大學期間，學習了這篇散文，一直印象深刻。當時，老師還特別提到，我們那些已經畢業的師兄師姐們在進入社會後，對這篇文章也是記憶猶新，感慨良多。的確，細心留意下，無論你置身何處，你都會發現生活中有著各種各樣的“圈子”——宿舍圈、校友圈、同鄉會……六月，高校畢業季，又一批學子即將離開學校而走入社會這所更大的“大學”，在此奉上這篇精彩的文章，和大家一起探討下“圈子”現象，大夥兒看完後有何心得感悟記得和小編們分享哦！^_^
作者Clive Staples Lewis(克利夫·斯特普爾斯·劉易斯，1898—1963)，是愛爾蘭裔英國知名作家，出生於北愛爾蘭首府貝爾法斯特，但長年居住於英國。他以兒童文學作品《納尼亞傳奇》係列而聞名於世，此外還著有神學論文、中世紀文學研究等諸多作品。
本文節選自作者1944年在英國倫敦大學國王學院所發表的一篇演說，說理深入淺出，邏輯縝密，值得細細品讀。
——Maisie
May I read you a few lines from 1)Tolstoi’s War and Peace？
When Boris entered the room， Prince Andrey was listening to an old general， wearing his2)decorations， who was reporting something to Prince Andrey， with an expression of soldierly3)servility on his purple face. “Alright. Please wait！” he said to the general， speaking in Russian with the French accent which he used when he spoke with contempt. The moment he noticed Boris he stopped listening to the general who 4)trotted 5)imploringly after him and begged to be heard， while Prince Andrey turned to Boris with a cheerful smile and a nod of the head. Boris now clearly understood—what he had already guessed—that side by side with the system of discipline and 6)subordination which were laid down in the Army Regulations， there existed a different and more real system—the system which compelled a tightly 7)laced general with a purple face to wait respectfully for his turn while a mere 8)captain like Prince Andrey chatted with a mere second 9)lieutenant like Boris. Boris decided at once that he would be guided not by the official system but by this other unwritten system.
In the passage I have just read from Tolstoi， the young second lieutenant Boris Dubretskoi discovers that there exist in the army two different systems or hierarchies. The one is printed in some little red book and anyone can easily read it up. It also remains constant. A general is always superior to a 10)colonel， and a colonel to a captain. The other is not printed anywhere. Nor is it even a formally organized secret society with officers and rules which you would be told after you had been admitted. You are never formally and 11)explicitly admitted by anyone. You discover gradually， in almost indefinable ways， that it exists and that you are outside it； and then later， perhaps， that you are inside it. There are what correspond to passwords， but they are too spontaneous and informal. A particular 12)slang， the use of particular nicknames， an 13)allusive manner of conversation， are the marks. But it is not so constant. It is not easy， even at a given moment， to say who is inside and who is outside. Some people are obviously in and some are obviously out， but there are always several on the borderline. There are no formal admissions or 14)expulsions.
But you have met the phenomenon of an Inner Ring. You discovered one in your 15)house at school before the end of the first term. And when you had climbed up to somewhere near it by the end of your second year， perhaps you discovered that within the ring there was a Ring yet more inner， which in its turn was the 16)fringe of the great school Ring to which the house Rings were only satellites. It is even possible that the school ring was almost in touch with a 17)Masters’ Ring. You were beginning， in fact， to pierce through the skins of an onion.