這是Belinda Tang在2010年申請斯坦福大學時寫的一篇論述文。每位斯坦福的申請人都必須以論述文的形式回答數個申請問題，其中一個開放式的問題就是“你為什么選擇斯坦福?”(Why Stanford?)。Belinda現在已是斯坦福大學二年級的學生，我們來看看當時她的精彩回答吧!

Many ideas that came out of Silicon Valley now define society—the personal computer, the search engine that has democratized knowledge, and, in Stanford’s own Industrial Park, the once tiny company, HP, that is now the world’s largest technology corporation.[1] Last year, I, too, got into the game, creating a patent for live services delivered through a cell-phone. Though I was not familiar with the science behind phones, I provided insight toward the user’s ability to interact with the handset.[2]

By merging knowledge of the technical aspects of phones with a humanities-based analysis of its usage, an IKain research engineer and I together created a successful patent.[3] Though this patent will not be as earth shaking as Google’s search engine, it shares a common theme with other Silicon Valley innovations: the interaction of technology, humanities, and information.[4]

Stanford is a place where miracles take place every day—in the student dorms, in the underground labs, and in the garages of rented houses.[5] All these miracles, all these super creativity, are not just happening because of the smart collection of people Stanford has assembled[6]. It is also its unique culture that Stanford has fostered[7] . Specially, Stanford has an open attitude toward knowledge interaction and integration[8] in the broadest sense. When discipline boundaries are obliterated, when knowledge from many disciplines freely intermingle, miracle happens.[9]

I want to go to Stanford for just this reason: Stanford is a university that uniquely integrates liberal arts[10] with science and technology advances. Stanford is not only a place where students go just to get a good liberal arts education. It is also a place where liberal arts interface with the revolution of cutting-edge technology.[11] Public policies have been studied by many, each in its finest detail, but they pertain to the old society when yesterday’s technologies reign.[12] As society enters the Information Age and the Post-genomic age[13] , we need new policies, new legislatures, new humanity-oriented social structures and order.

These major changes of tremendous humanity concerns will not arrive by themselves. But rather, it will require leading thinkers of our era, fully equipped with the cutting-edge knowledge on science and technology, plowing hard at this volatile, virgin territory.[14] It is toward this end that I have prepared myself. Not just practicing writing essays, participating in debate tournaments, but also I have taken Advanced Placement Tests in Calculus, Statistics, Physics, and Chemistry.[15] I am a student with broad interests, and a deep thirst for every kind of knowledge human kind has produced.

I could envision myself, a liberal art major, someday, lying back on the green Stanford lawn, discussing freely with friends of science and technology majors, about the possible ramification of a new piece of biotechnology on society, which I have just heard from the Stanford Genome Center Symposium from a Nobel Laureate.[16]

產自硅谷的許多創意塑造了我們今天這個社會，例如個人電腦、推動知識平民化的搜索引擎，還有，在斯坦福的工業園里，惠普從一家小企業現在已成長為全球最大的技術公司。去年，我也參與了一個項目，發明了一項通過手機提供即時服務的專利。盡管我不太了解手機背后的技術知識，但是我貢獻出了用戶能夠與手機互動這個好點子。

我和愛侃公司的一位研發工程師合作，通過把手機技術方面的知識與手機使用方面的人性化分析結合起來，創造了一項成功的專利。雖然這個專利不像谷歌的搜索引擎那么驚天動地，但是它卻擁有與硅谷的其他創新成果相同的主旨：技術、人性化與信息的互動。

斯坦福是一個每天都會發生奇跡的地方，在學生宿舍、地下實驗室和租來房子的車庫里。所有這些奇跡和絕妙創意的產生，不僅僅是因為斯坦福所匯聚的能人智士，還因為斯坦福營造的獨特文化氛圍。特別是斯坦福對于知識互動與融合所持有的那種最廣義的開放態度。當學科界限得以消除，當多門學科知識能夠自由混合在一起時，奇跡就發生了。

我想要入讀斯坦福僅僅是出于如下原因：斯坦福是一所將人文學科與科技進步巧妙獨特地結合在一起的大學。斯坦福不僅僅讓學生獲得了良好的文科教育，同時還實現了人文學科與尖端技術革新的結合。雖然已有很多人都研究過那些維護公共利益的政策，且每一項研究都極盡詳細，但它們只適合那個由過時技術所主宰的社會。隨著社會步入信息時代和后基因組時代，我們需要新的政策、新的立法和以人為本的新社會結構及秩序。

這些與人類息息相關的重大變革不會自動發生，而是需要我們這個時代優秀杰出的思想家們，同時還要擁有充足的先進科學技術知識，在這個瞬息萬變的處女地里辛勤開墾耕耘。而我正朝著這個方向不斷地努力作好準備，我不僅要練習寫作，參加各種辯論賽，而且還參加了微積分、統計學、物理和化學的大學學分先修課程考試。我是一名興趣廣泛的學生，對于人類創造的一切知識都求知若渴。

我想象著有一天，自己作為一名人文學科專業的學生，躺在斯坦福綠茵茵的草坪上，與科學技術專業的朋友們暢談，探討某項新生物技術可能對社會產生的影響，而這項技術正是我在斯坦福基因組研究中心舉辦的研討會上從一位諾貝爾獎獲得者那里聽來的。

這是Belinda Tang在2010年申請斯坦福大學時寫的一篇論述文。每位斯坦福的申請人都必須以論述文的形式回答數個申請問題，其中一個開放式的問題就是“你為什么選擇斯坦福?”(Why Stanford?)。Belinda現在已是斯坦福大學二年級的學生，我們來看看當時她的精彩回答吧!

