近日，17歲的美國華裔女孩蕭靖彤(Cassandra Hsiao)收到了所有藤校的錄取通知書。

除此之外，斯坦福大學、約翰霍普金斯大學、西北大學等名校也向她伸出了橄欖枝。蕭靖彤共申請了14所學校的寫作或新聞類學系，截至目前，她所申請的所有學校都向她敞開了大門。

常春藤盟校 ( Ivy League ) 是由美國的8所綜合大學組成的一個高校聯(lián)盟，它們都是美國首屈一指的大學，分別為：哈佛大學、耶魯大學、哥倫比亞大學、普林斯頓大學、布朗大學、康奈爾大學、賓夕法尼亞大學、達特茅斯學院。在美國，常春藤院校已被作為頂尖名校的代名詞。

談到自己目前收到的offer，蕭靖彤仍然激動得不行：

I'm still processing it. It's not something you expect when you open these college messages on your portal. I saw a yes and a yes, a congratulations after a congratulations. It's totally surreal. I'm still sinking in. I had a moment to myself yesterday where I was just sobbing.

我還在消化這個消息。在郵箱打開這些高校發(fā)來的郵件時，你可不敢想象會有這樣的驚喜。我看到了一個接一個的“yes”，一個接一個的“congratulations”。這太不真實了!我還沒完全反應過來。我昨天一個人待了一會兒，一直在哭。

如此這般的學霸，在網(wǎng)絡上引起了不小的轟動。

這樣一個“開了掛”的女孩，她的人生又是一個怎樣的故事呢?

蕭靖彤出生于馬來西亞，父親是臺灣人，母親是馬來西亞人。蕭靖彤在5歲時隨父母移居美國，從年幼時起就經(jīng)歷著語言、文化上的沖突和煎熬。

初到美國時，由于蕭靖彤和母親發(fā)音不標準，交流上存在著巨大的障礙，常常會受到冷眼和嘲笑。正因如此，蕭靖彤的母親開始重視培養(yǎng)蕭靖彤說正確的英語，在這一過程中發(fā)生了不少趣事，也有不少不為外人道的辛酸。

而年幼時這段喜淚交加的經(jīng)歷，恰恰促成了蕭靖彤的成功。

在申請大學的作文中，蕭靖彤講述了自己的家庭，一個第一代華人移民家庭，在學習英語的過程中遇到的各種酸甜苦辣。文章描繪了新移民的特性，細節(jié)真實、情節(jié)感人，打動了八所藤校以及眾多其他名校的錄取官。

那么，蕭靖彤究竟寫了些什么呢?

不如我們一起來欣賞一下這篇文章吧，盡量讀英文哦!

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.

在我們家，英語不是英語，這不是從語音學意義上來說的(比如a代表apple)，而是指發(fā)音上的。在我們家，“snake”(蛇)會被讀成“snack”(小吃)。我們無法讓英語單詞正確地脫口而出。我在班里常被揪出來讓語言專家糾正發(fā)音。我那來自馬來西亞的媽媽，總是把“film”說成“flim”。但是我們完全能聽得懂對方。

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.

在我們家，“cast”(拋擲)和“cash”(現(xiàn)金)沒有分別，這就是為什么在教會退休會，人們常常取笑我說的“cashing out demons”(本應為“casting out demons”，趕鬼)。我一直沒有意識到這兩個英語單詞之間的差異，直到老師糾正了我的hammock、ladle、和siphon的發(fā)音，才恍然大悟。同學們笑我，因為我將accept(接受)讀成except(除外)，將success讀成sussess。盡管我參加了創(chuàng)意寫作，但常常詞不達意。

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”發(fā)音相同是不夠的。我開始逐漸擺脫那些伴隨著我長大的、教會了我一切的英語，既然其他人的父母都能說一口博士、大學教授般的流利英語，為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.

我的母親攤開她那雙飽經(jīng)日曬的雙手說：“我就是從這兒來的”，接著用自學的英語講了一個故事。

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.”

當我母親還在馬來西亞的時候，她從一個小村莊搬到了城鎮(zhèn)，在讀初中的她不得不學一門全新的語言：英語。當時很多人以羞辱別人為樂，她只能無力地忍受著老師當著全班的面，用殘酷的語言批評她的作文。當她開始哭泣時，班長站起來說“夠了”。

“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.”

媽媽含著淚說：“要像那個班長一樣”。班長處處護著她，還耐心糾正她的語言。“她為弱者挺身而出，用自己的語言反抗。”

蕭靖彤和媽媽

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.

我們母女兩都哭了。母親要我教她正確的英語，這樣Target商場的白人老太太就不會嘲笑她的發(fā)音了。這并不容易。當我把她的話拼綴在一起時，會有一種歉疚感。長元音、雙輔音，其實這些我自己也仍在學習。有時，她說得不好，我也裝作不知道，以免挫敗她的自尊心，但這樣反而讓她受到了更多傷害。

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.

隨著媽媽英語詞匯量不斷增加，我的英語也在不斷進步。我在學校期末活動中在3000多人面前朗誦詩歌，還采訪了各界人士、寫舞臺劇，我以此挺身對抗無知，為無家可歸者、難民和弱勢群體發(fā)聲。

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.

我用自己的語言回擊那些嘲笑紐約地鐵里賣藝的亞裔老人的聲音。從那些弱勢的、母語非英語的孩子們身上，我仿佛看見了自己的母親。他們有很多故事要講，卻不知道如何去講。我教他們說英語，同時，他們能夠自己穿針引線把故事編織出來。

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，家人之間說話的方式自有其美好之處。在我的家里，我們的語言與其說是“破碎的”，不如說是滿溢著感情。我們用自己的語言搭建起一座房子。在這個房子里，壁櫥里有不傷人的“snake”，水池里卻有“snack”。這個家有些另類，有些亂，但正因如此，這才是我們的家。

蕭靖彤細膩的文筆不僅打動了所有錄取評委，也讓不少亞裔家庭產(chǎn)生了共鳴。不少移民家庭都曾在學習語言都過程中經(jīng)歷過不少磕磕絆絆。