范例三：自然科学专业方向
@Tony
仰望星空，我看到了天鹅座、大力神和双鱼座，那是旧时文化的遗迹。我聆听海浪拍打沙滩的声音，那是大自然的鸣奏曲。星星是燃烧的星球，电脉冲让生物产生知觉，这难道不令人感到惊奇吗？ 我们的世界存在本身就是一个奇迹。
这个独特的星球孕育出所有必要成分，并相互协作以至生命诞生的可能性有多大？它们如何互动？又从哪里来？我回想在过去一年中，自己简单的思维模式是如何得到提升的。
在巴尔博亚，大三和大四学生可以加入五个小型学习社区之一，这些社区已配备相关课程。在大二快结束时，我重新做了选择：第一是最负盛名的法学院，第四是荒野艺术与扫盲协作（the Wilderness Arts and Literacy Collaborative, WALC）。
因此，当我被分到WALC专业时，我因日程安排缺乏灵活性而感到失望，也对课程感到抗拒。然而，因为至少一个学期后才可以换专业，所以我留在了WALC。而这个学期的经历将我志向驱动的行为范式转向了兴趣驱动。
我最终没有换专业。 除了综合课程，WALC还带学生去自然地区旅行，这不仅帮助学生建立彼此之间的联系，也促进了学生对复杂自然进程和人类所起作用的探索。这些课程也帮我拼凑出了所处宇宙的模样。
我能够想象大自然对冰川峡谷的鬼斧神工，地壳运动和风化所形成的山脉和走向，以及河流和鲑鱼在生态系统中构成的养分传输链。我看到自然在小行星表面留下的印迹，它自转并围绕浩瀚宇宙的宝石——太阳运行。
通过WALC，我对自然系统有了更加深入的认识，并沉醉于宇宙万物之间的深层联系。
了解自然系统的复杂机制不仅满足了我的好奇心，也为我的世界增添了色彩，我对自然力量的理解使我能够欣赏美学意义之外的山脉和海岸线。
通过亲自前往WALC课程中描述的地方，我不仅获得了欣赏自然的知识，还学会了如何真正欣赏它们。在充满贫困和暴力的世界中，我产生了捕捉美好的渴望，以及对所需知识的渴求。有这么多不同的系统等待探索，而只有科学才提供了普遍的、行星的、分子的、原子的和亚原子的研究尺度。
我希望能够通过大学各种课程的学习来找到自己的兴趣，并通过相关研究加深对人类的理解，从而对宇宙运行的复杂系统有更深的认识。 点评：托尼的文字帮助我们欣赏他知识广度和好奇心的延展。以下是英文原文——
@Tony
Gazing up at the starry sky, I see Cygnus, Hercules, and Pisces, remnants of past cultures. I listen to waves crash on the beach, the forces of nature at work. Isn’t it odd how stars are flaming spheres and electrical impulses make beings sentient?
The very existence of our world is a wonder; what are the odds that this particular planet developed all the necessary components, parts that all work in unison, to support life? How do they interact? How did they come to be? I thought back to how my previously simplistic mind-set evolved this past year.
At Balboa, juniors and seniors join one of five small learning communities, which are integrated into the curriculum. Near the end of sophomore year, I ranked my choices: Law Academy first—it seemed the most prestigious—and WALC, the Wilderness Arts and Literacy Collaborative, fourth.
So when I was sorted into WALC, I felt disappointed at the inflexibility of my schedule and bitter toward my classes. However, since students are required to wait at least a semester before switching pathways, I stayed in WALC. My experiences that semester began shifting my ambition-oriented paradigm to an interest-oriented one. I didn’t switch out.
Beyond its integrated classes, WALC takes its students on trips to natural areas not only to build community among its students, but also to explore complex natural processes and humanity’s role in them. Piecing these lessons together, I create an image of our universe.
I can visualize the carving of glacial valleys, the creation and gradation of mountains by uplift and weathering, and the transportation of nutrients to and from ecosystems by rivers and salmon. I see these forces on the surface of a tiny planet rotating on its axis and orbiting the sun, a gem in this vast universe. Through WALC, I have gained an intimate understanding of natural systems and an addiction to understanding the deep interconnections embedded in our cosmos.
Understanding a system’s complex mechanics not only satisfies my curiosity, but also adds beauty to my world; my understanding of tectonic and gradational forces allows me to appreciate mountains and coastlines beyond aesthetics. By physically going to the place described in WALC’s lessons, I have not only gained the tools to admire these systems, but have also learned to actually appreciate them.
This creates a thirst to see more beauty in a world that’s filled with poverty and violence, and a hunger for knowledge to satisfy that thirst. There are so many different systems to examine and dissect—science alone has universal, planetary, molecular, atomic, and subatomic scales to investigate.
I hope to be able to find my interests by taking a variety of courses in college, and further humanity’s understanding through research, so that all can derive a deeper appreciation for the complex systems that govern this universe.
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