鐘凱紋
Studying in Cornell is a challenging experience. What makes it both easier and harder is the fact that you can find inspirations① everywhere around: from a professor,from a friend,from an acquaintance②,or even from a stranger. These people excel③ —sometimes it seems like they excel in everything. They give you pressure and impose you the feeling that you are no good. They also give you inspirations,and they unintentionally④ inspire you to work hard,to learn,to grow,and to enjoy life on the fast?鄄pacing, stressful and energetic campus.
So here are some of my recent inspirations. The first is a freshman in my dancing class. When we were introducing ourselves,he asked me where I am from.“China,”I said. Then he started conversing with me in Chinese. His Chinese is pretty good,I admit. He could pronounce the“r”sound perfectly well;the intonations were accurate;at the same time,he adopted the “modesty”in Chinese by saying“哪里哪里”(“Nalinali”)culture when I applaude⑤ his Chinese,as if my praise was too much to handle. However, having been in Cornell for a long time,I became reluctant⑥ to be surprised by peoples Chinese skill. Chinese is no longer a secret language here in this foreign campus because so many people are learning Chinese and can understand Chinese perfectly well. What brought me a gasp,however,is the fact that this freshman,besides knowing Chinese,can use Portuguese, French,Italian,Spanish, German,Japanese,and Dutch proficiently(I think there are more although I dont remember). In addition,he knows more Cantonese than I do for sure. What is his major?Urban studies. Therefore,I guess language?鄄learning is just an interest and free?鄄time hobby of his.
Another person is in the same grade as me,a sophomore⑦. The thing about her is that she is everywhere. Being in her second year,she is already president of many different organizations on campus. She is the chair of her social sorority⑧ and an active member in a business fraternity⑨(which is really hard to get in as an underclassman⑩). She has maintained a nearly perfect GPA11. She knows everybody. And she has just started her own business. You might say,I know someone like this—I know someone who had even more prominent achievements. However,she is not the only one. It gets intimidating when people around you are generally like this.
Additionally,some sentences also became my inspirations. One day in my international relations class,my professor Peter Katzenstein said:“never learn to forget;never forget to learn.”This is especially encouraging because it was said by the legendary12 and number one person in the world about international politics. In addition,another person in my dancing class,who is a film studies and economics double major,questioned my indifferent attitude towards the PE class by saying:“I do not like to be suck at things. Why even bother doing anything if you decided to suck at it?”
These people and words, although random,pressured me when I feel like procrastination13. It is true that I am already privileged to be studying in one of the best universities in the world. However,they reminded me to never take my being and studying here for granted. Thus I want to end this article with one of my very well-achieved friends favorite quote:“Fake it till you make it.14”
(By Kaiwen Zhong on Sept.24, 2012 in Ithaca, NY)
① inspiration n. 靈感,鼓舞人心的人[事物];inspire vt. 鼓舞,激勵,賦予某人靈感,啟迪
② acquaintance n. 相識的人,熟人;對……有了解,熟知,認識
③ excel vt. & vi. 優(yōu)于,擅長
④ unintentionally adv. 不是存心地,無心地
⑤ applaud vt. 鼓掌,稱贊,贊許
⑥ reluctant adj. 不情愿的,勉強的
⑦ sophomore n. (中等、??茖W?;虼髮W的)二年級學生
⑧ sorority n. 婦女聯(lián)誼會,女學生聯(lián)誼會
⑨ fraternity n. 同業(yè)工人,行會,兄弟會, (美國男學生的)大學聯(lián)誼會
⑩ underclassman n. 〈美〉大學一、二年級學生
11 GPA 是Grade Point Average的縮寫,指平均成績點數(shù)(平均分數(shù)、平均績點)
12 legendary adj. 著名的,名揚四海的,傳奇的
13 procrastination n. 延遲,拖延
14 Fake it till you make it. 假裝成功,直到你真正成功。這是一種成功心理暗示,指“在真正成功之前,首先裝作成功”。
編輯/梁宇清