Harvard PS范文
很多人写 PS 时都会纠结：
我没有拯救世界的经历，也没有轰轰烈烈的奖项，
这样还能写进哈佛吗？
这篇来自哈佛大学的个人陈述范文，
给了一个非常“小红书友好”的答案——
可以，而且越“小”，越动人。
兴趣起源
My nightstand is home to a small menagerie of critters, each glass-eyed specimen lovingly stuffed with cotton. Don’t get the wrong idea, now – I’m not a taxidermist or anything. I crochet.
我的床头柜上栖息着一群小动物，每只玻璃眼珠的标本都塞满了棉花。别误会——我可不是什么动物标本师。我只是个钩针编织爱好者。
Crochet is a family tradition. My grandmother used to wield her menacing steel hook like a mage’s staff and tout it as such: an instrument that bestowed patience, decorum, and poise on its owner. During her youth in Vietnam, she spent her evenings designing patterns for ornate doilies and handkerchiefs. Then the Vietnam War turned our family into refugees. The Viet Cong imprisoned my grandfather, a colonel in the South Vietnam Air Force, in a grueling labor camp for thirteen years. Many wives would have lost hope, but my grandmother was no average woman. A literature professor in a time when women’s access to education was limited, she assumed the role of matriarch with wisdom and confidence, providing financial and emotional security. As luxuries like yarn grew scarce, she conjured up all sorts of useful household items – durable pillowcases, blankets, and winter coats – and taught my mother to do the same. Because of these bitter wartime memories, she wanted my handiwork to be of a decidedly less practical bent; among the first objects she taught me to crochet were chrysanthemums and roses. However, making flowers bloom from yarn was no easy task.
钩针编织是家族传统。祖母曾挥舞那根锋利的钢钩，如同巫师的法杖，并宣称它能赋予使用者耐心、仪态与从容。在越南的青春岁月里，她每晚都设计着精美桌垫与手帕的花样。越战爆发后，我们全家沦为难民。南越空军上校祖父被越共囚禁在劳改营长达十三年。许多妻子早已绝望，但祖母绝非寻常女子。在女性受教育机会受限的年代，身为文学教授的她以智慧与自信扛起家业重担，为全家提供经济与情感的双重庇护。当纱线等奢侈品日趋匮乏时，她凭空变出各种实用家居用品——耐用的枕套、毛毯和冬衣——并教会母亲同样的技艺。正因这些苦涩的战争记忆，她希望我的手工艺更少实用性；她教我钩织的首批物品便是菊花与玫瑰。然而，要让纱线绽放出鲜花绝非易事。
能力成长与个人表达
Even with its soft plastic grip and friendly rounded edges, my first crochet hook had a mind of its own, like the enchanted broom in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” It stubbornly disobeyed my orders as I impatiently wrenched it through the yarn. My grandmother’s stern appraisal of my efforts often interrupted this perpetual tug-of-war: My stitches were uneven. The edges curled inward. I would unravel my work and start anew.
即便握柄是柔软的塑料，边缘也设计得圆润亲手，我的第一把钩针却像《魔法学徒》里那把魔法扫帚般任性妄为。当我急不可耐地将它拽进毛线时，它总顽固地抗拒我的指令。祖母严厉的点评常打断这场永无休止的拉锯战：针脚参差不齐，边缘向内卷曲。我便拆解作品，重新开始。
I convinced myself that cobbling together a lopsided rectangle would be the pinnacle of my crochet prowess but refused to give up. Just as a diligent wizard casts more advanced spells over time, I learned to channel the magic of the crochet hook. The animal kingdom is my main source of inspiration; the diversity and vivid pigmentation of life on Earth lend themselves perfectly to the vibrant and versatile art of crochet. Many of the animals I make embark on migratory journeys, like their real-life counterparts. Take Agnes, for example, a cornflower-blue elephant named after mathematician Maria Gaetana Agnesi who lives in my calculus teacher’s classroom, happily grazing on old pencil shavings and worksheets. As I fasten off the final stitches on every creature, I hope to weave a little whimsy and color into someone’s life.
我曾说服自己，拼凑出一个歪歪扭扭的长方形已是钩针技艺的巅峰，却仍不愿放弃。正如勤勉的巫师日渐掌握更深奥的咒语，我也学会驾驭钩针的魔法。动物王国是我主要的灵感源泉；地球生命的多样性与鲜活色彩，与钩针艺术的绚烂多变可谓天作之合。我创作的许多动物如同现实中的同类，踏上了迁徙之旅。以艾格尼丝为例——这头矢车菊蓝的大象以数学家玛丽亚·盖塔娜·阿涅西命名，栖身于我的微积分老师教室里，愉快地啃食着旧铅笔屑和习题册。每当为生灵缝上最后一针，我总期盼能为某人的生活编织些许奇思妙想与缤纷色彩。
价值升华
Each piece I finish reminds me of the network of stitches that connects mother and daughter, past and present, tradition and innovation. In this vast cultural web, I am proud to be my family’s link between East and West. As I prepare for adulthood, I am eager to weave my own mark into the great patchwork quilt that is America.
每完成一件作品，都让我想起那张将母女、过去与现在、传统与创新紧密相连的针线网。在这张浩瀚的文化织锦中，我自豪地成为家族东西方文化的纽带。当我准备步入成年之际，渴望将自己的印记编织进这幅名为美国的伟大拼布被中。
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