在3月30号美国常春藤大学放榜日的这一天，一个名叫Cassandra Hsiao的姑娘选择了14所美国大学申请新闻学系并收到了全部的录取通知书，其中八所常春藤盟校都向她抛来了橄榄枝。
是的你没看错，除了哈佛、耶鲁、普林斯顿、哥伦比亚、康奈尔、宾大、布朗、达特茅斯以外，她还收到了约翰霍普金斯、南加大、西北大学等等名校的录取。
Cassandra并不是土生土长的美国人，她的爸爸是台湾人，妈妈是马来西亚人。作为一名五岁搬到美国的第一代移民，Cassandra Hsiao的脸书个人介绍写道“17岁的电影评论家、明星记者、洛杉矶(专题)时报高中特约记者、百老汇世界学生博客、诗人和剧作家”。Cassandra是怎样做到如此优秀的？美国续航教育就带领大家了解一下Cassandra的大学申请经验，看看她的申请文书有什么不同。
萧靖彤（左）最近为洛杉矶时报采访”美国队长”克里斯埃文（中）
“
你的申请文书重点写了什么？
我的父母是移民，英语不是他们的强项。成长在移民家庭中，如何用语言互动对我来说是很一件有趣的事。在家里聊天时，有些词汇我们并不会翻译成英文，而是用自己的语言代替。这也是为什么我在家里说话的方式和我在外面说话的方式完全不同。在我的成长过程中，有些人会因为我说的话而嘲笑我，即使这些话在我听来很正常。因此，我把自己的经历写入了我的美国大学申请文书中。
Cassandra的申请文书节选
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.【在我们家，英语并不完全是英文，至少在发音上不是。例如，我们在读snake（蛇）和snack（小吃）时发音一样。我们的舌头无法正确的发音。休息时间，我会和语言专家会面，也能明白来自马来西亚的妈妈在说flim时其实是在表达film（电影）的意思。作为家人，我们完美的消化彼此的表达。】
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.【在我们家，cast（投掷）和cash（现金）发音也没有任何区别，这就是为什么在教堂的时候，当我说“cashing out demons”时，人们会笑话我。我并没有意识到这两个单词发音的区别 -- 直到我的老师纠正了我读“hammock”、“ladle”和“siphon”的发音。同学们也会因为我把“accept”读成了“except”、“success”读成了“sussess”而取笑我。在创意写作室里，文字却在我最需要它们的时候背叛了我。】
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? 【突然，我意识到将”flower ”读成“flour”是不够的。我拒绝了以前在家说话的方式，这个将我养育，教会了我一切的语言。其他所有人的父母，不论是博士还是大学教授，都在说着的口音的英语，为什么我不能？】
My mother spread her sunbaked hands and said, “This is where I came from,” spinning a tale with the English she had taught herself. 【我的母亲摊开她那双晒黑的手说：”这是我来的地方”，她用自学的英语叙述了一个故事。】
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.” 【当我母亲从她居住的马来西亚村庄搬到一个城镇时，她不得不在初中学习一门全新的语言：英语。在受到羞辱时，我的母亲抵抗教师用尖酸的言辞，当着全班同学批评她的作文。当她开始哭泣时，班长站起来说”够了”。）
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.【随着母亲的英语词汇增长，我的英文水平越来越高。在学校活动中，我可以在3000人面前朗诵诗歌，我也曾采访社会各界人士，编写剧本，反对无知，并支持为无家可归者、难民和被忽视的群体发。甚至有一次，我在纽约地铁反驳了嘲弄亚裔街头表演家的人们。我在那些贫穷的、英语非母语的孩子身上看到了我母亲的影子，他们有很多故事想要分享，却又不知如何说起。我想用语言作为针线，帮助他们编制一幅挂毯。】
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. 【在我们家，说话的方式也可以很美丽。在我们家，语言没有缺陷，而是情绪的表达。我们用文字建造了一座房子：柜子里有友善的蛇、坦克里有小吃。虽然曲折、虽然凌乱，但这就是我们的家。】
可以看到，Cassandra文书并没有介绍自己的学术成就或者实习经历，而是将自己成长过程中对自己影响最大的经历分享了出来，让藤校看到了自己的与众不同以及无穷的潜力。
一个愿意为弱者发声，有坚定信念的年轻人怎么会不引人欣赏？当你为弱者发声，语言就有了力量。
想到打造属于自己独一无二的美国大学申请文书吗？请联系美国续航教育，特别的申请文书专属于特别的你。
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