Wang Siyuan, 20, an English major student at Xiamen University, remembered vividly how he was overwhelmed by the size of the campus when he first arrived.
20岁的王思源（音译）是厦门大学英语系学生。他依然清楚记得初到学校时，面对偌大的校园，自己是怎样的不知所措。
His only solution was to ask for help from his roommates or upperclassmen, but now he has an alternative - he turns to apps on his smartphone, like he does to solve many problems in his daily life.
尽管当时唯一能做的就是求助于室友和学长，但现在，又多了一种方法——他可以打开智能手机上的应用软件，就像对付日常难题一样解决校园里的那些事。
Wang’s secret weapon is a mobile application called xmu-baodating, which offers an integrated student management system and information that makes campus life easier.
王思源的秘密武器是一款名为“厦大包打听”的手机应用，它将学生管理系统以及相关信息整合起来，令校园生活愈发便捷起来。
Using such applications has been a trend in universities since 2012. Not only do freshmen use it to familiarize themselves with their university, but veterans also regard it as a lifestyle.
自2012年以来，这类应用程序已经成为大学里的一种时尚。不仅只有新生用它来熟悉校园环境，高年级学长们也视其为一种生活方式。
Using apps as a lifestyle
校园APP是种生活方式
Wang Siyuan downloaded xmu-baodating because all of his roommates and friends were using it. “They didn’t want me to be left behind, so they recommended it to me,” he says. “Now, I can’t live without it.”
王思源之所以下载了“厦大包打听”，是因为他的室友和朋友都是该软件的用户。他说：“他们不想让我落伍，就向我推荐了它。现在，我完全不能没有它。”
Wang uses xmu-baodating to check his class schedule, class results and lecture information. He also uses it to see whether the library is open, and whether there’s an available seat in the public study area.
王思源用“厦大包打听”查询课程表、课业成绩以及课程信息。此外，他还用它来查看图书馆是否开门、公共自习区是否有座。
“The application is very useful on hot summer days, as we use the air conditioner a lot. It monitors the usage of electricity and notifies us before the electricity is used up. We never ran out of electricity this summer,” he said.
他说：“这款软件在炎热的夏天非常有用，因为我们经常用空调。它可以监测用电量，在电量用完之前通知我们。今年夏天我们没断电过。”
Who creates these apps?
谁开发了这些应用？
In fact, many well-received applications were developed by students themselves.
事实上，许多热门应用的开发者都是学生。
Fu Xingke, 19, is a finance major at Jimei University. Having experienced the unease of being a freshman, he decided to provide a solution. Fu and his team made a mobile application called caiyuanbang, which provides students of his university with useful information and a forum to exchange ideas.
19岁的付星科（音译）是集美大学金融系学生。因为对新生初来乍到的不适应感深有体会，于是他便决定寻找解决办法。付星科和他的团队研发了一款名为“菜园帮”的手机应用，旨在为校友提供有用信息和交流平台。
“We developed the program for mobile phones because they’ve become an indispensable part of students’ lives,” he says. Fu wants the application to be useful to different students and that’s why he added a forum to it. “Mobile applications are not only a source of information, but also a good communication tool,” he says.
他说：“我们之所以开发这款移动应用，是因为手机已成为学生生活中不可缺少的一部分。”付星科希望这款应用能够满足不同学生的需求，于是就在其中添加了一个论坛。他说：“手机应用不仅是一种信息来源，更是一种有效的交流工具。”
Creator as well as user
开发者亦是用户
Apart from offering academic information, most university applications created by students offer general advice, such as places for eating out, buying fruit and organizing parties. But Wu Xiaohui took a step further by adding a food delivery service to her application.
除了课业信息之外，大部分由学生发明的校园应用还可以提供一些日常建议，例如去哪儿吃饭、买水果或组织聚会。而吴小慧（音译）则更进一步地将外卖服务添加到了自己开发的应用程序中。
The 19-year-old electronic and information engineering student at the University of Science and Technology Beijing is the creator of 7cbeike, an application designed for her university. As a food lover, she understands students’ want to eat delicious food in their dormitory.
19岁的她是北京科技大学电子信息工程系学生，她为校友开发了一款名为“七彩贝壳”的应用。作为一名“吃货”，她十分理解同学足不出户、便可在寝室享受美食的想法。
“We organized a team to negotiate with nearby restaurant and shop owners, asking them to deliver orders to the university,” she says. As users themselves, the team members did their best to include all of their favorite restaurants and shops in the application. “We’re confident that students are going to love this service,” Wu says.
她说：“我们组建了一支团队，同学校附近餐馆和商店的老板进行商谈，希望他们提供校园送餐服务。”由于他们本身也在使用该应用，所以团队成员都尽心尽力地搜罗自己喜爱的餐馆及商店并添加到应用中去。吴小慧说：“我们有信心，同学们一定会喜欢这项服务。” |
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