Students who live away from their families are generally housed in dormitories at least for their first year.

离家远的学生通常至少在他们大学的第一年里都会住在学校宿舍。

Men and women often live in the same building,though they may live on separate floors.

男生和女生经常住同一栋宿舍楼，虽然他们住在不同的楼层。

Some dorms have a theme, like an international house,where students can learn about other cultures.

一些宿舍会有个主题，就像国际学舍一样，学生在里面可以学习到其他文化。

In language houses,students try to avoid speaking their native language.

比如，在语言舍里，学生们尽力避免讲他们的本国语言，

The idea is to learn a different language.

这样就可以学习一门不同的语言。

Many colleges and universities have a Greek system that students can join.

很多学院和大学里都有学生可以参加的联谊会:

This is a social system with fraternity houses for males and sorority houses for females.

男生可以参加兄弟会，女生可以参加女生联谊会。

Members take part in campus activities and volunteer work,and may also live and go to parties at Greek houses.

这些联谊会的成员可以参与校园活动，志愿者工作，也可以住在联谊会里参加聚会。

Colleges and universities often have many clubs that students can join.

学院和大学经常有学生可以参加的俱乐部，

These include political, religious and service clubs,as well as groups for activities like singing, dancing, cooking, even learning how to juggle.

有政治，宗教和服务俱乐部，也有像唱歌，跳舞，烹饪甚至是学习怎么玩杂耍的活动社团。

Schools may also have intramural sports clubs.

学校也设有校内体育俱乐部。

These are for students who do not play for a school team but want organized sports with other students.

专为那些不属于校队但想和其他学生进行体育联谊的学生而设。

And schools will often recognize a new club or activity if enough students are interested.

如果有学生对某一活动感兴趣，而且人数足够，学校经常也会许可成立一个新的俱乐部或组织一项新活动。

But one activity that legally is only supposed to be for people age 21 and over is drinking alcohol.

然而，有一项活动法律上只允许21岁及以上的人参加，那就是喝酒。

Some college presidents and others have suggested that a lower drinking age could have the effect of reducing alcohol abuse.

一些大学校长和其他人建议放宽年龄限制，这样可有效减少学生酗酒。

Others disagree and point to a study just published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

其他人则不同意，并以一篇刚发表在《美国儿童与青少年精神病学会志》的研究为证。

Researchers found large reductions in heavy, or binge, drinking in young people between 1979 and 2006.

研究人员发现，1979年至2006年间，年轻人中大量或过度饮酒者已大为减少。

They said this was likely a result of the legal drinking age being raised to 21 and other policy changes aimed at reducing underage drinking.

他们认为，导致这种情况的原因有可能是喝酒的法定年龄调高至21岁，以及其他旨在减少未成年人喝酒的政策调整的到实施。

But they found little improvement for college students.

但研究人员发现大学生的酗酒情况并没有什么改善。

There was no reduction in binge drinking for college men.

大学男生过度饮酒的人数并没有减少。

And college women 21 to 23 had bigger increases than non-students in that age group.

21-23岁之间的女性酗酒人数也有所增加，其中大学生酗酒人数的增幅多于非大学生的增幅。