From that day on, Mike studied like a monster possessed¹. He read stacks of books, learned every scare technique, memorized scare flash cards, made his own flash cards, and got the best grades he could — because he wanted to be absolutely sure he'd be accepted into Monsters University.

Years passed, and one day, the envelope he'd been waiting for arrived. He tore it open and jumped for joy. He'd done it! He'd been accepted into the Scaring Program at MU!

It wasn't long before Mike found himself on a bus again. "Monsters University!" the driver called out as the bus pulled to a stop. "Anyone getting off?"

Mike grabbed his bags and headed toward the door of the bus, beaming with pride. Before he went down the stairs, he turned to his fellow passengers. "Well, everyone, I don't mean to get emotional, but everything in my life has led me to this moment. Let it not be just the beginning of my dream, but the beginning of all our dreams." Then he addressed everyone on the bus individually. "Gladys? Promise me you'll keep auditioning²! Marie, Mr. Right is out there somewhere! Phil, just keep using the ointment³ until that thing goes away! I wish you all the best and thank you all so much!" Then, with a "woo-hoo!", Mike bounded off the bus.

Moments later, Mike strolled through the gates of Monsters University and onto a campus of stately ivy-covered buildings. He walked to the main grassy⁴ area between buildings, called the quad⁵, where students could meet and relax. A young monster on a skateboard whizzed by. A huge pink monster gingerly stepped over Mike as he made his way toward a stone bridge. Mike looked down and saw a class of sea monsters in an underwater section of the school. Everything was even better than he had imagined.

A monster in a "Smile Squad⁶" T-shirt suddenly stepped up. "Hey there, freshman," he said to Mike. "I'm Jay, and I'm here to say that registration⁷ is thataway! Have a great day!"

Mike headed to the registration table, where a smiling student said, "Hey, I'm Kay. Here's your orientation⁸ packet, and you can get your picture taken with Trey!"

"Say 'Hooray!'" Trey said.

"Hooray!" Mike shouted as Trey snapped his photo. Moments later, he looked at his new student ID. The picture only showed the top of his head, but Mike didn't care. "I can't believe it!" he said, thrilled. "I'm officially a college student!" He joined a group of freshmen⁹ taking a tour of the campus.

"Okay, everyone," the student guide said. "I'm Fay, and I'll be giving you your orientation tour on this perfect day!" Mike felt like he was in a dream. Everyone was so nice. The campus was so beautiful. He stared in disbelief as Fay led the freshmen into the School of Engineering.

"This is where students learn to design and build the doors to the human world," she said, stopping at a lab. "Looks like the professor is about to test a door."

The professor activated¹⁰ the door, and Mike gasped¹¹ as he caught a glimpse into a human child's bedroom. "And over here," Fay continued, "is the crown jewel of Monsters University: the School of Scaring." The rest of the group followed Fay, but Mike stayed behind for a moment, awed¹² by the grandeur¹³ and history of the place.

"MU also has lots of super cool clubs and extracurricular!" Fay said as Mike caught up with the group. They passed a row of tables offering memberships with the debate team and the painting club.

A creature who was mostly one large eye popped up behind a table and stared at Mike. "Hey there," the creature said. "Keep your eye in the sky at the astronomy club!" Mike quickly shook his head. He didn't think it was for him.

Turning, he saw the Greek Council table. This council oversaw¹⁵ the university's fraternities and sororities, social clubs whose names were based on letters of the Greek alphabet. Mike was about to pass the table by when he heard the Greek Council president say, "We sponsor the annual Scare Games."

Mike's head whipped around. "The scare what now?" he asked. The council president, a large purple-feathered creature, passed him a flyer.

"The Scare Games: a super-intense scaring competition," the vice¹⁶ president told Mike. "They're crazy dangerous, so anything could happen. And it's worth it! You get to prove you're the best."

Mike stared at the flyer, intrigued¹⁷. "Cool," he said, and headed toward his dorm. He met the resident advisor¹⁸, who handed him a key. "Wazowski," the RA said. "Room three-nineteen. You know, your roommate is a scare major, too."

