七月份的一个周末，我的女儿Julia晚饭后坐在那里津津有味地观看BBC的纪录片《地球脉动》，于是我问她要不要第二天去看”真人版狮子王”的电影。我觉得我的建议一定会让她很高兴，因为自从两年前Julia较好次接触到BBC的《飞跃地球》之后，她就一直沉迷于看自然科学类的纪录片，而”狮子王”所展现的非洲草原景象，正是她特别热衷的。出乎意料的是，Julia回答她不打算去。“电影的时间太长了，我要一直坐着，感觉不太舒服”她说：“而且，那个屏幕太大了，声音也很响，我可能会害怕的，所以我觉得还是在家里看电影比较好。等我再长大一点，我们再一起去电影院看吧。”
On a weekend day in July,my daughter Julia sat there after dinner enjoying watching the BBC documentary“Planet Earth”,so I asked her if she would like to see the movie'Lion King'the next day.I was quite sure that my suggestion would make her happy,because Julia has fostered great passion for watching Natural Science documentaries since she encountered with the BBC's'Earth Flight'two years ago.The African grassland presented by'Lion King'has been one of her favorites.However,Julia answered that she did not intend to go.'I have to sit there all the way to finish the whole film and I don’t feel comfortable about that,'she said.'Besides,the screen is too big and the sound is too loud.It might be a bit frightening to me.I think it's better to watch the movie at home.We can go to the cinema together when I grow a bit older.'
Julia还不到五岁，她的理由如此显而易见，而我却忽视了它们。世俗的经验让我认为相比于坐在家里看电视，电影院应该是一个更的选择。我们年幼时，对于所有问题的判断都来自于一个简单的标准：是否适合自己。而这个本质的因素在成人的里似乎经常被淡化，甚至忽略。是因为我们做选择时考虑得更成熟更了？还是因为我们已经有了默认的标准要把自己按入这个模板？亦或我们长期被教育要学会适应以至于放弃了选择的权力和能力？
Julia is less than five years old.Her reasons are so obvious,but I just ignored them.My“maturity”makes me think that going to the cinema is obviously an up-class choice compared to sitting at home watching TV.When we were young,our consideration of all problems seemed to come from one simple criterion:Is this choice suitable for me?This essential factor of making a choice begins to fade out,or even die away,in the adult world.Is it because we can think more realistically?Or is it because we have developed a standard pattern of thinking when facing a choice?Or more,have we been taught so long to“fit in”any place that we give up the right and ability to choose?
我们一直鼓励诺美的孩子们为自己的dream school奋斗，可是我很遗憾地发现，绝大多数孩子的dream school是完全按照USNEWS来的。选校时，不需要了解学校的课程、文化、甚至地理位置，上的一个数字就足够了。无法真的找到未来学校和自己的契合点，就无法真实地感受到梦想的动力，缺乏梦想的奋斗往往显得苍白。
We have always encouraged our students to study hard for their dream schools,but I regret to find that the majority of our students choose their dream schools entirely based on the USNEWS rankings.When selecting potential schools,they don't care about the curriculum,the culture,or even geographical location.
为什么康奈尔？为什么哥伦比亚？为什么纽约？在申请时，除了主文书，很多会有“为什么选择我们“的附加文书。面对选校这样一个重要的决定，我们是否应该正视自己对学校的兴趣？通过院校探索，真正地发现学校适合自己的地方。
Why Cornell?Why Colombia?Why New York University?When applying to colleges,you are most likely to answer the'why to choose us'questions in addition to your main essay.When selecting schools,will you turn to search for your real interest in these schools?By doing search,you need to find out a college that is really suitable to you.
