从无家可归到在哈佛上学<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
<?xml:namespace prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" />(智陈博士:美国梦是什么?
1620年五月花号轮船抵达美洲的时候,先民们是要到新大陆寻找“幸福生活”。在那时候,“美国梦”就开始萌芽 — “美国给每一个人均等的机会,只要努力奋斗,就可以实现自己的梦想。”
在现在信息时代,这个国家早已成为富饶之邦,然而,“美国梦”并没有消逝,只是随着历史的变迁,它拥有了更多的“内涵”。虽然,现在的美国也有不平等,也有贪婪,但很多正直、善良的人们正在为了一个更好的明天,为了我们下一代的更好生活,而努力。
其实,拥有现代科技的巨大力量,人类最重要的是要战胜自己人性的弱点。
这里转载一篇文章,讲述的是一个学生的真实故事,这个学生毕业的高中离我们家也不远。】
从无家可归到在哈佛上学
作者:梅根·基尼利
美国《每日邮报》为您讲述一位曾睡在公园躺椅上的流浪少年,混迹街头多年后,成为哈佛学生的故事。
发表于2012年6月3日
被哈佛大学录取的任何高中生都很幸运,同时他们也自认是全国最牛和最聪明的人。
然而大卫·布恩,从公园躺椅上的流浪生活,到睡在哈佛大学的宿舍成为哈佛学子的这段经历,使得他在同龄人中显得尤为突出。
大卫,是俄亥俄州克利夫兰市一所名叫MC2 Stem高中的一名17岁高中生,将在今年秋天得到哈佛大学的全额奖学金。STEM教育计划主要关注工程学和科学教育,并由比尔·梅达琳·盖茨基金会赞助。【陈昂博士也参与培训STEM计划的中学教师】
成功故事:大卫·布恩,17岁,得到哈佛大学的全额奖学金。这将与他此前在俄亥俄州克利夫兰的几年流浪生活形成鲜明对比。他的家庭生活相当复杂。从几年的小混混生活到因为家庭遭遇经济困难,而被迫离家自己生存,游荡于克利夫兰的街道和公园的长椅上。
“当我十四岁时,我的家人和我因黑帮暴力失去了我们的家园。我拒绝加入黑帮,所以我家的房子被他们用枪打得千疮百孔,以作报复。”他在《赫芬顿邮报》的博客连载上写到。
他的兄弟姐妹分开后,各自与不同的的家族朋友一起生活。但由于空间问题,而且他对家庭宠物过敏,大卫没能继续在家族朋友那待下去。
因为他的奶奶和老妈都不能为他提供住所,于是他结束了无“家”可归的生活,开始游荡于各个公园,公园里便常常看到他的身影,公园变成了他的“新家”。
他最终驻足在较为安全的考文垂附近。因为这个公园更为安全。
看上去真炫:大卫身着校服,骄傲地戴着哈佛帽子。
“所有这些生活的教训都塑造我成为现在的我,梦想和愿望随之改变,让我从毫无生机的环境中解放出来。”他在博客中写到。
不久之后,杰夫·麦克莱伦,MC2 Stem高中的校长很快就被大卫在逆境中不折不挠的精神和他学术上的能力所折服。
在大卫还在寻找更为长久居所的时候,麦克劳伦先生和他的妻子收留了大卫,并帮助他。
“他是会竭尽自己所能去达到他想去的地方的这样一个孩子。我们手头有资源,只是提供给他一点额外的帮助罢了。”麦克莱伦先生告诉当地下属于ABC新闻的机构说,“我希望我能给每个人都提供帮助,但是大卫是特殊的一例。进入MC2 Stem高中很可能不是最后一次我们为大卫真正感到骄傲的机会。”
他来自何方:大卫坐在当年流离失所时睡过觉的一张公园长椅上。
终航线:现在大卫称哈佛大学是全国最好的大学,也是他的家。
接下来,大卫目标远大。他申请了许多顶级学校,诸如:宾夕法尼亚大学,麻省理工,普林斯顿大学,康奈尔大学,耶鲁,哈佛和圣路易斯的华盛顿大学。
最终,只有麻省理工拒绝了他的申请,而他可以在众多有名望的常春藤学校中作出一个自己命运的选择。
大卫真正的旅途并未结束,他的下一个挑战就是在本周的高中毕业典礼不哭出来。
“我答应自己不许哭,但是我意识到所有人在哭之前都这么想。”他告诉FOX 8(一家网站)说,“我很确信到时候我将情难自控。”
译文来自: 译言网
http://article.yeeyan.org/view/227334/292126
英文稿:美国《每日邮报》
From homeless to Harvard: Incredible story of teen who went from sleeping on park benches to college dorms after years on the streets
By Meghan Keneally
PUBLISHED: 17:41 EST, 3 June 2012
Any high school students lucky enough to be accepted to Harvard University can easily count themselves among the country's best and brightest.
The story of David Boone's journey from sleeping on a park bench to one of Harvard's dorm rooms, certainly stands out from the crowd of his peers, however.
David, a 17-year-old senior at a MC2Stem, a high school in Cleveland, Ohio that focuses largely on engineering and science classes with the help of a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was offered a full-ride scholarship to Harvard in the fall.
Success story: David Boone, 17, was offered a full-ride scholarship to Harvard which will be a stark contrast from the years he spent while homeless in Cleveland, Ohio
His family life has been complicated for the past few years after gangs and economic hardships resulted in him being separated from his family and forced to fend for himself on the streets and park benches in Cleveland.
'When I was 14 years old, my family and I lost our home to gang violence. I refused to join the gang, so they retaliated, leaving bullet holes in our house and our family,' he wrote as part of a blog series for The Huffington Post.
His siblings split up to stay with various family friends, but because of space issues and his allergies to the families pets, David was unable to stay.
Because both his grandmother and mother could not afford to house the teenager, and he ended up homeless and hopping from benches in public parks, which presented their own obvious obstacles.
He ended up in the safer neighborhood of Coventry because it was 'a safer park with less dangers'.
Looking sharp: David proudly wears a Harvard hat while dressed in his formal school attire
'All of these life lessons have shaped me into who I am, transforming my dreams and aspirations and allowing me to free myself from what was becoming an unproductive environment,' he wrote in his blog post.
A short while later, Jeff McClellan, the principal of MC2 Stem and he was immediately impressed by David's dedication in the face of adversity, as well as his academic prowess.
Mr McClellan and his wife took the teen in and helped him while he looked for a more permanent solution.
'Here's a kid who's doing everything in his power to get where he wants to go and we had the available resources to provide a little additional support, Mr McClellan told the local ABC News affiliate.
'Wish I could that for everyone, but this was a unique case. Probably won't be the last time, but we're just really proud of David.'
Where he's from: David sits on one of the park benches where he slept when he was homeless
Finish line: Now David will call Harvard University, one of the best colleges in the country, home
When it came to his next step, David aimed high and applied to a host of top-tier colleges, including the University of Pennsylvania, MIT, Princeton, Cornell, Yale, Harvard and Washington University in St. Louis.
In the end, only MIT rejected his application and he was left to choose his own fate from a the selective prestigious and mostly-Ivy League schools.
The true extent of his journey is not lost on David, whose next challenge is to fighting back tears at graduation this weekend.
'I promised myself I wouldn't cry. But I realize that that's what everyone does before they cry,' he told Fox 8.
'I'm pretty sure there's going to be a lot of emotion there.'