Mike's smile lit up the hallway. Clutching the key, he rushed down the hall, murmuring, "My lifelong best friend is right behind this door!" Mike took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

A lanky¹⁹ lizard²⁰ in purple glasses leaped from the shadows with a friendly outstretched hand. "Hey there! I'm your roomie. Name's Randy Boggs, scaring major."

Mike replied happily, "Mike Wazowski, scaring major!"

Randy smiled. "I can tell we're gonna be best chums, Mike. Take whichever bed you want. I wanted you to have first dibs!"

As Randy and Mike stood in the doorway²¹, a student down the hall dropped a stack of boxes. Startled, Randy screamed and vanished. All Mike could see of him were his purple glasses. A second later, he reappeared.

"Sorry," Randy said worriedly. "If I do that in scaring class, I'll be a joke!"

"No," Mike told him enthusiastically, "it's totally great! You gotta use it. But lose the glasses, they give it away." Randy took off his thick purple glasses and looked around, squinting²² his reptilian²³ eyes.

Mike walked into the room, chose a side, and began hanging his collection of scaring posters, along with the Scare Games flyer he'd picked up earlier. Then he checked his list. "Okay. Unpack²⁴: check. Hang posters: check. Now I need to ace¹⁴ my classes, graduate with honors, and become the greatest Scarer ever."

Randy shook his head. "Boy, I wish I had your confidence, Mike. Aren't you even a little nervous?"

"Actually, no. I've been waiting for this my whole life," Mike said, beaming. He pulled out the last item from his suitcase. It was the MU hat he'd gotten from the Monsters, Inc., Scarer when he was a kid. He placed it on the sill of the window that looked out onto the scaring school and smiled. "I just can't wait to get started!"

 

从那天起，麦克就像着了魔似的拼命学习。他看了一摞又一摞书籍，学习每一个吓人技巧，记住了所有吓人闪卡上的知识点，还制作了自己的学习闪卡，尽自己最大的努力以取得好成绩——因为他要确保自己能够考上怪兽大学。

几年过去了，终于有一天，麦克收到了他心心念念的信件。他撕开信封，高兴地跳了起来。他成功了！他被怪兽大学的惊吓专业录取了！

不久，麦克又一次坐上了校车。“怪兽大学！”司机一边靠站停车，一边大声问道，“有下车的吗？”

麦克抓起书包，向车门奔去，一脸自豪的笑容。下车前，他转过身对大家说：“同学们，不是我要煽情，只是我之前所有的努力都是为了今天这一刻。希望此刻不仅仅是我个人梦想的起点，更是大家梦想的起点。” 接着他又分别向车厢里的每个人交代一番。“格拉迪斯，答应我一定要继续试镜哦！玛丽，你的真命天子肯定很快就会出现了！菲尔，你的病还没好，药膏千万别停！祝各位一切顺利，谢谢大家！”接着，麦克“耶嘿”一声，蹦跳着下了车。

不一会儿，麦克便慢悠悠地跨入了怪兽大学的校门，校园里到处是爬满常春藤的宏伟建筑。他踏上大楼之间的主草坪，这片草坪叫作“四方坪”，是同学们会面和休息的场所。这时一只年轻的怪兽溜着滑板“嗖”的一下经过他身旁；在去小石桥的路上，一只巨型的粉红怪兽轻手轻脚地从他头顶跃了过去。麦克低下头，在学校的水下区域还看到了一群海怪兽。一切都比他想象的还要美好。

一只T恤上印有“微笑小分队”字样的怪兽突然迎了上来：“你好啊，新同学，我叫杰，报到处在那边哦！祝你开心！”

麦克来到报到台，一个同学笑盈盈地说道：“嗨，我叫凯，这是你的新生手册包，然后到特里那儿去拍照！”

麦克摆好姿势，特里说：“来，喊‘茄子’！”

“茄子！”麦克咧开嘴喊道，画面被相机快门牢牢定格。很快，麦克就拿到了自己崭新的学生证。照片只拍到麦克的头顶，但他一点儿也不介意。“真是难以置信！”麦克激动地说道，“我是真正的大学生啦！”然后他就加入到一队新生中，开始参观 校园。

“好了，同学们，”学生向导说道，“我叫费伊，在这个美妙的日子，由我来带大家参观校园！”麦克觉得自己就像在做梦一样，每个人都如此友好，校园也是如此美丽。费伊带着新生们来到工程学院，一进门，麦克立刻惊奇地瞪大了眼睛。

