近日，一名华裔女孩儿，收到了她所申请的全美所有14所大学的offer，其中就包括全部8所常春藤盟校。
哈佛、耶鲁都录取了她，斯坦福大学、约翰霍普金斯大学、西北大学等名校也向她伸出了橄榄枝。
而她被美国名校录取的一个关键因素，是她因为一篇文章打动了这些学校……
这名女孩儿叫萧靖彤，她共申请了14所学校的写作或新闻类学系，截至目前，她所申请的所有学校都向她敞开了大门。
萧靖彤热爱写作，也因此获奖很多，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。
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文章，到底都说了些什么吧……
In our house, English is not English. Not in the phonetic sense, like short ais 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，英语不是英语，这不是从语音学意义上来说的（比如a代表apple），而是指发音上的。在我们家，“snake”（蛇）会被读成“snack”（小吃）。我们无法让英语单词正确地脱口而出。我在班里常被揪出来让语言专家纠正发音。我那来自马来西亚的妈妈，总是把“film”说成“flim”。但是我们完全能听得懂对方。
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”（抛掷）和“cash”（现金）没有分别，这就是为什么在教会退休会，人们常常取笑我说的“cashing out demons”（本应为“casting out demons”，赶鬼）。我一直没有意识到这两个英语单词之间的差异，直到老师纠正了我的hammock、ladle、和siphon的发音，才恍然大悟。同学们笑我，因为我将accept（接受）读成except（除外），将success读成sussess。尽管我参加了创意写作，但常常词不达意。
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，我明白了，只懂得“flower”和“flour”发音相同是不够的。我开始逐渐摆脱那些伴随着我长大的、教会了我一切的英语，既然其他人的父母都能说一口博士、大学教授般的流利英语，为什么我的父母不能呢？
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饱经日晒的双手说：“我就是从这儿来的”，接着用自学的英语讲了一个故事。
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.”
当我母亲还在马来西亚的时候，她从一个小村庄搬到了城镇，在读初中的她不得不学一门全新的语言：英语。当时很多人以羞辱别人为乐，她只能无力地忍受着老师当着全班的面，用残酷的语言批评她的作文。当她开始哭泣时，班长站起来说“够了”。
“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.”
妈妈含着泪说：“要像那个班长一样”。班长处处护着她，还耐心纠正她的语言。“她为弱者挺身而出，用自己的语言反抗。”
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.
我们母女两都哭了。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。这并不容易。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。有时，她说得不好，我也装作不知道，以免挫败她的自尊心，但这样反而让她受到了更多伤害。
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.
随着妈妈英语词汇量不断增加，我的英语也在不断进步。我在学校期末活动中在3000多人面前朗诵诗歌，还采访了各界人士、写舞台剧，我以此挺身对抗无知，为无家可归者、难民和弱势群体发声。
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.
我用自己的语言回击那些嘲笑纽约地铁里卖艺的亚裔老人的声音。从那些弱势的、母语非英语的孩子们身上，我仿佛看见了自己的母亲。他们有很多故事要讲，却不知道如何去讲。我教他们说英语，同时，他们能够自己穿针引线把故事编织出来。
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.
在我的家里，家人之间说话的方式自有其美好之处。在我的家里，我们的语言与其说是“破碎的”，不如说是满溢着感情。我们用自己的语言搭建起一座房子。在这个房子里，壁橱里有不伤人的“snake”，水池里却有“snack”。这个家有些另类，有些乱，但正因如此，这才是我们的家。
之所以能写出这篇文章，是因为萧靖彤的背景分不开。
她出生于马来西亚，父亲是台湾人，母亲是马来西亚人。萧靖彤在5岁时随父母移居美国，从年幼时起就经历着语言、文化上的冲突和煎熬。
初到美国时，由于萧靖彤和母亲发音不标准，交流上存在着巨大的障碍，常常会受到冷眼和嘲笑。
正因如此，萧靖彤的母亲开始重视培养萧靖彤说正确的英语，在这一过程中发生了不少趣事，也有不少不为外人道的辛酸。
而年幼时这段喜泪交加的经历，恰恰促成了萧靖彤的成功。
在申请大学的作文中，萧靖彤讲述了自己的家庭，一个第一代华人移民家庭，在学习英语的过程中遇到的各种酸甜苦辣。
文章描绘了新移民的特性，细节真实、情节感人，打动了八所藤校以及众多其他名校的录取官。
萧靖彤细腻的文笔不仅打动了所有录取评委，也让不少亚裔家庭产生了共鸣。不少移民家庭都曾在学习语言过程中经历过不少磕磕绊绊。
这篇优秀的申请作文让萧靖彤脱颖而出，也让她立刻成了网红。许多网友都表达了对她的喜爱。
网友Leon Burke在Facebook上说：
"Getting accepted into all eight Ivy League schools is amazing and after reading your essay, I can't think of anyone who deserves it more than you do."
被所有8所常春藤学校录取真的是不可思议，但看过你的文章以后，我觉得没有人比你更值得这样的成就。
萧靖彤在接受BBC采访时说：
Identity and the desire to belong are two of the most relatable struggles that people face. I wanted to share a slice of our home life, my relationship with my mother and both of our stories.
对身份认同感和归属感的渴望和挣扎是最能让人产生共鸣的东 西。我想和他人分享我的家庭生活的一个侧面，我和母亲的感情 和我们俩的经历。
谈到自己的亚裔身份，萧靖彤表示：
I miss Malaysia and think about my home country quite often. Growing up, I loved flying kites, going to markets and setting off firecrackers. I spent my childhood babbling in a mixture of Chinese, Malay and English.
我很想念马来西亚，很想念我的祖国。从小我就喜欢放风筝、逛 市场、放爆竹。在我牙牙学语的时候，我说的是一种夹杂着汉 语、 马来语和英语的语言。
现在，问题来了，这么多名校给你选，选哪个呢？
真是甜蜜的忧伤啊。
萧靖彤从小就很喜欢哈佛大学，收到哈佛的录取通知书后，萧靖彤激动得马上发了一条推特：
不过，萧靖彤目前还没有做出最终决定。
看完萧靖彤开挂一般的人生，大家是不是感到十分羡慕和佩服呢？
那就快快放下手机，学习一下压压惊吧！
喜欢澳洲网公众号？快去置顶！！！
澳洲网综编自网络
审核：Peter
统筹：Wandi
编辑：Gloria
标签： onecast苹果版