即使不能真情实景地听到知识渊博的教授在古怪而有趣的课上激情演讲，也不能在这些课上和同学们热烈地讨论，但只是简单了解一下课程内容，都会让我们眼界大开。

　　College courses aren’t all “Econ 1011)” and “The History of Europe: 1500-Present”. A trend among many colleges and universities is to offer courses that are slightly off the beaten track2). Many of these courses draw their themes from pop culture or sports, or they may be the brainchildren3) of professors who want to share their passion with students. They may be no less serious than traditional courses, but they certainly cover new academic ground. Students take these offbeat4) courses for a variety of reasons—hoping for an easy A, to try something fun, or to explore a new interest.

　　大学里开设的课程并不都是像“经济学导论”和“欧洲史：1500年至今”这样的课程。目前在许多高校中有一种趋势，就是开设一些稍微偏离常规的课程。在这些课程中，许多都是从流行文化或体育运动中选取主题，这些主题也可能是那些想与学生分享自己激情的教授们的想法。这些课程可能不比传统的课程逊色，而它们的确涉及到了新的学术领域。学生们之所以选修这些非正统的课程，理由可谓多种多样——有的希望轻松地得到A，有的想尝试一下好玩的东西，或是想探索新的兴趣领域。

　　1) You can boldly go where no other philosophy student has gone before in Georgetown University’s “Philosophy and Star Trek5)” course, where students discuss the nature of time travel, the ability of computers to think and feel, and other philosophical dilemmas facing the crew of the Starship Enterprise.

　　在乔治城大学开设的“哲学与《星际旅行》”课上，你可以大胆地向其他任何学哲学的学生都未曾涉足的领域进军。在这门课上，学生们讨论时间旅行的性质、计算机思考与感知的能力，以及“进取号星舰” 乘务组所面临的其他哲学困境。

　　2) Discover how Brick really felt when Opal left him for his neighbor’s best friend’s sister in the University of Wisconsin’s course entitled “Daytime Serials: Family and Social Roles.” Students analyze the plots, themes, and characters of daytime soaps and discuss their impact on modern life.

　　在威斯康星大学开设的名为“日间连续剧：家庭与社会角色”的课上，你可以去探究当奥帕尔离开布里克而去和他邻居好朋友的妹妹在一块儿时，布里克真正的感受是什么。学生们在课上分析日播肥皂剧的故事情节、主题和人物，并讨论他们对现代生活的影响。

　　3) If you’ve been longing to research how hot dogs, theme parks, and the five-day workweek have impacted American leisure culture, check out the University of Iowa course “The American Vacation”. This course pays particular attention to how American families’ varying backgrounds shape their vacation experiences.

　　如果你一直渴望研究热狗、主题公园以及每周五天的工作日制度如何影响美国人的休闲文化，那就办好手续，去听一听衣阿华大学开设的“美国人的假期”这门课程吧。该课程格外关注了美国家庭的不同背景如何决定其度假方式。

　　4) Bowdoin College students can delve into “The Horror Film in Context” in the school’s English Department. Students read Freud6) and Poe7) and watch Hitchcock8) and Craven9), all while discussing the horror genre’s treatment of gender, class, and family.

　　鲍登学院的学生可以钻研一下该校英语系开设的“情境中的恐怖电影”这门课程。学生们一边研读弗洛伊德和爱伦·坡的著作，观看希区柯克和克雷文的恐怖电影，一边讨论恐怖片中对性别、阶级和家庭的处理。

　　5) At Williams College, students can learn more about those in the cement shoe industry10) by enrolling in “Comparative History of Organized Crime”, which compares the work of goodfellas11) from the United States, Italy, Japan, and Russia.

　　在威廉姆斯学院，通过选修“有组织的犯罪比较史”这门课，学生们可以了解到更多关于黑社会成员的事情。该课程比较了来自美国、意大利、日本和俄罗斯的黑帮成员的活动。

　　6) If you’ve got a romantic urge for adventure, check out Barnard College’s course on “The Road Movie”, which studies Easy Rider12) and Thelma and Louise13), while also discussing the genre’s literary precursors, like On the Road and The Odyssey.

　　如果你有想要去历险的浪漫冲动，那就办好手续，去听一听巴纳德学院的“公路电影”课吧。该课程研究电影《逍遥骑士》和《末路狂花》，同时讨论该类题材电影的文学渊源，如《在路上》和《奥德赛》。

　　7) If hitting the road14) doesn’t satisfy your rebellious streak, sign up for Brown University’s course on “American Degenerates15)”, in which students discuss how early British-American writers embraced the grotesque, monstrous, “not our kind” status bestowed on them by the mother country and reflected their zeal for cultural and physical degeneracy in their literature.

　　如果流浪还不能满足你叛逆的性情，那就报名选修布朗大学开设的“堕落的美国人”吧。课上学生们将讨论早期英裔美国作家们是如何接受其祖国赋予他们的怪诞、畸形、“非我族类”的地位，以及他们如何在其文学作品中反映他们对文化堕落和行为颓废的热忱。

　　8) Those artsy16) types at the Rhode Island School of Design can put down their paintbrushes and take “The Art of Sin and the Sin of Art”, which contemplates the relationship between sin and the art world. The course catalog invites you to “lust with the saints and burn with the sinners”.

　　罗德岛设计学院那些有艺术家气质的学生可以放下画笔，选修“罪之艺术和艺术之罪”这门课。该课程对罪孽和艺术世界的关系进行思考。课程目录将邀你“与圣人一起放纵欲望，并和罪人一起在烈火中饱受煎熬”。

　　9) If talking about death several times a week in class sounds like a good time to you, try Purdue University’s “Death and the Nineteenth Century” course. Every poem and novel in the course deals with the 19th-century conception of mortality and the world beyond.

　　如果每周在课堂上谈论几次关于死亡的话题，对你来说听起来还不错，那你可以试试普渡大学开设的“死亡与19世纪”这门课程。这门课上研究的每首诗歌和每部小说都涉及了19世纪人们对死亡和死后世界的见解。

　　10) At Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, students can take “Art of Walking”, in which students not only read literature by noted perambulators17) like Kant18) and Nietzsche19), but go for neighborhood strolls with their professor and his dog.

　　在肯塔基州当维尔市的中央学院，学生们可以选修“散步的艺术”这门课。在这门课上，学生们不但要阅读一些著名的漫步者的著作，如康德和尼采的作品，而且还会和教授及他的狗一块儿在附近散散步。