Many ideas that came out of Silicon Valley now define society—the personal computer, the search engine that has democratized knowledge, and, in Stanford’s own Industrial Park, the once tiny company, HP, that is now the world’s largest technology corporation.[1] Last year, I, too, got into the game, creating a patent for live services delivered through a cell-phone. Though I was not familiar with the science behind phones, I provided insight toward the user’s ability to interact with the handset.[2]

By merging knowledge of the technical aspects of phones with a humanities-based analysis of its usage, an IKain research engineer and I together created a successful patent.[3] Though this patent will not be as earth shaking as Google’s search engine, it shares a common theme with other Silicon Valley innovations: the interaction of technology, humanities, and information.[4]

Stanford is a place where miracles take place every day—in the student dorms, in the underground labs, and in the garages of rented houses.[5] All these miracles, all these super creativity, are not just happening because of the smart collection of people Stanford has assembled[6]. It is also its unique culture that Stanford has fostered[7] . Specially, Stanford has an open attitude toward knowledge interaction and integration[8] in the broadest sense. When discipline boundaries are obliterated, when knowledge from many disciplines freely intermingle, miracle happens.[9]

I want to go to Stanford for just this reason: Stanford is a university that uniquely integrates liberal arts[10] with science and technology advances. Stanford is not only a place where students go just to get a good liberal arts education. It is also a place where liberal arts interface with the revolution of cutting-edge technology.[11] Public policies have been studied by many, each in its finest detail, but they pertain to the old society when yesterday’s technologies reign.[12] As society enters the Information Age and the Post-genomic age[13] , we need new policies, new legislatures, new humanity-oriented social structures and order.

These major changes of tremendous humanity concerns will not arrive by themselves. But rather, it will require leading thinkers of our era, fully equipped with the cutting-edge knowledge on science and technology, plowing hard at this volatile, virgin territory.[14] It is toward this end that I have prepared myself. Not just practicing writing essays, participating in debate tournaments, but also I have taken Advanced Placement Tests in Calculus, Statistics, Physics, and Chemistry.[15] I am a student with broad interests, and a deep thirst for every kind of knowledge human kind has produced.

I could envision myself, a liberal art major, someday, lying back on the green Stanford lawn, discussing freely with friends of science and technology majors, about the possible ramification of a new piece of biotechnology on society, which I have just heard from the Stanford Genome Center Symposium from a Nobel Laureate.[16]

產自硅谷的許多創意塑造了我們今天這個社會，例如個人電腦、推動知識平民化的搜索引擎，還有，在斯坦福的工業園里，惠普從一家小企業現在已成長為全球最大的技術公司。去年，我也參與了一個項目，發明了一項通過手機提供即時服務的專利。盡管我不太了解手機背后的技術知識，但是我貢獻出了用戶能夠與手機互動這個好點子。

我和愛侃公司的一位研發工程師合作，通過把手機技術方面的知識與手機使用方面的人性化分析結合起來，創造了一項成功的專利。雖然這個專利不像谷歌的搜索引擎那么驚天動地，但是它卻擁有與硅谷的其他創新成果相同的主旨：技術、人性化與信息的互動。

斯坦福是一個每天都會發生奇跡的地方，在學生宿舍、地下實驗室和租來房子的車庫里。所有這些奇跡和絕妙創意的產生，不僅僅是因為斯坦福所匯聚的能人智士，還因為斯坦福營造的獨特文化氛圍。特別是斯坦福對于知識互動與融合所持有的那種最廣義的開放態度。當學科界限得以消除，當多門學科知識能夠自由混合在一起時，奇跡就發生了。

我想要入讀斯坦福僅僅是出于如下原因：斯坦福是一所將人文學科與科技進步巧妙獨特地結合在一起的大學。斯坦福不僅僅讓學生獲得了良好的文科教育，同時還實現了人文學科與尖端技術革新的結合。雖然已有很多人都研究過那些維護公共利益的政策，且每一項研究都極盡詳細，但它們只適合那個由過時技術所主宰的社會。隨著社會步入信息時代和后基因組時代，我們需要新的政策、新的立法和以人為本的新社會結構及秩序。

這些與人類息息相關的重大變革不會自動發生，而是需要我們這個時代優秀杰出的思想家們，同時還要擁有充足的先進科學技術知識，在這個瞬息萬變的處女地里辛勤開墾耕耘。而我正朝著這個方向不斷地努力作好準備，我不僅要練習寫作，參加各種辯論賽，而且還參加了微積分、統計學、物理和化學的大學學分先修課程考試。我是一名興趣廣泛的學生，對于人類創造的一切知識都求知若渴。

我想象著有一天，自己作為一名人文學科專業的學生，躺在斯坦福綠茵茵的草坪上，與科學技術專業的朋友們暢談，探討某項新生物技術可能對社會產生的影響，而這項技術正是我在斯坦福基因組研究中心舉辦的研討會上從一位諾貝爾獎獲得者那里聽來的。