College applications often look at a student's performance outside of class in so-called extracurricular activities: volunteer positions, internships, employment, or projects and clubs organized by school but not part of a class. Because this is not an aspect necessary for admission to Chinese universities, many students ask us how to begin becoming involved in such activities and why it is important. Below is a story from one of my own summer vacations。

　　When I was 15, I read a review for a recent movie release in The Dallas Morning News. It is a somewhat large newspaper in the US, but I had spent most of my life in Dallas, so The Dallas Morning News was my "local" newspaper. It was the summer after my freshman year in high school, roughly equivalent to 初三 in the Chinese system, and I was flipping through [1] the movie review section to make plans for the weekend。

　　This article reviewed a crude [2], immature comedy--if I remember correctly, a comedy starring Adam Sandler--that was just the sort of silly humor that many people around the world tease Americans for enjoying. The writer, of course, gave the movie a terrible rating. While he may have been correct in his criticism, it seemed odd to me that a critic who probably considered film a profound art form [3] would waste his time writing a review about a silly, thoughtless movie that targeted young adults。

　　Rather than just think about it, though, I wrote a letter--okay, an e-mail--to the newspaper editor. I attempted to clearly and reasonably explain why I thought the writer was wasting both his and his readers' time: he probably had nothing in common [4] with the audience that would be interested in the topic of his article。

　　Since I was only 15, I imagine my letter was not very convincing, but, to my surprise, I received a response from the editor saying that she had often thought about many of the points I raised and that she was interested in talking to me more about it. A week or two later, the editor and I met, and our discussion quickly became an informal interview. I had no experience with published writing, so she decided to assign me a couple of trial articles to demonstrate my abilities。

　　The editor wanted me to focus on topics that were primarily interesting to young people, especially topics in the entertainment industry. I was excited, and within a few days I had written a piece about a rock concert I had attended. I remember reading it again a few years after I had written it and thinking how terrible it was, but I'm not sure how much it mattered [5]. My enthusiasm was apparent, so the editor assigned me to a movie review, and, at the age of 15, I had become a journalist。

　　At least, I believed I had. The other writers largely resisted the inclusion of my writing in the newspaper. Newspapers have a limited amount of available space on which to publish, and writers in their 40s and 50s were not very excited about the possibility of having to compete with a 15-year-old. I was also not a great writer at the time, and it was unlikely that I would bring progress to the world of journalism. In the end, I wrote or was a major contributor to only ten articles, maybe less. Among them were articles about movies, student protests against the Iraq War, teenage sexuality, and young student voters' perspectives on the 2004 Presidential Election。

　　Simply by being a small part of a newspaper, however, I learned an enormous amount about the journalism industry. Working was also very different from studying, and while I did not have an interest in pursuing journalism in the future, it helped me think much more about what I wanted to do in life. The experience also taught me that opportunities were there for those who pursued them. When I applied to college, I think the experience and perspective I gained from my short life as a journalist were far more valuable than the actual articles I wrote, not simply because they showed my intellectual curiosity [6] and commitment beyond the classroom [7], but because they taught me more about what I wanted from college and life。

　　Keep learning,

　　Jason 杰生

　　[1] Definition: flipping through; Explanation: "to flip" pages or "to turn" pages are common verbs to describe reading, so "flipping through" means to casually read something。

　　[2] Definition: crude; Explanation: unrefined, simple, or not well made. "Crude" humor refers to humor that is dumb and not intellectual。

　　[3] Definition: art form; Explanation: a type or method of producing art, but one that also implies that the art is very intellectual or complex. Here, I describe the writer as someone who considers film "a profound art form," saying that he has an educated and intellectual perspective that contrasts strongly with the silliness of the actual movie。

　　[4] Definition: in common; Explanation: to have "something in common" is to say that two or more people have a similar trait or share a similar interest. If they have "nothing in common," they have few or no similar traits or interests。

　　[5] Definition: it mattered; Explanation: the verb "to matter" means "to be important." I am saying here that I am not sure how much it mattered, which means that I have doubts about its importance。

　　[6] Definition: intellectual curiosity; Explanation: See [4] in our article Post-gaokao / 高考之后

　　[7] Definition: beyond the classroom; Explanation: "beyond" literally means "further," so I am saying that this experience showed my qualities extended to other areas outside of school, like my job。

　　美國的大學通常都會對學生參加的課外活動感興趣，比如志愿者、實習生、工作經歷、或者學校組織的不屬于學習課程范疇的項目等。因為中國高考并不看重這方便的內容，所以很多學生會問我們怎么參加課外活動，課外活動為什么很重要。下面我就和你們分享一下我的一段暑期經歷。

　　當我15歲的時候，也就是我在高中一年級的暑假(相當于中國制度的初三)，我在《達拉斯早報》(《達拉斯早報》在美國是一份大報紙，但是因為我從小在達拉斯長大，這個報紙對于我來說更像一個地方報紙)中瀏覽一個關于最近一部電影的評論，準備計劃我的周末活動。那段評論是關于一部有點粗制濫造的喜劇，如果我沒有記錯的話，是Adam Sandler主演的一部美國式幽默。評論的作者對于這部喜劇電影的評價很低。雖然評論員對于影片的評價是正確的，但是我在想，一個資深評論員卻要去評論一個很傻的片子，真是一種浪費，這種簡單的幽默影片一般是為了青少年人拍攝的。

　　思考之外，我給報紙的主編寫了一封郵件。我嘗試著向她仔細說明為什么我認為讓資深評論員寫這樣的評論既是浪費他自己的時間，也是在浪費讀者的時間。資深評論員和他的讀者可能沒有任何的共同點。畢竟我才只有15歲，我并不期待我的郵件有多大的說服力，但是，出乎我的意料，我收到了主編的回復，她說她也多次思考過我提出來的問題，并且很有興趣和我面談一次。一兩周之后，我和主編見面了，那次見面結果變成了一個不正是的面試。因為我從來沒有發表過文章，所以她決定讓我試著寫一些文章來證明我寫作的實力。

　　主編希望我能寫一些在娛樂方面年輕人感興趣的話題。我非常地激動，幾天之后，我就寫完了一個關于我剛參加的搖滾音樂會。幾年之后再次讀到我當時寫的文章，真覺得我寫得巨爛無比，不過，又有什么關系呢？我的激情顯而易見，后來主編讓我寫了一個電影評論，15歲，我成為了一個記者。

　　至少，我認為我成為了一個記者。有一些作家反對在報紙上刊登我的文章，因為報紙的版面是有限的，哪些四五十歲的作家可不愿意和一個15歲的孩子競爭。當時，我也不算一個很偉大的作家，u也不太有希望給記者世界帶去什么變革。最終，我一共寫了(參與到)10篇文章，也可能更少。有一些文章是關于電影的，有一些是關于學生們反對對伊戰爭的，有一些是青少年對性的態度，有一寫是學生們關于2004年總統大選的觀點。

　　作為報紙的一個小小的部分，我卻學到了記者界的很多東西。工作和學習的差別真的太大了，雖然后來我沒有興趣成為一名記者，但是這段經歷讓我思考了更多以后想做的事情。同時，它也教會我，機會是要去爭取的。當申請大學的時候，我覺得這段短期的記者經歷教會我的東西比我寫的文章更有價值。它不光展現了我的好奇心和課堂之外的執著，它更讓我明白我在大學和生活中想要什么東西。繼續學習吧。杰生

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