Part I
Professor: Hi, Samantha, how did your trackmeet go?
Student: Great! I placed first in one race and third in another.
Professor: Congratulations, you must practice a lot.
Student: Three times a week preseason, but now that we are competing every weekend. We practice six days a week from 3:30 till 5.
Professor: Athletics place a heavy demand on your time, don’t they?
Student: Yeah, but I really love competing, so…
Professor: You know, I played soccer in college and my biggest challenge, and I didn’t always succeed, was getting my studying in during soccer season. Are you having a similar...
Student: No. I really do make time to study, and I actually study more for this class than I do for all my other classes. But I didn’t see the grade I expected on my mid-term exam which is why I came by.
体育运动对你的时间要求很高，对吗？
1. track meet
a track and field competition between two or more teams 田径运动会
E.g.: He broke two national records in a track meet.
他在一次田径比赛中打破了两项全国记录。
2. place|pleɪs|
verb. used to describe a person, a team or a horse, etc. finishing in a particular position in a race 排名；获名次
E.g.: He was placed fifth in last Saturday's race.
在上周六的径赛中，他名列第五。
3. preseason|ˌpriːˈsiːzn̩|
noun. a period of time before the regular season when players train and people or teams play against each other in unofficial games 季前赛
E.g.: The team only won two games during the preseason.
那支队伍在季前赛只赢了两场。
4. athletics |æθˈletɪks|
noun. any sports that people compete in 体育运动
E.g.: students involved in all forms of college athletics
参加各种大学体育运动的学生
5. get sth in
to manage to do or say sth 设法做（或说）
E.g.: I got in an hour's work while the baby was asleep.
我趁孩子睡觉抽空干了一小时的活。
Part II
Professor: Well, you didn’t do badly on the exam, but I agree it did not reflect your potential. I say this because your work on the lab project was exemplary. I was so impressed with the way you handled the microscope and the samples of onion cells and, how careful you observed and diagramed and interpreted each stage of cell division, and I don’t think you could have done that if you hadn’t understood the chapter. I mean, it seemed you really had a good understanding of it.
Student: I thought so, too. But I missed some questions about cell division on the exam.
Professor: So, what happened?
Student: I just sort of blanked out, I guess. I had a hard time remembering details. It was so frustrating.
Professor: All right. Let’s back up. You say you studied. Where? At home?
Student: At my kitchen table, actually.
Professor: And that’s supposed to be a quiet environment?
Student: Not exactly. My brother and parents try to keep it down when I’m studying but the phone pretty much ringsoff the hook, so.
Professor: So you might try a place with fewer distractions, like, the library.
Student: But the library closes at midnight and I like to study all night before a test. You know, so everything is fresh in my mind. I studied six straight hours the night before the mid-term exam. That’s why I expected to do so much better.
你考得其实也不差，但我觉得并没有反映出你的潜力。
1. exemplary|ɪgˈzempləri|
adj. providing a good example for people to copy 典范的；可作榜样的；可作楷模的
E.g.: Her behaviour was exemplary.
她的行为堪作楷模。
2. diagram|ˈdaɪəgræm|
verb. to diagram something means to draw a diagram of it or to explain it using a diagram 绘制…的示意图;用图表表示（或说明）
E.g.: The sound waves of the voice could be diagramed as in B.
这个声音的声波如图B所示。
3. interpret|ɪnˈtɜ:prɪt|
verb. if you interpret something in a particular way, you decide that this is its meaning or significance 解释;说明;阐释
E.g.: The judge quite rightly says that he has to interpret the law as it's been passed.
法官说他必须按照该法的立法初衷来阐释它，这完全没错。
4. cell division
the process in reproduction and growth by which a cell divides to form daughter cells 细胞分裂
E.g.: The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.
染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
5. blank|blæŋk|
verb. to be suddenly unable to remember or think of sth 突然忘掉；突然思路模糊
E.g.: I knew the answer, but I totally blanked during the test.
我本来知道答案，但考试时我什么都忘了。
6. ring off the hook
to ring constantly or frequently（电话）铃声响个没完
E.g.: The phone was ringing off the hook all morning.
一大早电话就响个不停。
7. straight|streɪt|
adj. one after another in a series, without interruption 连续的；不间断的
E.g.: The team has had five straight wins.
这支队已连赢五场比赛了。
Part III
Professor: Oh, OK. You know that studying six consecutive hours is not equivalent to studying one hour a day for six days.
Student: It isn’t?
Professor: No, there’s a research that shows that after an hour of intensive focus, your brain needs a break. It needs to, you know, shift gears a little. Your brain’s ability to absorb information starts to decline after about the first hour. So if you are dealing with a lot of new concepts and vocabulary, anyway, if you just review your notes even twenty minutes a day, it’d be much better than waiting until the night before the exam to try and absorb all those details.
Student: Oh, I didn’t realize.
Professor: Think of your brain as a muscle. If you didn’t practice regularly with your track team, and then try to squeeze in three weeks’ worth of running practice the day before a track meet, how well do you think you will perform in the races?
如果你没有经常和你的田径队一起训练，却想在比赛前一天一下子把三周的训练都挤进去做完，你认为自己在比赛中的表现会怎么样呢？
1. consecutive |kənˈsekjətɪv|
adj. following one after another in a series, without interruption 连续不断的
E.g.: She was absent for nine consecutive days.
她一连缺席了九天。
2. intensive |ɪnˈtensɪv|
adj. involving a lot of work or activity done in a short time 短时间内集中紧张进行的；密集的
E.g.: two weeks of intensive training
两周的强化训练
3. shift gears
to quickly or abruptly change what one is doing or discussing 快速或突然改变正在做或正在讨论的事情
E.g.: She's decided to shift gears, quit her job, and go back to school.
她决定做点改变，辞掉工作，回学校读书。
4. squeeze |skwi:z|
verb. to force sb/sth/yourself into or through a small space （使）挤入；挤过；塞入
E.g.: We managed to squeeze a lot into a week (= we did a lot of different things) .
我们把很多事挤在一个星期里做完了。
