這是一篇被哈佛大學錄取學生的文書，本來不打算申請哈佛的，她覺得自己不夠優秀，準備也不充分，所以在申請大學時，哈佛是她最後一刻才加到申請名單裡的，因為哈佛的申請流程太簡單了，不試一下簡直浪費!
她直接拿申請芝加哥大學時寫的一篇談論內衣的作品交了上去…然而，就是這一篇選題有些“非主流”的文章，卻獲得了哈佛招生官的青睞。
這是為什麼呢？我們一起去看看她的文書內容吧~
I remember the first time I wore a bra. I came home from school in the fifth grade, and my mom handed me a white cloth to put on beneath my shirt. “You’re a big girl now,” she said, “You need to wear this.” From that moment on, my life was forever changed.
我回憶自己第一次穿內衣的時候：那是五年級放學後的一天，母親將我拉到一旁，遞上一片白色布狀的東西，吩咐她穿在身上：“你是個大女孩了，你得穿上它。”那一刻，我覺得自己的人生就此被改變了。
That same year, I was taught that the sun would someday die, and I, feeling the pressure of the contraption beneath my shirt, realized that my childhood, too, would eventually dissipate just like the sun.
自從胸前多了這個不太舒服的玩意兒，緊貼於襯衫之下，勒著自己的胸，總有一股隱隱的壓力，似乎無時無刻不在提醒著我：無憂無慮的童年已經過去了。
The first bra paved way for a second, and then a third, and then, by the fourth bra I had advanced to the Lady Type, the ones that my mom wore.
內衣就這樣進入了我的生活。 第一件內衣用了沒多久就下崗了，隨之而來的是第二件、第三件，到了第四件的時候，我已經穿上了成人碼，就是自己媽媽穿的那種。
With every new bra, I cast away the former. Somewhere in the dark abyss of my closet, there is a heap of abandoned bras, tiny, worn-out filaments that had once shone so brightly in their days of use, but had faded away into old, neglected remnants of days long gone. They sit against a corner of the universe and gather dust like dead stars— without life, without luster, without vigor.
內衣的更換似乎在告訴我一種定律：當新的東西到來的時候，總要跟舊的說再見。所以，舊的內衣只能被丟棄在櫃子深處，不管以前多麼閃耀奪目，現在也只是一堆破舊的邊角料，似乎這就是它們無可更改的宿命，就像墜落在宇宙犄角旮旯裡的星星一樣，它們落滿了灰塵，毫無生機，毫無光彩。
With every new bra, I felt the unmerciful hand of change push me further down a path with which I had no return. The bras no longer had the simplicity of the first; they came equipped with more folds and stitches and frills and patterns that were designed to counteract the growing complexity of my responsibilities.
這讓我無比傷感，當我想起了自己穿內衣的那一天，一樣是沒有選擇的餘地，沒有說No的權利，這和那些被丟棄的內衣有什麼兩樣?
於是，每換一件新的內衣，這種失落感就加重一分，我覺得自己似乎被強行推著，走到越來越遙遠的地方，沒有回頭的餘地。 我開始厭惡起了新內衣上的那些裝飾：時髦的褶皺，誇張的圖案，繁複的花邊，一切都是那麼的閃亮亮，似乎是為了抵消人生進程中越加越重的擔子而做出的補償。
Sometimes, when I found myself too big for the current one, I was either unable to or unwilling to get another because of the implications behind the transition—if every new bra meant the death of another star, then the adult world was nothing to me but a lifetime of darkness. I tried so hard not to kill any more stars, but my resistance was not enough, and I found myself adding layer after layer to the ever-increasing pile of bras. With this mindset, I prepared myself for the end, for the moment in which my entire universe would be engulfed by the black hole forming in my closet.
終於，我開始抵抗穿新內衣：“有時，即使我發現內衣太小，該換了，我仍然不願意換新的，因為這意味著新的來了，就得跟舊的說再見。如果世界是按這麼一個定律運轉，那對我來說還有什麼生存的意義?”
然而，這種無畏的抵抗並沒起太大作用，櫃子裡被丟棄的內衣依舊越積越多，就像黑洞一樣在吸蝕著自己，我漸漸洩了氣，準備著被這樣一個黑洞吞噬。
But I was saved.
但是有一條，我終於想通了。
I learned that life does not occur linearly, but in cycles: New stars can arise from the ashes of former ones, and the darkness of death is replenished by the light of birth. Thus, what is created is only a reinterpretation of the past in a form that is fitted for the present. In wearing a new bra, I was not casting away my old self but reorienting myself to accommodate to changing times.
我發現，生命並不是單純的線性運轉，而是像一個圈，有著週而復始的循環：就拿自己心愛的星星來說，新的星星是從那些已經燃盡的星星灰燼裡重生的，因此換個角度看，死亡所帶來的黑暗其實也暗暗蘊含著生的光芒。穿上一件新的內衣，並不是對舊內衣的拋棄，而是對生活的變化本身所給予的一種回應。
Change, as overwhelming as it feels, is only natural—the pile of bras will only get bigger. Though it is hard to accept the existence of the bra in my life, I realize that I cannot live without it, for, as we grow older, things tend to droop more easily, and there is nothing more reliable than a bra to give us the inner support necessary to have a firm hold on life.
變化，儘管對每個人來說都是壓力重重，但這卻是自然規律。我想，櫃子裡的那一堆內衣無論如何都減少不了了，雖然我很難接受這一點，但我不得不承認，隨著年齡的增加，下垂會變得很厲害，我也需要新的內衣，畢竟這世上沒什麼能比一件內衣帶來更堅挺的依託了。
你的文書有思路了嗎?更多留學資訊盡在天道教育美國本科留學頻道，歡迎大家關注~
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