對于大多數剛剛進入大學的美國學生來說，學習已暫不是生活的主旋律，此時必不可少的就是社團活動。每一屆新生入學之際，校園里的兄弟會、姐妹會也紛紛登場。它們有一個共同的名字——“希臘生活”，是美國大學校園里特有的一種社團活動。社團作為大學生展示自我的舞臺，已經成為一種獨特的校園文化。然而，在風光的背后，這些大學社團是否毫無缺點？

By Amirah Ahmad

馬玉芳注

College isn’t just about learning.

Contrary to popular belief, once you go to college academics 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 define me as a person. 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 workload 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. Students felt like their support network was very limited, and many had difficulty coping with the fact that didn’t have the solid friend group they had in high school.

This is where Greek life comes into play.

For those of you who do not know, Greek life is a system of fraternities and sororities. 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. There are multiple fraternities and sororities and each fraternity or sorority has a name, which is usually a fusion of 3 Greek letters of the alphabet. 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 catch 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 fundraisers and can be the “life” of the school.

In my opinion, however, the system is flawed. The selection process is often based on superficial 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 superficiality of the entire system. Although the fraternity selection process isn’t as flawed, it still is based on “coolness” and the willingness to party with the fellow brothers.

After witnessing sorority rush, I am completely mortified.

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 back than the future days to come. As rush week went on, however, many girls started to drop. After a series of rankings and deliberation , 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 ensued. 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. Several girls voluntarily dropped from the entire rushing experience by the middle of the week, unsatisfied 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.

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

Even prior to rush week, I sensed the system was incredibly superficial. Those who were planning on rushing received a power point presentation mapping out the outfits you were expected to wear. 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.

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 exclusive nature of the organizations is particularly disturbing to me.

College should be an open-opportunity experience. After going through the arduous 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 to 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’ credentials listed on the application, the student is either rejected or accepted. Say, 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. If accepted to a credible university, I think it’s safe to assume that all students are well-rounded 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 rampant throughout many colleges in America, even across the world. As students receive rejections and denials, however, it’s important to maintain our self-esteem and realize our self-worth. No one can tell us otherwise.

Vocabulary

1. Greek: 此處指Greek life，意為“希臘生活”，是美國大學特有的一種社團活動，包括兄弟會、姐妹會等，通常以1—3個希臘字母為組織命名。這些社團注重公益事業和成員學業，組織成員去做義工，幫助那些需要幫助的人。

2. academics: （院校的）學術活動，學術知識。

3. scout around: 偵查，搜索；extracurricular: 課外（校外）活動；aptly: 適宜地，適當地。

4. workload: 工作量。

5. permanent: 永久的；fall back on: 求助于。

6. come into play: 開始起作用。

7. fraternity: （大學）男生聯誼會，男生社團；sorority: （大學）女生聯誼會，女子社團。

8. partake in: 參加；philanthropic: 博愛的，慈善的。

9. fusion: 融合；alphabet: 字母表。

10. catch: n. 隱藏的困難，意料不到的情況。

11. fundraiser: 募集資金的活動。

12. flawed: 有缺陷的。

13. superficial: 表面的，膚淺的。

14. party: v. 參加社交活動。

15. mortified: 受辱的，尷尬的。

16. laid back: 閑散的，放松的。

17. deliberation: 仔細的考慮。

18. ensue: 隨即發生。

19. 有些女生一旦發現自己沒有被理想中的社團錄取就會開始哭泣，還有很多會感覺受挫，開始懷疑自己到底哪里做的不對。sob: 啜泣；frustration: 受挫，失望。

20. 甚至還有很多女生認為，許多女生社團早就提前選好了能加入社團的人選，而欺騙了那些試圖光明正大加入社團的女生。conjure: 使如變魔術般憑空出現，提出；fair and square: 光明正大地，公正地。

21. prior to: 在……之前。

22. map out: 計劃，安排；outfit: 一套服裝，（尤指女式）全套服裝。

23. relentlessly: 堅韌地，不懈地；winter break: 圣誕節假期，寒假。

24. exclusive: 獨有的。

25. arduous: 艱難的。

26. be detrimental to: 對……不利。

27. credential: 證書。

28. say: 假設。

29. 如果這個學生無法加入這個社團，那么他幾乎不再有可能發現自己對辯論的潛在熱情，而這種熱情原本可能讓他成為政治家或律師。subconscious: 潛意識的。

30. well-rounded: 全面發展的。

31. rampant: 猖獗的，泛濫的。

32. self-esteem: 自尊。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：丹妮）