如何进行Common 文书写作？及案例分析

Writing Strategies for Common Essays and Case Analyses

许多美国大学的申请都要用到Common Application系统(目前该系统有近700所美国大学成员)。在这个美国大学网申系统中，申请者只要提交一份完整的资料就可以同时申请多所大学，可谓省时省力。Common 系统经过多年的调整与改进，现在已经相当科学与完备。该系统要求申请者完成一篇250字至650字的文书作为必要的申请资料。目前，该系统共有7个文书题目供学生选择。接下来我们将分析其中一个。

(1)Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it。

If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

题目翻译:

一些学生有一些具有特殊意义的背景、身份、兴趣或天赋，如果在申请材料中不提及这些，那么这份申请材料将会不够完整。

如果你是这样的，那么请分享你的故事。

题目分析:该题目可以解读为分享一个对你来说特别重要的故事。你可以分享任何事，比如你的家庭故事、志愿者的经历、徒步旅行的见闻、探索计算机网络世界的热情、对某一领域的专注，等等。只要这些经历或故事能向学校表示你是个怎样的人。写作时要注意，分享故事不等于只讲故事。叙述完这个故事或经历之后，一定要加入这个故事或这段经历给你带来的收获或对你的启示。写好这类文章的关键是:一定要写出这些特殊经历或背景导致你发生了哪些积极的改变或对你产生了哪些积极影响。当然也可以着眼于你的故事或经历给他人带来了什么，如何积极影响了他人或整个社区。

【案例一】

Admittedly, uniformity is one of the traits embedded deep in the character of many people in China, where following the crowd seems conventionally plausible while being maverick is somewhat like a square peg in a round hole.

In my childhood years, almost all the girls of similar age enjoyed having ponytails or playing with Barbies but I was in jeans with short hair and was accompanied by a gang of boys. During my years in the kindergarten, I was the most mischievous and restive student in my class. Severely doubted and disliked by the teachers, I had to transfer from one kindergarten to a second one then to a third.

Time slipped by, which witnessed my physical changes from childhood to adolescence but exerted no influence on my character. When I was studying in junior high school,I frequently played truant and hung around with a group of shady loafers, which made me a disreputable student in the eyes of my teachers and schoolmates. After quite some endeavors, I was sent to the best school in my city by my parents, where all the students were engrossed in study. Somehow impacted by the strong learning atmosphere, I did try to behave myself and pay attention to my study, and out of even my own expectation, I quickly secured myself among the top five students in my class.However, my good performance in study was soon worn out by the utilitarian Chinese teaching philosophy and the teachers’ disrespect to the students’  selfesteem. As a result, I decided to quit school upon completion of the fourth semester, which again incurred doubts and disapproval from the people around.

While I was away from school, I engaged myself in our family business.Together with my mother, I traveled to quite some places on business. I met many different people from various walks of life and communicated with the employees of my mother’s  company. “You don’t need to work hard on your study.” “You can simply carry on with your family business when you grow up.…"These were the comments I heard most at that time and the disapproval and scorn radiated from such comments, though very faint, somehow tortured my heart. I chose to drop out of school not because I wanted an easy life or I got fed up with study but because I could not bear the stiff and utilitarian way of education, which led to my decision to continue with my schooling in an international school

Given my poor track record in schools, everyone, including my parents,cast doubt on my possible performances in the new school. I, however, made up my mind to prove myself and carry on with my choice against all the odds. All beginnings were hard and I could barely catch up with my classmates during the first semester let alone excel at them. I was bombarded with doubts, worries and even flouts, which aroused my unyieldingness deep down instead of leaving me in pain.I not only listened attentively in class and finished the homework carefully but also stayed up late to do reviews and challenge demanding extra exercises. God helps those who help themselves.I kept outdoing myself and achieving notable progress. Thus I came top in various tests in the following semesters and was recommended to be the monitor in charge of study in our class.

With no intention to be different or special, I, a slip of a girl, have naturally chosen to breach the stereotyped ways of living during all my past years, and thus my life have been accompanied by doubts, scorns and criticisms. But it is exactly such negative feedbacks that have given me courage to soldier on my choices, boosted my desire to prove myself and made me determined to follow my heart in the future.

案例分析:

本文的主人公是一个女孩子，文章是她个人特殊成长经历的一个概括:从她在幼儿园时期的“不良”表现，到初中时候的“叛逆”，再到她如何在学习成绩良好的情况下毅然辍学以远离中国的应试教育，然后写到她开始随母亲经商并在别人的质疑中决然地选择重回校园，准备接受一种新的教育。

这个女孩子从小到大一直在别人的质疑声音中，因为她背离了我们传统意义上的“正确”。但是正是别人的质疑和不屑让她有了坚持做自己的勇气和决心。本文通过一系列故事展示了一个性格特点鲜明、略带“叛逆”、“不按常理出牌”却又有独立思考能力、敢于做自己的女孩子。