Stages of Life 人生階段

By Amirah Ahmad 溫婷/注

Youve most likely heard about suburbia1， suburban American. Suburbia is always featured in the movies， with the child riding his bike through the typical suburban neighborhood as other neighbors walk their dogs or are jogging on the sidewalk.2 Every house has the same type of door， the same facade， the same front lawn，3 and roughly the same type of living inside of it. Suburbia essentially4 is not merely a region within America， it also serves to be a way of life. Dont get me wrong， as humans were all unique. However， I argue that suburbanites5 have a similar pattern of life. From childhood to adulthood， living in the American suburbs means you have a route of life that can almost be considered predetermined6. By predetermined I dont mean it in the strictest sense， rather its a similar pattern of life with various discrepancies between individuals.7

Lets begin with elementary school. Im skipping the toddler8 stage， because no one remembers this part anyway. Elementary was the time for making lasting friends and acquaintances that will frankly never leave your life. With the various forms of social media to constantly keep in touch and the simple fact that everyone will somehow reunite in college， the children we go to elementary school with always end up remaining in our thoughts. For example， I very spontaneously saw an individual from my childhood strolling past me in the library at UVA.9 I had not seen him for at least five years， yet my elementary friendship with him had lasted. For the typical suburban child， elementary school years are memories of playing kickball underneath the strong rays of summer sun， going to your friends house after school and spending the entire day neglecting homework and playing games， riding bikes， eating dinosaur doughnuts.10 Its typical to have neighborhood “gangs”11 as well. Of course I dont mean serious gangs， rather just small cliques12 of children who live in the same neighborhood. It wasnt rare for the neighborhood cliques to assemble shortly after school and ride banks around the neighborhood， or play a quick game of tag in someones yard.13 To this day， my friends and I are nostalgic for the good old days， where assignments were short，14 teachers were nice， responsibilities were none， and everything was simple.

The next step in the process is middle school. Middle school is typically the time from 7th to 8th grade， essentially when teenagers are 13 and 14 years old. Everyone likes to call our middle school years as our most awkward years mainly because of： braces and glasses.15 This isnt supported by factual evidence， but I presume that 80% of middle schoolers have braces and of those 80% about 40% have glasses.16 For this article， I scrolled through17 old pictures from when I had braces and glasses when I was 14 years old and let me tell you： I was horrified. Moreover， middle school is the time when we begin to “try” to be cool. This means caring more about our appearance and saying swear words18 to show everyone just how cool we really were. The hangout spot for suburban middle schools is hands down the local shopping mall.19 This is where we go on the weekends， talk for hours as we stroll the mall， eat junk food， and possibly even buy a shirt or two. Other hangout spots are the ice skating rink20， the movies， etc. Lastly， middle schoolers begin to develop their rebellious stage that either downs down or galvanizes in high school.21

Ah， high school. High school is the time where people begin to change， cliques develop， and you begin to develop a more unique personality by means of the friends you choose and the extracurricular activities you choose to participate in.22 High school is also the breeding ground for strong friendships， since high school is a time of many big moments that you and your classmates go through together （most notable is the phase of college stress that starts in the last two years）.23 Its a time where people start dating， theres more drama， people transform from their awkward middle school selves to blossoming， beautiful， young adults near the end of their high school career.24 Instead of hanging out at the mall， high schoolers begin to make excursions （with their newly-obtained licenses） downtown，25 to a local restaurant for a nice dinner with friends， or simply to a different city.

This is the period of life I most identify with and I may be biased in my description.26 However， I must argue that college is one of the best times for the typical suburban child. It gives us time to find our true selves. Its a time for self-reflection as we seek our greater purpose in life and strive for an idealistic world weve constructed in our heads.27 The extracurricular activities we partake in are activities we have a genuine interest in， and are not merely activities to boost our resume.28 Much of this self-reflection is seen through the amount of travel college students do. I know many people who travel to study abroad or merely to relax from school stress， however I believe this knack29 for travelling many of us develop in college is good for our soul. Personally， I began to find myself in college. I believe I stripped myself away from dull， suburban mentality and truly began to perceive life differently.30 Moreover， I uncovered myself from the shadow of my superiors31. Instead of my parents telling me what to do or my siblings subtly deciding what is best for me， I have learned to make my own decisions， determine my own priorities，32 and find solutions by myself.