“这是实验室，同学们在这儿学习如何设计并制造通往人类世界的大门，”她在一个实验室前停了下来说道，“看来教授正准备对一扇门进行测试。”

教授启动了大门，麦克从门缝里瞥见一间人类的儿童卧室，不由地倒吸一口气。费伊继续向前走着说道：“这里就是怪兽大学的‘王冠之珠’——惊吓学院了。”其他新生纷纷跟着费伊继续向前，而麦克却移不开脚步，他被这里宏伟的景象和悠久的历史深深震撼着。

之后麦克追上了队伍，只听费伊说道：“怪兽大学还有很多很多超赞的社团和课外活动！”说话间，他们经过一排桌子，那是辩论队和绘画社在招新。

一只怪兽从其中一张桌子后面跳了出来，他的身体几乎就是一只大眼睛。他盯着麦克招呼道：“嘿，你好！来天文社吧，天上可有看不完的东西！”麦克急忙摇摇头，他觉得自己并不适合天文社。

转角处是“希腊议会”招新的桌子。该议会掌管着学校的兄弟会和姐妹会，这些联谊会的名字都取自希腊字母。麦克正要走过他们的桌位，只听见议会会长说道：“我们主办一年一度的‘惊吓杯’大赛。”

麦克立刻转过头问：“惊吓什么？”议会会长是一只长满紫色羽毛的巨大怪兽，他递给麦克一张宣传单。

“‘惊吓杯’是一个超级刺激的吓人比赛，”副会长向麦克解释道，“比赛十分危险，什么事都有可能发生，但却非常值得一试！你将有机会向大家证明你是最棒的。”

麦克饶有兴致地盯着宣传单。“确实不错啊，”他一边说着一边朝寝室走去。麦克找到住宿管理员，从他那里拿到了钥匙。“华斯基，”管理员说道，“你住319房间。知道吗？你的室友也是惊吓专业的。”

麦克的笑容点亮了整个走廊。他抓着钥匙，在走廊里一边跑一边喃喃自语：“我一辈子的好朋友就在这扇门后了！”麦克深吸一口气，推开了房门。

一只又瘦又长、戴着紫色眼镜的蜥蜴从房间暗处跳了出来，友好地伸出手：“哥们儿，你好！我是你的室友，叫蓝道·宝基，是惊吓专业的。”

麦克高兴地回答：“我叫麦克·华斯基，也是惊吓专业的！”

蓝道笑着说：“麦克，我觉得我们一定会成为好兄弟的。你先挑床吧，想睡哪张就睡哪张！我把这个优先权给你啦！”

蓝道和麦克还站在门口，这时走廊里有个学生掉落了一堆盒子。蓝道被吓得尖叫起来，瞬间没了踪影。麦克只能看见他的紫色眼镜依旧飘浮在空中。很快，蓝道又出现了。

“不好意思啊，”蓝道苦恼地说，“如果我在惊吓课上这么做，一定会被笑话的！”

“不会啊，”麦克热情地告诉他，“这棒极了！你该好好利用这种能力。不过得先把眼镜摘了，不然就露馅啦。”蓝道摘下他那副厚重的紫色眼镜，朝四周看了看，又眯起眼睛。

麦克走进房间，挑了一张床，开始把自己收藏的惊吓海报连同他刚刚拿到的那张“惊吓杯”的宣传单往墙上贴。接着他核对了一下自己的备忘录：“好啦。收拾行李：搞定。挂海报：搞定。现在我要做的就是：门门得A，光荣毕业，成为史上最厉害的惊吓专员。”

蓝道摇摇头说：“老天，我真希望能有你这份自信，麦克。老实说，你真的一点儿也不紧张吗？”

“说实话，一点儿也不。我等这一天等了一辈子了，”麦克笑容满面地说道。他从箱子里拿出最后一样东西，那是顶怪兽大学的帽子，是他小时候从怪兽电力公司的惊吓专员那里得到的。他把帽子放在窗台上，透过窗户望着惊吓学院，脸上露出一丝微笑：“我都等不及想要开学啦！”

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