文本
College brings about a wealth of new experiences. Among these experiences is living with a strange roommate or roommates for the first time. There is an adjustment period each time you get a new roommate as the two of you learn about each other and begin to accommodate each other's needs and schedules. Remember that it's not all up to your roommate to make the living situation a good one. There are some things you can both do to make the experience pleasant, or at least manageable.

Make a set of ground rules. Determine bathroom schedules, significant other policies, whether or not food or other resources may be shared, and an acceptable limitation on volume for music or television. Include ways to deal with violations of the ground rules, perhaps involving a third party like a resident adviser.
Be considerate. Do not play loud music or watch loud television shows late at night. Respect your roommate's requests to turn the volume down at other times of the day as well if they have a legitimate reason (studying, writing an essay) for asking.

Help each other out. Most times you will want to study in your own room, but if re-locating to a computer lab, library or other quiet place will better the situation for both you and your roommate, you might try that as a solution.
Respect your roommate's right to sleep. If you return home very late and your roommate is already in bed, try to make as little noise as possible. Do not turn on bright lights if it is not necessary to do so.

Think ahead. If you have a tendency to oversleep or turn off your alarm multiple times, keep your roommate in mind as you set your alarm for the next day. If you wake up before your roommate, respect their right to remain sleeping. This means turning your alarm off in a timely fashion, or not hitting snooze so much that your roommate must be awake as well by the time you finally decide to get up.

Practice discretion. If you overhear your roommate talking about a personal problem, or she shares it with you, do not gossip and share it with everyone. Likewise, do not overwhelm your roommate with your own personal life. This extends to romantic relationships. Try to keep romantic or sexual encounters discreet and come up with a system for letting each other know when it is not safe to enter the room.

Discuss any problems you might have with your roommate. Do not yell or make insults. Quite often you may be able to come to some agreement that will address your problems.
核心词汇
Accommodate 顺应,适应
You will have to accommodate yourself to the changed situation.
你必须适应变化了的形势.

I will accommodate my plans to yours.
我修改一下计划以便和你的计划相适应.

Ground rule 基本规则

Considerate 体贴的,体谅的
It was considerate of you not to play the piano while I was asleep.
在我睡觉时你不弹钢琴, 真是体贴入微.

Tendency 倾向,趋势
He has a tendency towards pessimism.
他有悲观的倾向.

Bob has a tendency to exaggerate things.
鲍勃有爱夸张的倾向.

Legitimate 正当的,合理的
He had a legitimate reason for being late.
他迟到有合理的理由.

Snooze 小睡,午睡

Discretion 谨慎,慎重
This is a secret, but I know I can count on your discretion.
这可是个秘密, 不过我知道你嘴稳(肯定不会告诉别人).

You must show more discretion in choosing your friends.
你择友须更谨慎.

Gossip 闲话,流言蜚语
Don't believe all the gossip you hear.
那些道听途说的话不可尽信.

It's common gossip that they're having an affair.
大家都说他们之间关系暧昧.

Overhear 偶尔听到,偷听
Do not talk so loud; you may be overheard.
别这么大声说话;别人会听见的.

I happened to overhear what he said.
我碰巧听到了他所说的话.

Insult 侮辱,辱骂
佳句精讲
College brings about a wealth of new experiences.

参考翻译:大学带给我们很多新奇的体验.

本句话作为开篇简洁明了.句中用了2个常用的词组. Bring about 意为"带来,引起",其后既可以接褒义词也可以接贬义词. A wealth of 意为"大量的,丰富的",相当于a lot of 或plenty of.

Remember that it's not all up to your roommate to make the living situation a good one.

参考翻译:请记住,居住条件的舒适并不完全取决于你的室友.

本句表达包含一个很实用的句型:it's (not) up to sb. To do…意为"(不)由某人决定或做主干某事,加上all则强调完全之意.这个表达在口语中也有更简练的形式,比如: it's up to you.或直接用up to you.意为"你做主,听你的".