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这是一篇被哈佛大学录取学生的文书，本来不打算申请哈佛的，她觉得自己不够优秀，准备也不充分，所以在申请大学时，哈佛是她最后一刻才加到申请名单里的，因为哈佛的申请流程太简单了，不试一下简直浪费! 她直接拿申请芝加哥大学时写的一篇谈论内衣的作品交了上去…然而，就是这一篇选题有些“非主流”的文章，却获得了哈佛招生官的青睐。 这是为什么呢？我们一起去看看她的文书内容吧~ I remember the first time I wore a bra. I came home from school in the fifth grade, and my mom handed me a white cloth to put on beneath my shirt. “You’re a big girl now,” she said, “You need to wear this.” From that moment on, my life was forever changed. 我回忆自己第一次穿内衣的时候：那是五年级放学后的一天，母亲将我拉到一旁，递上一片白色布状的东西，吩咐她穿在身上：“你是个大女孩了，你得穿上它。”那一刻，我觉得自己的人生就此被改变了。 That same year, I was taught that the sun would someday die, and I, feeling the pressure of the contraption beneath my shirt, realized that my childhood, too, would eventually dissipate just like the sun. 自从胸前多了这个不太舒服的玩意儿，紧贴于衬衫之下，勒着自己的胸，总有一股隐隐的压力，似乎无时无刻不在提醒着我：无忧无虑的童年已经过去了。 The first bra paved way for a second, and then a third, and then, by the fourth bra I had advanced to the Lady Type, the ones that my mom wore. 内衣就这样进入了我的生活。 第一件内衣用了没多久就下岗了，随之而来的是第二件、第三件，到了第四件的时候，我已经穿上了成人码，就是自己妈妈穿的那种。 With every new bra, I cast away the former. Somewhere in the dark abyss of my closet, there is a heap of abandoned bras, tiny, worn-out filaments that had once shone so brightly in their days of use, but had faded away into old, neglected remnants of days long gone. They sit against a corner of the universe and gather dust like dead stars— without life, without luster, without vigor. 内衣的更换似乎在告诉我一种定律：当新的东西到来的时候，总要跟旧的说再见。所以，旧的内衣只能被丢弃在柜子深处，不管以前多么闪耀夺目，现在也只是一堆破旧的边角料，似乎这就是它们无可更改的宿命，就像坠落在宇宙犄角旮旯里的星星一样，它们落满了灰尘，毫无生机，毫无光彩。 With every new bra, I felt the unmerciful hand of change push me further down a path with which I had no return. The bras no longer had the simplicity of the first; they came equipped with more folds and stitches and frills and patterns that were designed to counteract the growing complexity of my responsibilities. 这让我无比伤感，当我想起了自己穿内衣的那一天，一样是没有选择的余地，没有说No的权利，这和那些被丢弃的内衣有什么两样? 于是，每换一件新的内衣，这种失落感就加重一分，我觉得自己似乎被强行推着，走到越来越遥远的地方，没有回头的余地。 我开始厌恶起了新内衣上的那些装饰：时髦的褶皱，夸张的图案，繁复的花边，一切都是那么的闪亮亮，似乎是为了抵消人生进程中越加越重的担子而做出的补偿。 Sometimes, when I found myself too big for the current one, I was either unable to or unwilling to get another because of the implications behind the transition—if every new bra meant the death of another star, then the adult world was nothing to me but a lifetime of darkness. I tried so hard not to kill any more stars, but my resistance was not enough, and I found myself adding layer after layer to the ever-increasing pile of bras. With this mindset, I prepared myself for the end, for the moment in which my entire universe would be engulfed by the black hole forming in my closet. 终于，我开始抵抗穿新内衣：“有时，即使我发现内衣太小，该换了，我仍然不愿意换新的，因为这意味着新的来了，就得跟旧的说再见。如果世界是按这么一个定律运转，那对我来说还有什么生存的意义?” 然而，这种无畏的抵抗并没起太大作用，柜子里被丢弃的内衣依旧越积越多，就像黑洞一样在吸蚀着自己，我渐渐泄了气，准备着被这样一个黑洞吞噬。 But I was saved. 但是有一条，我终于想通了。 I learned that life does not occur linearly, but in cycles: New stars can arise from the ashes of former ones, and the darkness of death is replenished by the light of birth. Thus, what is created is only a reinterpretation of the past in a form that is fitted for the present. In wearing a new bra, I was not casting away my old self but reorienting myself to accommodate to changing times. 我发现，生命并不是单纯的线性运转，而是像一个圈，有着周而复始的循环：就拿自己心爱的星星来说，新的星星是从那些已经燃尽的星星灰烬里重生的，因此换个角度看，死亡所带来的黑暗其实也暗暗蕴含着生的光芒。穿上一件新的内衣，并不是对旧内衣的抛弃，而是对生活的变化本身所给予的一种回应。 Change, as overwhelming as it feels, is only natural—the pile of bras will only get bigger. Though it is hard to accept the existence of the bra in my life, I realize that I cannot live without it, for, as we grow older, things tend to droop more easily, and there is nothing more reliable than a bra to give us the inner support necessary to have a firm hold on life. 变化，尽管对每个人来说都是压力重重，但这却是自然规律。我想，柜子里的那一堆内衣无论如何都减少不了了，虽然我很难接受这一点，但我不得不承认，随着年龄的增加，下垂会变得很厉害，我也需要新的内衣，毕竟这世上没什么能比一件内衣带来更坚挺的依托了。
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