Today is the first day of school, and right now we’re just waiting around for the teacher to hurry up and finish the seating chart. So I figured I might as well write in this book to pass the time.

By the way, let me give you some good advice. On the first day of school, you got to be real careful where you sit. You walk into the classroom and just plunk your stuff down on any old desk and the next thing you know the teacher is saying— I hope you all like where you’re sitting, because these are your permanent seats.

wait around 空等

英文解釋：if you wait around or wait about, you stay in the same place, usually doing very little, because you cannot act before something happens or before someone arrives.

e.g. I waited around to speak to the doctor.

我干等著跟醫生說話。

Comment: wait around for sb. to do sth.

as well 還不如，還是…好；最好；不妨

英文解釋：with equal reason or an equally good result

e.g. I may as well have a look. 我還是去看看為好。

Comment: as well也有“也”的意思，一般放在句尾。

plunk 隨意地放下，漫不經心地放下

英文解釋：If you plunk sth. somewhere, you put it there without great care.

e.g. Melanie plunked her cosmetic case down on a chair...

梅拉妮把化妝盒砰的一聲扔到椅子上。

Comment: plunk也有重重的放下的含義。

So in this class, I got stuck with Chris Hosey in front of me and Lionel James in back of me.

Jason Brill came in late and almost sat to my right, but luckily I stopped that from happening at the last second.

in front of 在... 前面

in back of 在... 后面

at the last second 最后一秒，最后一刻

the seat is taken 位子被占了，位子有人坐了

英文解釋：if you take a seat, you sit down.

Comment: 很日常的口語說法。

Next period, I should just sit in the middle of a bunch of hot girls as soon as I step in the room. But I guess if I do that, it just proves I didn’t learn anything from last year.

next period 下堂課

Comment: 根據不同的情況可以翻譯成下個階段，下期。。。

learn from...從...中吸取教訓

e.g. to learn from past mistakes to avoid future ones

懲前毖后

I am convinced that he has learned from his mistakes...

我深信他已從錯誤中吸取了教訓。

Comment：注意learn sth，learn of sth和learn from sth.的區別，learn sth.表示學習了某種知識技能，learn of sth.表示獲悉和得知某件事情，learn from sth.是從什么事情中吸取教訓。

as soon as 一…就...

英文解釋：immediately; the moment...

Comment: I’ll write to you as soon as I get to Beijing.我一到北京就給你寫信。

dork 呆子

英文解釋：if you say that someone is a dork, you think they dress badly in old-fashione clothes and behave very awkwardly in social situations.

Comment: 注意和fool的區別，fool在英文中的解釋是if you call someone a fool, you are indicating that you think they are not at all sensible and show a lack of good judgment. 可以看出dork是表示外觀方面古板或者為人處事上很怯懦，而fool是表示做事很愚蠢不明智，對事物沒有好的判斷力。