纽约时报:谈工作和社会阶层的文书吸引招生官眼球(附例文),美国留学妈妈圈微信公众号文章

每个升学季，考生、家长和导师都在为申请文书而纠结、痛苦，如何在数以万计的文书中脱颖而出，这可不是一件容易的事情。如果你拥有令人艳羡的高中生涯，比如拥有国际竞赛的奖杯，那么你就有了一些先天优势。但这样的孩子毕竟是少数，怎么才能在自己看似平淡的高中生活中写出自己、写出那些可能平凡但却能闪光的瞬间，这真的是一个没有标准答案的问题。

《纽约时报》最近配以“谈工作和社会阶层的文书吸引了招生官的眼球”的标题，选取了7篇优秀的大学申请文书贡高中毕业生们参考。根据“小常春藤盟校”之一的文理学院卫斯理安大学（Wesleyan University）的数据显示，在1200份申请文书中，只有10份左右是讲述关于工作的话题。这也可以理解，毕竟大部分学生从未工作过。而关于社会阶级，很多精英大学，尤其是私立精英大学的申请者们往往是来自于经济优渥的家庭，对他们来说，写一篇自己家多么有钱的essay显然非常不合适。但也正因为如此，一旦申请者选对角度，敢于另辟蹊径去碰触敏感的话题，可以更深层次地去展示自己的内心感受，就很容易能在众多文书中脱颖而出。

在《纽约时报》选取的7篇优秀文书中，有一篇是来自一名华裔女孩。她叫Yorana Wu，居住在纽约长岛，高中就读于Great Neck South High School，即将进入芝加哥大学。我们可以一起来看看她是如何挑战出身富裕这一敏感话题并赢得招生官好感的。

YoranaWu在她位于Great Neck的家。

Weekends growing up were spent hitting tennis balls with my coach, sketching still lives at a local art studio and practicing the violin with my private teacher. My parents endorsed my interests because we had financial security that most families in America didn't. I'm thankful that this wealth also allows me to live in one of the most affluent suburbs of New York and attend one of its best public schools, where it's not uncommon to see my peers driving to school in a Mercedes-Benz.

从小我周末的生活是和教练打网球，在本地的艺术工作室学静态速写，在私人教师指导下练习拉小提琴。我的父母支持我的兴趣爱好，因为我们和大多数美国家庭不同，在经济方面有充分保障。我很感激这笔财富，让我能在纽约城郊最富裕的地区之一，在当地最好的公立学校之一就读，在这种学校里见到开着奔驰车上学的学生可不是新鲜事。

Even though I can buy glamorous things because of my family's wealth, I've never felt comfortable spending it. Somegirls in my school frivolously spend their money – at the local Abercrombie,they'll point to a shirt they like and swipe their cards without batting aneyelash at the price. I use my money differently because of how I was raised. I make a beeline to the discount sections at higher-end retailers to find trendy garments and resell them on eBay to make a profit covering next semester's art supplies.

虽然因为家境富裕，我可以买精美的东西，但我从来都对花钱感到不自在。我学校里的一些女孩子轻易挥霍钱财——到当地的A&F，她们会指向自己心仪的衣服，然后刷卡，看到价签时眼睛都不眨一下。因为我从小的教育，我花钱的方式很不同。我会直奔高端零售商的打折区，购买时尚的衣服，再到eBay上转卖，用赚得的利润购买下一学期的艺术课的必需品。

Many of my peers were fed sincebirth with a silver spoon, not giving a second thought to the family wealth attheir disposal. I like to think I use my spoon sparingly, feeding myself onlywhen necessary. I dislike spending my parents' money because I didn't earn anyof it. I appreciate my parents endorsing my interests like violin because these hobbies are enriching, but I'm discomfited when they pay for superficial things like name-brand clothing. I'm fine just wearing thrifted shirts and discounted sneakers. I suppose it's because my mother raised me to embody a Chineseproverb that translates to "save when financially stable because thefuture is unknown."

