解放军文职招聘考试Cambridge—the University Town

 Cambridge—the University Town

When we say that Cambridge is a university town we do not mean just that there is a university in it. Manchester and Milan have universities, but—we do not call them university towns. A university town is one where there is no clear separation between the universi­ty buildings and the rest of the city. The university is not just one part of the town; it is all over the town. The heart of Cambridge has its shops, market place and so on, but most of it is university—colleges, facul­ties, libraries, clubs and other places for university staff and students. Students fill the shops, cafes, banks and churches, making these as well part of the university.

The town was there first. Two Roman roads crossed there, and there are signs of buildings before Roman times. Trouble in Oxford in 1209 caused some students and their teachers to move. Cambridge be­came a centre of learning, and the authority of the head of the university, the chancellor, was recognized by the king in 1266.

At that time many of the students were very young (about fifteen) , and many of the teachers were not more than twenty-one. At first they found lodgings where they could. Colleges were opened so that students could live cheaply. This was the beginning of the college system which has continued at Cambridge up to the present day.

The colleges were built with money from kings, queens, religious houses or other sources. Today there are nearly thirty colleges. The newest are University College, founded in 1965, and Clare Hall, founded in 1966, both for graduates. Very few students can now live in college for the whole of their course; the num­bers are too great. Many of them live in lodgings at first, and move into college for their final year. But ev­ery student is a member of his college from the begin­ning. While he is in ' digs' he must eat a number of meals in the college hall each week. His social and sports life centres on the college, although he will also join various university societies and clubs.

With about 8,250 undergraduates and over 2,000 postgraduates, the city is a busy place in "full term". Undergraduates are not allowed to keep cars in Cam­bridge, so nearly all of them use bicycles. Don't try to drive through Cambridge during the five minutes between lectures. The students' bicycles are hurrying in all direc­tions. If you are in Cambridge at five minutes to the hour any morning of full term, you know that you are in a uni­versity town.