【CAAS】美国新大学申请系统文书题目抢先看!

 

个人品质、对于他人的影响力与贡献,以及对青少年成长的思考······来看看登上《纽约时报》的中国学霸怎么写文书!...

美国80多所大学共同创建的新大学申请体系【CAAS】可谓是留学界的一枚热词。包括哈佛、普林斯顿、耶鲁、杜克、加州理工在内的517所大学已宣布加入该体系。(精英说推文《【重磅】美国高校申请系统大变革,6月投入使用!》,点击阅读)

根据报道,该系统将从2016年6月以后投入使用。而就在近日,【CAAS】已经向注册的用户推送了今年的申请文书题目。这意味着全新的大学申请体系已经开始迈上正式启动的道路。和原来的Common App通用申请系统一样,【CAAS】也给出了5个文书话题:

1、讲述你人生中的一个故事,描述这段经历如何塑造或展示你的个性品质。

Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.

2、描述你对他人有意义的贡献,以及在此过程中你遇到的挑战和得到的收获。

Describe a time when you made a meaningful contribution to others in which the greater good was your focus. Discuss the challenges and rewards of making your contribution.

3、你有没有这样的时候:长期坚持的信念受到质疑或挑战。你作何应对?这次挑战如何影响你的观念?

Has there been a time when you’ve had a long-cherished or accepted belief challenged? How did you respond? How did the challenge affect your beliefs?

4、(你认为)如今青少年最难的部分是什么?最好的部分又是什么?你会对比你小的弟弟妹妹或朋友提什么建议,如果他们会听你的建议的话?

What is the hardest part of being a teenager now? What's the best part? What advice would you give a younger sibling or friend (assuming they would listen to you)?

5、自由话题

Submit an essay on a topic of your choice.在【CAAS】给出的五个话题中,每个文书话题都有不同的针对重点:个人品质、对他人的贡献、应对挑战、对青少年发展的看法······与传统的Common App通用申请系统不同的是,【CAAS】的问题更为简洁、直接。同时,Common App通用申请系统每篇文书有规定不得超过650字,而【CAAS】目前没有明确的文书字数限定。其实不论是【CAAS】,还是Common App通用申请系统,两者的文书题目考察的着眼点都是大同小异的。那么什么样的申请文书才是美国高校“喜闻乐见”的呢?《纽约时报》最近举办了一次征文活动,邀请申请美国大学并成功拿到Offer的中国学生分享他们的申请文书。
其中,一篇中国学霸的申请文书登上了《纽约时报》,这位学霸名叫金延峰,目前就读于Middlebury College一年级(明德学院: U.S. News and World Report将明德学院列为全美排名第四的文理学院,并将其分类为“最为挑剔”的学校。),修读计算机科学与心理学双学位。下文由他本人翻译为中文:
科学和人文让我看到世界的美
The aircraft turbulence stops. As the plane moves above the grim clouds, a bright beam of sunlight slips through the window. Outside the window is a brand new world: the once suffocating sky has opened. The sun, nature’s omnipotent artist, reluctantly bids farewell, turning the azure into tangerine. Stormy clouds boil underneath, with the size of a boundless ocean and the fury of the Yellow River…

机身的颠簸停止了。当飞机越过云层,一束阳光从窗户中溜了进来。放眼望去,外面仿佛一个崭新的世界:原本压抑的天空打开了。落日就像大自然全能的艺术家,不情愿地向人们说着再见,利用最后一丝余晖将那抹天蓝染成了橘红色。脚下,乌云在沸腾,阔如大海,怒似黄河……

"Hey Tony, what are you doing?" My friend asks.

“哎,你干什么呢?”我的朋友问我。

"The sky... it's like God’s masterpiece. How can it be so beautiful?" I mumble as my soul returns to reality.

“这天空,就像上天的杰作。怎么会这么美……”我小声嘟囔着,还沉浸在窗外的美景之中。

"Come on. You’re already in high school. Leave the sky for kids to marvel at.

“拜托,你已经是高中生了。这种小孩子的事儿你也做。”

Embarrassed, I try to defend myself, but a voice of doubt stifles my words: What is the point of staring outside?

我有些尴尬,试图为自己辩护,却因为自己心中的质疑开不了口。是啊,盯着窗外看到底有什么用呢?

I have always been attracted to nature's beauty. It makes me think. I still remember my childhood hobby of looking at the night sky and the star lights that spent years, or even centuries, to arrive at our planet. Those same lights enabled me to travel through time and visualize my dream of being a scientist, artist and innovator:

我总是被大自然的美所吸引。它的美让我思考。我还记得小时候在夜空下看星星的爱好。望着那来自几千年前的点点星光,我仿佛穿越了时空,看到了我想成为一名科学家、艺术家和创新者的梦想:

As a luminescent star trail poured into my eyes, I found myself looking through the eyes of Galileo, awed by the infinite opportunities of the universe. Tracing the outline of a quartet of celestial lights, I saw Pachelbel sitting high, appreciating his greatest masterpiece --- Canon in D. Suddenly, a bright comet raced past, leading me into a small garage, where Steve Jobs changed the world by turning pure science into a real work of art.

