爱华网Ken:Hi students, welcome to the Chat Room. I'm Ken.
Rachel: And I'mRachel.
Ken:Today's lessonnis about Evan and Joy, who fell in love during theirsecond year of university. Hey Rachel, isn't there a name for asecond-year university student?
Rachel: There sure is. The nameis sophomore, and it means wise fool. So Evan and Joy fell in loveduring their sophomore year.
Ken:Whatabout first, third, and fourth-year university students ? Do theyhave other names?
Rachel: Yes. A first-yearstudent is called a freshman. Ken: Freshman? Doesn't than means amale student?
Rachel: Well, technically, butfreshman is used as a unisex name.
Ken:大学一年级的学生叫做freshman.虽然字尾的man表示男人，但freshman是个男女通用的字。大二的学生叫做sophomore. OK, what about third and fourth-yearstudents?
Rachel: The third-year studentis called junior, and fourth-year student? A senior. We should keepin mind, however, that those four-year terms are used in bothuniversities and high schools. So when you say you're a senior,someone might ask you whether you're a high school senior or acollege senior. Ken:And if you're a high school senior, you're alsocalled a 12th grader.
Rachel: That's right.
Ken:美国的高中大多是四年，所以freshman/sophomore/junior/senior也可以表示高中四个年级不同的名称。还有我们要注意的是，常常听到高一的同学说I'm in the first grade、高二的同学说：I"m in the secondgrade,这样讲是错的，因为first grade 是代表小学一年级，second grade是小学二年级。如果你是高二的学生，你必须要讲 I'm a second-year high school student, 或者I'm a high school junior,也可以说 I'm in the eleventh grade.
