这篇essay，打动8所藤校的评委，哈佛耶鲁等所有藤校抢着录取

 

　　大家好！我是Alice，今天我们一起来分享一篇美国华裔女孩Cassandra Hsiao的“作文”。

 

 

　　这个来自加州橙县的华裔女孩名叫Cassandra Hsiao，爸爸是台湾人、母亲来自马拉西亚。最近，她被哈佛大学、普林斯顿大学、耶鲁大学、达特茅斯大学、布朗大学、哥伦比亚大学、宾大和康奈尔大学等全部8所常春藤名校同时录取。她在美国本科“申请作文”common app essay中，描写了移民家庭学英语的真实故事，文章打动了8所名校的评委。

 

　　据The Tab新闻网报导，Cassandra Hsiao多才多艺，她在facebook中的自我介绍是︰电影评论家、明星记者、《洛杉矶时报》高中特约记者、百老汇世界学生博主、诗人和剧作家。

 

 

天生没有四肢的国际生命斗士力克胡哲（Nick Vujicic）是Cassandra Hsiao心目中的英雄。

 

　　Cassandra Hsiao获奖很多，其中包括普林斯顿大学举办的十分钟短剧剧本创作大奖、"美国全国青年艺术家协会"（Young Arts）诗歌大赛第一名、获得过美国艺术与写作大奖金奖等。17岁时，还获得了专门表彰影视媒体业杰出女性的格雷斯（Gracie Awards）最佳学生记者奖。

 

　　申请大学时，这些曾经的获奖资历、发表过的文章，都对她敲开名校大门发挥了作用。

 

　　被常春藤名校录取后，Cassandra Hsiao还分享了她的大学申请经验，她认为写作对自己的帮助很大。下面就让我们看看她这篇打动了8所常春藤大学评委的essay，到底都说了些什么吧。

 

 

 

　　在我们家，英语不是标准的英语，至少从发音的角度上来说是这样的。在我们家，我们说蛇（snake），但发音却像小吃（snack）。我们的英语发音总是有很多错误，不过虽然我常常会被语言专家从教室里叫出来纠正发音，虽然我的母亲来自马来西亚，她会把flim读作film（电影），可是在我们家里，我们之间能相互理解自己说的英文。

 

　　In our house, English is not English. Not in the phonetic sense, like short a is for apple, but rather in the pronunciation – in our house, snake is snack. Words do not roll off our tongues correctly – yet I, who was pulled out of class to meet with language specialists, and my mother from Malaysia, who pronounces film as flim, understand each other perfectly.

 

 

采访贾斯汀·比伯

 

　　在我们家里， cast（投掷）和cash（现金）之间没有任何区别。这就是为什么我参加教堂举行的露营活动时，有些人会拿我开涮说"cashing out demons"（兑现恶魔，本意应是驱逐恶魔）。那个时候我没有意识到两个英语单词之间的明显差异，直到老师纠正了我一些单词的发音，比如hammock（吊床）、ladle（钢包）和siphon（虹吸管）。同学们笑话我，因为我把accept （接受）读成了except（除了），把success（成功）读成了sussess。尽管那时候我已经参加创意写作活动了，但还是常常感觉词不达意。

 

　　In our house, there is no difference between cast and cash, which was why at a church retreat, people made fun of me for “cashing out demons.” I did not realize the glaring difference between the two Englishes until my teacher corrected my pronunciations of hammock, ladle, and siphon. Classmates laughed because I pronounce accept as except, success as sussess. I was in the Creative Writing conservatory, and yet words failed me when I needed them most.

 

 

 

　　突然之间，我开始明白了，如果只是知道花朵和面粉的发音相同是不够的。我开始逐渐摆脱了那些伴随着我长大的、曾经自以为还不错的英语，既然其他人的父母，都能说一口流利的英语，为什么我的父母不能呢？

 

　　Suddenly, understanding flower is flour wasn’t enough. I rejected the English that had never seemed broken before, a language that had raised me and taught me everything I knew. Everybody else’s parents spoke with accents smarting of Ph.D.s and university teaching positions. So why couldn’t mine?

