新視野第大學(xué)英語讀寫教程2 (第三版) unit 4 課文原文

College sweethearts1 I smile at my two lovely daughters and they seem so much more mature than we, their parents, when we were college sweethearts.Linda, who's 21, had a boyfriend in her freshman year she thought she would marry, but they're not together anymore. Melissa, who's 19, hasn't had a steady boyfriend yet. My daughters wonder when they will meet "The One", their great love. They think their father and I had a classic fairy-tale romance heading for marriage from the outset. Perhaps, they're right but it didn't seem so at the time. In a way, love just happens when you least expect it. Who would have thought that Butch and I would end up getting married to each other? He became my boyfriend because of my shallow agenda: I wanted a cute boyfriend!2 We met through my college roommate at the university cafeteria. That fateful night, I was merely curious, but for him I think it was love at first sight. "You have beautiful eyes", he said as he gazed at my face. He kept staring at me all night long. I really wasn't that interested for two reasons. First, he looked like he was a really wild boy, maybe even dangerous. Second, although he was very cute, he seemed a little weird.3 Riding on his bicycle, he'd ride past my dorm as if "by accident" and pretend to be surprised to see me. I liked the attention but wascautious about his wild, dynamic personality. He had a charming way with words which would charm any girl. Fear came over me when I started to fall in love. His exciting "bad boy image" was just too tempting to resist. What was it that attracted me? I always had an excellent reputation. My concentration was solely on my studies to get superior grades. But for what? College is supposed to be a time of great learning and also some fun. I had nearly achieved a great education, and graduation was just one semester away. But I hadn't had any fun; my life was stale with no component of fun! I needed a boyfriend.Not just any boyfriend. He had to be cute. My goal that semester became: Be ambitious and grab the cutest boyfriend I can find.4 I worried what he'd think of me. True, we lived in a time when a dramatic shift in sexual attitudes was taking place, but I was a traditional girl who wasn't ready for the new ways that seemed common on campus. Butch looked superb! I was not immune to his personality, but I was scared. The night when he announced to the world that I was his girlfriend, I went along with him. And then I suddenly thought: "Oh my gosh! Am I his girlfriend? How did that happen?" Then he whispered sweet words in my ear and said, "I'm going to marry you one day and I will be a lawyer. You will see."5 I was laughing inside and said to myself, "I'd never marry this guy. He's a rebel without a good future. He's my boyfriend because I hate my boring student life. I just want to have fun."6 Sure enough, the following month, I found out he had failed all his courses. Consequently, he was going to be expelled from the university. To my disgust, he seemed resigned to his fate. I knew there was hope, so I led him to the college secretary for reconsideration.7 "You are going to graduate with a BA in political science from UPenn and proceed to the College of Law," I told him, lodging an appeal on his behalf, which was approved. Butch was granted reconsideration. And, once we became steadies, he coordinated his studies and social life, passing all of his classes. He eventually studied law.8 Despite Butch's somewhat wild character, at his core, he is always a perfect gentleman and deserves a lot of credit for that. True, he'd sometimes take the liberty of displaying his love by planting a kiss on my lips right in front of my astonished friends who watched and disapproved. But the truth is we had a pure and responsible relationship for seven full years. Sitting by the palm trees, hand in hand, we would listen to romantic songs, watch the sunset, and weave dreams of being together with children of our own, forever.9 Two years passed in a blur. One day, Butch took me by surprise as he knelt down and proposed marriage holding a dozen red roses! Filled with deep emotion, I confessed my love for him, "How roooomaaaantic!" Then my brain woke up from fantasy land. I cried out, "Good heavens. No! We're too young to tie the knot. We haven't even graduated from college yet!" I really loved him but waspessimistic about our chances for success.10 We married five years later.11 Our faithful journey of love and learning took us down rocky roads of hardship and on smooth easy-going highways. It is a long, romantic, sometimes crazy, love story that sums up a 29-year long honeymoon together as a couple who are still madly in love with each other. Our love commenced with a casual attraction but bloomed into a mature love and rich life.