Since I have not experienced anything beyond college， I feel as if I dont have the authority to speak on the rest of the stages of life， which Ive so thoughtfully divided into the following categories：33 young adulthood， adulthood， and old-age. As you can tell by these aforementioned labels， I dont nearly have enough experience to talk about life after college， however I do want to make the assumption that mundane suburban life ends by the time we graduate college.34 Prior to college， Americans who grow up in the suburbs generally live the same life which although is an iconic aspect of American society， is also a problem that I believe we need to realize before continuing to breed individuals who think and act relatively the same.35 We must remember to break social norms， swim against the current， and be the different one in the batch.36

1. suburbia： （總稱）郊區。

2. 電影里經常出現郊區的畫面：孩子們騎車穿行在典型的郊區社區，鄰居在人行道上遛狗或是慢跑。sidewalk： 人行道。

3. facade： 建筑物的正面；lawn： 草坪。

4. essentially： 本質上，根本上。

5. suburbanite： 郊區居民。

6. predetermined： 預先設定好的。

7. 我并非指嚴格意義上的“預設好的”生活，而是指類似的生活方式，并不否認個體之間存在的差異。discrepancy： 差異，不一致。

8. toddler： 學步的幼兒。

9. spontaneously： 自然地， 自發地；stroll： 閑逛，漫步； UVA： University of Virginia， 弗吉尼亞大學。

10. 對于一個典型的郊區孩子而言，小學時光的記憶就是夏天在耀眼的陽光下踢球，放學去朋友家里玩，整天玩游戲、騎自行車、吃“恐龍甜甜圈”，就是不做作業。kickball： 兒童足球；underneath： 在……底下；ray： 光線，射線；doughnut： 甜甜圈。

11. gang： 幫派，團伙。

12. clique：〈貶〉小集團，派系。

13. assemble： 聚集，集合；game of tag： 抓人游戲。

14. nostalgic： 懷舊的，懷念的； assignment： 作業，任務。

15. awkward： 令人尷尬的，難應對的；braces： 牙箍。

16. factual： 事實的，真實存在的；presume： 假定，假設。

17. scroll through： 翻閱，瀏覽。

18. swear word： 粗話，臟話。

19. hangout spot： 經常出沒的地方；hands down： 無疑地。

20. ice skating rink： 溜冰場。

21. 最后，中學生開始了叛逆時期，這種叛逆持續到高中，或者被抑制下去，又或者愈演愈烈。down： v. 使倒下，被抑制；galvanize： 刺激，使振奮。

22. by means of： 憑借，借助；extracurricular： 課外的。

23. breeding ground： 滋生地；notable： 顯著的； phase： 階段。

24. 在高中，大家開始約會，發生各種戲劇性事件，高中末期，大家已從青澀的中學生轉變為更有自信、更具魅力的年輕人。blossoming： 變得更加健康（或自信、成功）的。

25. excursion：（尤指集體）遠足，短途旅行；license： 這里指“driving license”，駕照。

26.高中是我最有感觸的人生階段，也許我的描述帶有一定偏見。identify with： 在思想感情上認同，理解；biased： 有偏見的，有偏差的。

27. 到了大學，我們開始反思，尋找更大的人生意義，為實現在腦海里構建的理想世界而努力。idealistic： 理想的，理想主義的。

28. genuine： 真正的；boost： 改善，提高；resume： 簡歷。

29. knack： 技能，本領。

30. strip： 剝離，剝除；mentality： 心理，智力；perceive： 意識到，理解。

31. superior： 長輩，師長。

32. sibling： 兄弟姐妹；subtly： 隱隱約約地，模糊地；priority： 優先考慮的事，重點。

33. authority： 權威，權力；thought-fully： 體貼地，周到地。

34. aforementioned： 前面提到的，上述的；assumption： 假定，假設；mundane： 平凡的，尋常的。

35. 在上大學之前，那些在美國郊區長大的人基本過著同樣的生活，盡管這是美國社會標志性的一面，但是在我們繼續哺育下一代，并讓他們以同樣的方式思考和生活之前，這也是我們需要意識到的一個問題。prior to： 在……之前；iconic： 具有象征意義的。

36. norm： 標準，規范，準則；current： 趨勢，潮流；batch： 一批。