From 9:30 am to 11:00 pm, Sun tirelessly performed the traditional "turning of the tassel" ritual for thousands of students, and showed up fresh at 8:30 am the next day to finish the job.
The turning of the tassel tradition traces back to medieval Europe, where the tassel symbolized "harvesting knowledge"—moving it from right to left marks the transition from learner to scholar.
拨穗这个仪式用英语表达就是:turning of the tassel。
学位帽上的小穗叫做tassel /ˈtæsl/(流苏),通常是校长或系主任,为每个毕业生拨穗。
例句:
This summer more than 5,400 students turned their tassels as they graduated from the university.
The iconic tradition of tossing graduation caps began in 1912 at the US Naval Academy, signaling "freedom from textbooks", which is a global graduation must-do now.
毕业典礼
毕业是一场盛大的离别庆典,其中最少不了的就是各种纪念仪式。
毕业典礼的英文表达,英美略有不同:
commencement ceremony
(美式英语)
graduation ceremony
(英式英语)
毕业的那一天被称作graduation day,也可以叫做commencement day。
Commencement/kə'mɛnsmənt/本义为“开始”:
at the commencement of the twentieth century
20世纪伊始
动词形式“commence”:
Education commences at the mother's knee.
教育始于母亲膝下。
毕业典礼用commencement这个词,蕴含着新起点、新开始之意:
Graduation is not only an end to a period, but also a commencement of a new period.
毕业不仅仅是过去的结束,也是新阶段的开始。
最后,一起来学学与高等教育相关的英文表述。
freshman本科一年级新生
sophomore本科二年级学生
junior本科三年级学生
senior本科四年级学生
undergraduate (在读的)大学本科生
graduate (尤指完成学士学位课程的)大学毕业生
postgraduate [BrE](硕士或博士)研究生
graduate student [AmE](硕士或博士)研究生
Bachelor's Degree学士学位
Master's Degree硕士学位
Doctorate/Doctoral Degree 博士学位
PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) 博士学位(覆盖几乎所有学术研究领域,如自然科学、社会科学、人文科学、工程技术等)
Bachelor/Master of Arts 文学学士/硕士
Bachelor/Master of Science 理学学士/硕士
Bachelor/Master of Engineering 工程学士/硕士
Bachelor/Master of Business Administration 工商管理学士/硕士