiate: 大学间的。standard determining what major each color represents.For example, Education is light blue, Agriculture is maize,Economics is copper,16. maize: 黄色的，玉米色的；copper: 铜色的。and so on. The length of the hood corresponds to17. correspond to: 与……相对应。the degree, with higher levels of education being represented by a longer hood. In some cases,individuals with Bachelor’s degrees do not wear a hood.Often times, honor cords are also worn with regalia. These are twisted cords with a tassel at the end that represent academic achievement.

Finally, no academic regalia is complete without the mortarboard cap18. mortarboard cap: 学位帽。. This consists of a square board laid horizontally and attached to a skull cap.19. horizontally: 水平地；skull cap: 头盖帽。There is a tassel attached to the top of this hat. In many ceremonies, the tassel is worn on one side of the cap until the diploma20. diploma: 毕业证书，学位证书。is received, after which the tassel is moved to the other side of the hat. However, for many masters and doctoral students, the tassel stays on the left for the entire ceremony.

Betty（右）和朋友