There are thousands of colleges and universities in the United States. Nearly half of the high school graduates in America go on to college. Most go to large state universities. Some of these universities have 40,000 or more students. There are also many small universities with only a few hundred students. Large universities have many buildings, each building for a particular subject. Students often must go from one class in one building to the next class in another building across campus. They may have only a few minutes between classes to go from one building to another. When students begin the university, they must take classes in many subjects. These are the required courses. English and math are usually required courses, and often a history and a science course are required too. Students will study mostly required courses during their first year. Later, they will specialize, and take courses in one subject.


美国有上千所学院和大学，几乎半数的美国高中生毕业后会继续上大学。他们多数选择州立大学。 有的大学学生人数达到四万以上，当然也有些小的大学，学生只有几百人。大的大学有很多教学楼，每一栋教学楼都有特殊的用途。学生们通常在一栋教学楼上完课后要赶去另一栋教学楼上课。两堂课之间只有数分钟供学生赶往。 学生一旦进入大学，就必须学习各类课程。这些课程都是必修的，比如英语，数学，历史，科学。 第一年学生多选择必修课程，后几年他们将会有所专注，多上某一专业的各类课程。