当一缕银色的星光流入眼中,我仿佛看见伽利略当年所看到的天空,同他一样感受到了对宇宙无限可能的敬畏。当那一点点光芒融汇在一起,我仿佛看见巴哈贝尔端坐于天际,欣赏着他最伟大的杰作——D调卡农。突然,一颗彗星划过天空,带我进入了那个实现梦想的车库。就在那里,乔布斯将科学与艺术完美地融合在了一起。

Human history recorded in those ancient lights flashed before my eyes, unfolding, dissolving. It seemed to me that life was both transient and everlasting. Just as the lights of dead stars were still decorating the night sky above us, so the accomplishments of those ephemeral lives were still affecting the way we lived every day. As a child, I naively hoped that in the future, when people look up at the sky, they would also see my story as an innovator standing at the crossroad of science and arts. That is still my dream.

这些古老的光记录着人类的历史,如电影般在我眼前展开,又逝去。生命对我来说仿佛既短暂,又永恒。那些星星可能已经死去,但它们的光芒仍然装饰着这片天空,就好像那些短暂的生命仍因他们的成就而影响着我们生活的方方面面。小时候,我很天真地希望,有一天,当人们抬起头时,他们也会读到我的故事,在那颗明星中看到一名站在科学与人文艺术交汇处的创新者。这仍是我的梦想。

Nature gives me two eyes. Through one eye, I observe the world of science; through the other eye, I appreciate the world of arts. On seeing the perfect shape of snowflakes melting in my hand, I run home to search for the formation of snow crystals. Noticing the gradual change in the color of the dusk sky, I begin to delve deeper into the scattering of lights. The sun’s daily movements inspire me to think about the rise and fall of empires and lives. The tender light of the moon that has always guarded human civilization promotes my curiosity about our ancestors’ philosophies of human existence. Viewing nature through the lens of science and arts, I truly enjoy the beauty of this three-dimensional world.

上天赋予了我两只眼睛。我用一只来观察科学的世界,另一只来欣赏人文艺术的美。当看到那完美的六边形雪花在我手中融化时,我会立刻跑回家研究冰晶的形成。观察到黄昏时天空渐变的颜色,我会更深入地去探索光的散射。每天的日出日落让我联想到帝国的兴衰和人生的起起落落。那一直守护着人类文化的柔和的月光激励我去探索古代哲学家对于人类存在的思考。通过科学和人文艺术这两种角度来看待自然,我领略到了这个三维世界真正的美。

The plane turns right and my eyes regain focus on the sky outside. Darkness falls. Clouds dissolve.

随着飞机右转,我的眼神重新聚焦在窗外。夜幕开始降临,乌云已经散去。

Below the overarching sky, the planet of human lives rotates, now illuminated by clusters of man-made sparks. In the distant horizon where nature and human civilization meet, the boundary between science and arts vanishes.

苍穹之下,这颗承载着几十亿生命的行星在转动。此时,一簇簇人造的火花已将它点亮。在那遥远的天际,自然与人类文明相遇,而科学与人文艺术间的界限也变得模糊。

充满了人文关怀、哲理思维、对于世界充满了热爱和关注,也许正是这篇文书获得《纽约时报》青睐的原因所在。当然,你并不需要文采斐然才能打动招生官。在之前的美国高校招生文书分析推文中,【精英说】也曾请到中美青少年教育发展基金会的秘书长杨黎明先生,为我们分析了美国大学对人才的整体要求:

在这些文书标题中,我们看到一个【人才型格的分析评估图谱】跃然题上。这个图谱涵盖了大学、社会和企业需要的人才多元化的重要特质, 也就是学术硬实力和个人软实力的结合:
Leadership领导力
Creativity创造力
Talented Skills特殊才能
Educational Achievement学术成就
Social Responsibility社会责任
Self Awareness自我认知 


其实,无论美国大学文书题目如何改革,它所反映的正是美国高校一贯的价值取向:学生的个人品质、对于周围环境(社区)的影响力,以及成长大局观等等·····这些题目本身已经为申请者指明了发展的努力方向。
-over-


作为非盈利性组织,中美青少年教育发展基金会致力于为青少年提供教育、实习、就业等资讯,并提供了解美国文化,融入当地社会的各种机会,帮助他们最终成为富有责任感的国际化人才。


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