Living in the ivory tower is one thing, making a living in society is another. Graduates who recently started their career life often feel lost because there are so many things to learn and they have to adapt to an unfamiliar environment.
象牙塔中的生活与真实的社会是截然不同的两回事。刚刚步入职场的大学毕业生们常常会感到迷茫，因为他们有太多东西要学，必须要尽快适应一个陌生的环境。

Here, three recent graduates share their experience of starting their first job and getting their first taste of real life. One has a strict boss, one discovers that social etiquette is essential, while another even finds that physical fitness is important.
本文中，三名刚刚毕业的大学生分享了初入职场、第一次接触现实社会的经历。有人的老板很严厉，有人发现社交礼仪必不可少，甚至还有人发现身体素质尤为重要。

‘The boss makes things hard for me.’
“老板百般刁难。”

Zhang Li, 25, is a recent graduate from Beihang University.
25岁的张立（音译）刚刚从北京航空航天大学毕业。

He has been working as a technician in a state-owned enterprise in Beijing since the end of July. Although it sounds like a glamorous job, Zhang has been struggling with his supervisor from the very beginning.
7月末，他成为了北京一家国企的技术员。尽管这份工作听上去很光鲜，但他从一开始就和上司相处的很艰难。

Zhang was a top student in college, but his boss seems to think that grades aren’t enough.
张立在大学里是名优等生，但他老板似乎认为分数并不代表一切。

“Zhang, I know you’re very knowledgeable, which might win you many offers, but I won’t believe in your ability until you work out this equation,” said Zhang’s boss, handing him a ballistic equation. Until now, Zhang has been unable to solve the equation.
张立的老板交给他一个弹道方程，说：“张立，我知道你很有学识，这可能会让你得到很多工作机会，可我并不相信你的能力，除非你解开这道方程式。”直到现在，张立也没能解出这道方程。

Later Zhang found out that his boss is the only person in the office who successfully solved the equation. Zhang is worried that he may never manage to prove himself.
事后张立发现，整个办公室只有老板一个人能够成功解开这道方程式。他担心永远无法证明自己的能力。

As a newcomer, Zhang is often assigned to the laboratory to work on experiments that last all day. Other departments, such as the HR office or the general office, order Zhang to help organize orientation and training sessions.
作为新人，张立常常被派到实验室做实验，一待就是一整天。人事部或办公厅等其他部门也会安排他协助组织新员工培训。

Zhang feels like he is stuck in a dilemma. On the one hand, his boss wants him to focus on his own job, while on the other, as a rookie in the company, ignoring others seems like a bad idea.
张立觉得自己陷入进退两难的境地。一方面，他老板想让他专注于手头的工作；而另一方面，作为公司新人，忽略他人似乎不是个好主意。

“I’ll just try to spread myself thin to cover all the bases,” says Zhang.
张立说：“我尽量做到面面俱到。”

‘Carrying heavy things is part of my job.’
“我的工作是个体力活。”

Wang Kai, 23, a graduate from Beijing Jiaotong University, works for a Beijing-based research institute where he has been assigned to a department in charge of testing electronic devices.
23岁的王凯（音译）毕业于北京交通大学，现在北京一家研究机构工作，他被派到了电子设备检测部门。

He visited the institute before joining it, aiming to familiarize himself with the working environment, but after two months of working in the institute, Wang is finding the job harder than expected — even lifting heavy objects is part of his daily routine.
为了尽快熟悉工作环境，入职前，他先参观了一下单位。可是在工作了两个月之后，王凯发现这份工作比预期要难得多，因为他的日常工作还包括一些体力活。

“I thought I was well prepared for the difficulties of this job, such as working overtime and working in a hot environment,” says Wang. “But it never occurred to me that technicians need to carry samples to the laboratory themselves. My colleagues and I often carry samples that weight less than 200 kg from the storage room to the laboratory by hand.”
王凯说：“我本以为自己已对这份工作的棘手程度做好了准备，像加班，高温作业等等，可我从没想过，技术人员需要亲自将样本搬到实验室。我和同事们常常要徒手将将近200公斤重的样本从储藏室搬到实验室。”

Working in a laboratory is also not as comfortable as Wang thought. During the summer, temperatures in the laboratory reach up to 40 degrees.
实验室工作也并不像王凯设想的那样舒适。夏天，实验室里的温度高达40度。

“Once, when I was working in the laboratory for more than seven hours, I almost had a heatstroke,” he says.
“有一次，我在实验室工作了七个多小时，几乎快要中暑了。”

Despite feeling intimidated by the job, Wang is determined to fulfill his responsibilities.
虽然心里有点想“打退堂鼓”，但王凯还是下决心履行职责。

“It’s tougher than I expected, but I still work hard because the safety of the products we provide depends on the work I do. Thinking about others’ safety, my hard work pays off,” says Wang.
王凯说：“尽管这比预期的要难，但我还是要努力工作，因为我的工作决定了我们的产品安全与否。为了他人的安全，我工作再苦也值得。”

‘Social etiquette matters.’
“社交礼仪很关键。”

Chen Yu, 22, has worked for a Beijing-based business council for three months. Having graduated from Beijing International Studies University, she now works as an interpreter.
22岁的陈玉（音译）已在北京某商会工作了三个月的时间。毕业于北京外国语大学的她现在是一名口译员。

For Chen a major difficulty lies not only in maintaining her language proficiency, but also in mastering social etiquette.
陈玉面临的首要困难是：不仅仅要保持语言熟练程度，还要掌握社交礼仪。

Last month, Chen’s boss took her to Brunei for a business and investment summit.
上个月，陈玉的老板带她去文莱参加一个商务与投资峰会。

Chen thought she would be the consecutive interpreter, but it turned out that she would interpret simultaneously during the discussion session.
陈玉本认为自己要做交替传译，可后来发现自己要在会议讨论环节做同声传译。

“I was very nervous and afraid of making mistakes,” says Chen.
陈玉说：“我非常紧张，很害怕出错。”

But an even harder task was dealing with social etiquette.
面对社交礼仪时，她更是感到难上加难。

As ambassadors and counselors were present at the meeting, Chen needed to be very conscious of addressing others correctly, sitting in the right place, exchanging business cards in the right way, even drinking wine properly.
由于有大使和参赞会出席会议，陈玉需要时刻保持警觉：正确称呼他人，在正确位置就坐，礼貌地交换名片，甚至是喝酒的方式都有讲究。

Chen was grateful that her tutors at university had taught such knowledge and also benefited from her previous experience of translating for a wine dealer.
陈玉很感激大学老师授予的这些知识，此外她之前担任某酒行翻译的工作经历也令她受益良多。

“It was exhausting, but I think I did a decent job considering that it was my first business trip. Now I feel like I can deal with the tempo of my job, even under pressure,” says Chen.
陈玉说：“这让人筋疲力尽，因为这是我第一次出差，所以我认为自己的表现还算不错。现在我觉得，即使面对压力，我也能够安排自己的工作节奏了。”