[摘要]《紐約時報》最近舉辦了一項徵文活動，邀請申請美國大學課程並成功拿到Offer的中國學生分享申請文書。本篇文書來自金延峰，就讀於Middlebury College（明德學院：美國頂級文理學院）一年級。
《紐約時報》最近舉辦了一項徵文活動，邀請申請美國大學課程、並成功拿到Offer的中國學生分享他們的申請文書。本篇文書來自金延峰，目前就讀於Middlebury College（明德學院：美國頂級文理學院）一年級，修讀計算機科學與心理學雙學位。金延峰來自遼寧瀋陽，高中就讀於東北育才中學，下文由他本人翻譯為中文。
I Observe the World Through Science and Arts
科學和人文讓我看到世界的美
The aircraft turbulence stops. As the plane moves above the grim clouds, a bright beam of sunlight slips through the window. Outside the window is a brand new world: the once suffocating sky has opened. The sun, nature’s omnipotent artist, reluctantly bids farewell, turning the azure into tangerine. Stormy clouds boil underneath, with the size of a boundless ocean and the fury of the Yellow River…
機身的顛簸停止了。當飛機越過雲層，一束陽光從窗戶中溜了進來。放眼望去，外面仿佛一個嶄新的世界：原本壓抑的天空打開了。落日就像大自然全能的藝術家，不情願地向人們說著再見，利用最後一絲餘暉將那抹天藍染成了橘紅色。腳下，烏雲在沸騰，闊如大海，怒似黃河……
"Hey Tony, what are you doing?" My friend asks.
「哎，你幹什麼呢?」我的朋友問我。
"The sky... it's like God’s masterpiece. How can it be so beautiful?" I mumble as my soul returns to reality.
「這天空，就像上天的傑作。怎麼會這麼美……」我小聲嘟囔著，還沉浸在窗外的美景之中。
"Come on. You’re already in high school. Leave the sky for kids to marvel at.
「拜託，你已經是高中生了。這種小孩子的事兒你也做。」
Embarrassed, I try to defend myself, but a voice of doubt stifles my words: What is the point of staring outside?
我有些尷尬，試圖為自己辯護，卻因為自己心中的質疑開不了口。是啊，盯著窗外看到底有什麼用呢？
I have always been attracted to nature's beauty. It makes me think. I still remember my childhood hobby of looking at the night sky and the star lights that spent years, or even centuries, to arrive at our planet. Those same lights enabled me to travel through time and visualize my dream of being a scientist, artist and innovator:
我總是被大自然的美所吸引。它的美讓我思考。我還記得小時候在夜空下看星星的愛好。望著那來自幾千年前的點點星光，我仿佛穿越了時空，看到了我想成為一名科學家、藝術家和創新者的夢想:
As a luminescent star trail poured into my eyes, I found myself looking through the eyes of Galileo, awed by the infinite opportunities of the universe. Tracing the outline of a quartet of celestial lights, I saw Pachelbel sitting high, appreciating his greatest masterpiece --- Canon in D. Suddenly, a bright comet raced past, leading me into a small garage, where Steve Jobs changed the world by turning pure science into a real work of art.
當一縷銀色的星光流入眼中，我仿佛看見伽利略當年所看到的天空，同他一樣感受到了對宇宙無限可能的敬畏。當那一點點光芒融匯在一起，我仿佛看見巴哈貝爾端坐於天際，欣賞著他最偉大的傑作——D調卡農。突然，一顆彗星划過天空，帶我進入了那個實現夢想的車庫。就在那裡，賈伯斯將科學與藝術完美地融合在了一起。
Human history recorded in those ancient lights flashed before my eyes, unfolding, dissolving. It seemed to me that life was both transient and everlasting. Just as the lights of dead stars were still decorating the night sky above us, so the accomplishments of those ephemeral lives were still affecting the way we lived every day. As a child, I naively hoped that in the future, when people look up at the sky, they would also see my story as an innovator standing at the crossroad of science and arts. That is still my dream.
這些古老的光記錄著人類的歷史，如電影般在我眼前展開，又逝去。生命對我來說仿佛既短暫，又永恆。那些星星可能已經死去，但它們的光芒仍然裝飾著這片天空，就好像那些短暫的生命仍因他們的成就而影響著我們生活的方方面面。小時候，我很天真地希望，有一天，當人們抬起頭時，他們也會讀到我的故事，在那顆明星中看到一名站在科學與人文藝術交匯處的創新者。這仍是我的夢想。
Nature gives me two eyes. Through one eye, I observe the world of science; through the other eye, I appreciate the world of arts. On seeing the perfect shape of snowflakes melting in my hand, I run home to search for the formation of snow crystals. Noticing the gradual change in the color of the dusk sky, I begin to delve deeper into the scattering of lights. The sun’s daily movements inspire me to think about the rise and fall of empires and lives. The tender light of the moon that has always guarded human civilization promotes my curiosity about our ancestors』 philosophies of human existence. Viewing nature through the lens of science and arts, I truly enjoy the beauty of this three-dimensional world.
上天賦予了我兩隻眼睛。我用一隻來觀察科學的世界，另一隻來欣賞人文藝術的美。當看到那完美的六邊形雪花在我手中融化時，我會立刻跑回家研究冰晶的形成。觀察到黃昏時天空漸變的顏色，我會更深入地去探索光的散射。每天的日出日落讓我聯想到帝國的興衰和人生的起起落落。那一直守護著人類文化的柔和的月光激勵我去探索古代哲學家對於人類存在的思考。通過科學和人文藝術這兩種角度來看待自然，我領略到了這個三維世界真正的美。
The plane turns right and my eyes regain focus on the sky outside. Darkness falls. Clouds dissolve.
隨著飛機右轉，我的眼神重新聚焦在窗外。夜幕開始降臨，烏雲已經散去。
Below the overarching sky, the planet of human lives rotates, now illuminated by clusters of man-made sparks. In the distant horizon where nature and human civilization meet, the boundary between science and arts vanishes.
蒼穹之下，這顆承載著幾十億生命的行星在轉動。此時，一簇簇人造的火花已將它點亮。在那遙遠的天際，自然與人類文明相遇，而科學與人文藝術間的界限也變得模糊。
完成這篇文章的中學生的英文水平可謂是同齡人中，乃至於所有英語學習者中比較高的，大家要多向牛人學習，一起學習、一起進步！