我身边的许多人从小生活富裕，对于任由他们消费的家庭财富，他们从不加思索。我觉得我是很节省地使用家里的财富，只有需要的时候才用。我不喜欢花父母的钱，因为这钱不是我挣的。我很感激父母对我兴趣爱好的支持，比如小提琴，这些爱好让人变得充实。但他们如果在肤浅的东西上花钱，我就会觉得不快，比如名牌服饰。我很乐意穿便宜的衣服和打折的运动鞋。大概是因为我妈妈一直用一句中国谚语教育我：细水长流，遇灾不愁。

At a young age, I was forced to understand what came at the price of that wealth: time with my father. When I was 8, he left to build his own canned fruits company in China. That was the first year a seat at the dinner table remained empty and a car in the garagesat untouched. Suddenly, our relationship became two five-minute phone calls per week. He'll see my brother and me only for a quarter of the year – just the equivalent of a season spent together. He couldn't come to my brother's highschool graduation, and during school orchestra concerts I would take a hopeful glance at the audience to see only my mother's face in the crowd. However, he’s the reason I have a silver spoon that allows me to scoop more than just cannedpeaches. If he hadn't followed his ambitions, we would still be a close-knitfamily living in a smaller home, but maybe then thrift shopping would bemandatory instead of voluntary.

我很小的时候就被迫懂得，获得家庭财富的代价是什么。那是我和爸爸相处的时间。我八岁的时候，他就去中国开办自己的水果罐头公司。从那时起，餐桌前总有一个空座位，车库里总有一辆车无人使用。忽然，我和爸爸的关系变成了每周两通五分钟的电话。一年中他只有四分之一的时间——相当于一个季节的时间，能见到我和哥哥。他没能来参加我哥哥的高中毕业典礼。学校管弦乐队演出的时候我会满怀希望地在观众里寻找，但始终只能在人群中找到我妈妈。但爸爸是让我富足到不止可以享受桃子罐头的原因。如果他没有去追求事业，我们会是个紧密的家庭，住在小一点的房子里，但节俭开销会成为日常必须，而非选择。

My love and appreciation for my father makes me honor the money he provides me with – every dollar comes at the expense of his physical distance. When my father comes to visit, he offers to buy me the newest iPhone or drive me to Bloomingdale's because of the guilt hefeels for not being with us. I accept his offer sparingly because I don't want him to think of me as someone who asks for more than what I need. Whileeveryone in school has been toting the newest iPhone since ninth grade, I took his used phone, giving up 24/7 Internet access – I didn't need to check Facebook every minute. Although I enjoy the security afforded me by hissuccess, it doesn't diminish my determination to build a future with my ownbare hands. When I leave the silver spoon too long in my mouth, I feel thisnagging itch telling me to remove it, as if I'm allergic to silver. If thespoon's used sparingly, I can avoid an outbreak. But I don't mind my allergy. Iembrace it because it reminds me that everything comes at a price – even silverspoons.

我对父亲的爱与感激让我对他赚的钱格外珍惜——每一美元都是他用与家人远隔千山万水的代价换来的。爸爸回来时都会提出给我买最新款的iPhone或者开车带我去布鲁明黛百货公司(Bloomingdale's)，因为他对自己总不在我们身边而感到内疚。我会有节制地接受他的慷慨，因为我不希望他认为我是那种贪得无厌的人。从九年级开始，学校里每个人都开始用最新款的iPhone，而我用的是爸爸的旧手机，无法全天不间断地上网——我不需要分分钟钟查看脸书上的消息。虽然我很享受爸爸事业成功带来的安全感，但这丝毫不影响我打算靠自己双手创造未来的决心。优越生活过得久了，就会产生一种想要离开这种不劳而获的生活的感觉，仿佛我对财富过敏似的。如果我减少对家庭财富的使用，就可以避免这种感觉。我不介意自己对不劳而获的财富过敏——我很欢迎它，因为它警示我一切所得都有代价，哪怕是看似不劳而获的财富。

以上文书摘自《纽约时报》，翻译刘圆园

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