 

　　我的母亲摊开她那双晒黑的手说："这是我来的地方"，她用自己以前学过的英语讲了一个故事。

 

　　My mother spread her sunbaked hands and said, “This is where I came from,” spinning a tale with the English she had taught herself.

 

 

Cassandra Hsiao和母亲

 

　　当我母亲从她居住的马来西亚村庄搬到一个城镇时，她不得不在初中开始学习一门全新的语言：英语。当时很多人以羞辱别人为乐，当她的老师当着全班的面，用尖酸的语言嘲笑她的作文时，她无力反抗。当她开始哭泣时，班长站起来说"够了"。母亲含着眼泪说，那个班长保护了她，耐心地为她纠正语言。"她为弱者撑腰，勇敢地反击。"我们俩都哭了。

 

　　When my mother moved from her village to a town in Malaysia, she had to learn a brand new language in middle school: English. In a time when humiliation was encouraged, my mother was defenseless against the cruel words spewing from the teacher, who criticized her paper in front of the class. When she began to cry, the class president stood up and said, “That’s enough.”

 

　　"要像那个班长一样"，妈妈含着泪说，为保护弱者挺身而出，要知道那个班长不仅保护了她，还耐心地帮她提高语言。

 

　　“Be like that class president,” my mother said with tears in her eyes. The class president took her under her wing and patiently mended my mother’s strands of language. “She stood up for the weak and used her words to fight back.”

 

 

 

　　母亲要我教她正确的英语，这样Target 商场的白人老太太就不会嘲笑她的发音了。当我把她的话拼缀在一起时，会有一种歉疚感。长元音、双辅音，其实这些我自己也仍在学习中。有时候我避免让一些只言片语伤害她的自尊心，但也许我已经在不经意时，伤害了她很多。

 

　　We were both crying now. My mother asked me to teach her proper English so old white ladies at Target wouldn’t laugh at her pronunciation. It has not been easy. There is a measure of guilt when I sew her letters together. Long vowels, double consonants — I am still learning myself. Sometimes I let the brokenness slide to spare her pride but perhaps I have hurt her more to spare mine.

 

　　随着妈妈英语词汇不断增加，我的英语也在不断进步。我可以在学校3000多人面前朗诵诗歌了，还采访了各界人士、写舞台剧，站出来为无家可归者、难民和弱势群体发声。在纽约地铁，有些人会嘲笑街头艺人，我也用站出来和他们对抗。我还会教那些贫穷的、英语非母语的孩子学英语，看到他们有很多故事要讲、但又不知道如何表达的样子时，我仿佛看到了我妈妈的过去。

 

　　As my mother’s vocabulary began to grow, I mended my own English. Through performing poetry in front of 3000 at my school’s Season Finale event, interviewing people from all walks of life, and writing stories for the stage, I stand against ignorance and become a voice for the homeless, the refugees, the ignored. With my words I fight against jeers pelted at an old Asian street performer on a New York subway. My mother’s eyes are reflected in underprivileged ESL children who have so many stories to tell but do not know how. I fill them with words as they take needle and thread to make a tapestry.

 

 

Cassandra Hsiao最近为洛杉矶时报采访"美国队长"克里斯埃文（中）

 

　　在我们家里，家人之间说话的方式也很温馨。在我们家里，没有什么破英语，所有的语言里都是带着情感的。我们用文字建造了一栋房子，房子里虽然有点乱，但这就是我们打造自己家的地方。

 

　　In our house, there is beauty in the way we speak to each other. In our house, language is not broken but rather bursting with emotion. We have built a house out of words. There are friendly snakes in the cupboard and snacks in the tank. It is a crooked house. It is a little messy. But this is where we have made our home.