I Was Admitted to Harvard

掃我，朗讀給你聽

I remember the fi rst time I wore a bra. I came home from school in the fifth grade, and my mom handed me a white cloth to put on beneath my shirt."You're a big girl now," she said, "You need to wear this." From that moment on, my life was forever changed.

That same year, I was taught that the sun would someday die, and I, feeling the pressure of the contraption①contraption 英 [k?n'tr?p?(?)n] 美 [k?n'tr?p??n] n. 奇妙的裝置；精巧的設計counteract 英 [ka?nt?r'?kt]美 [,ka?nt?'?kt] vt. 抵消；中和；阻礙beneath my shirt, realized that my childhood, too, would eventually dissipate②dissipate 英 ['d?s?pe?t] 美 ['d?s?pet] vt. 浪費；使……消散 vi. 驅散；放蕩 ③cast away 丟掉，浪費；使失事engulf 英 [?n'g?lf; en-] 美 [?n?ɡ?lf] vt. 吞沒；吞食，狼吞虎咽just like the sun.

With every new bra, I cast away③replenish 英 [r?'plen??] 美 [r?'pl?n??]vt. 補充，再裝滿；把……裝滿；給……添加燃料the former.Somewhere in the dark abyss④abyss 英 [?'b?s] 美 [?'b?s] n. 深淵；深邃，無底洞，地獄⑤a heap of 一大堆；許多of my closet,there is a heap of⑤abandoned bras, tiny, wornout filaments⑥fi lament 英 ['f?l?m(?)nt] 美 ['f?l?m?nt] n. 燈絲；細絲；細線；單纖維 ⑦fade away 逐漸消失that had once shone so brightly in their days of use, but had faded away⑦into old,neglected remnants⑧remnant英 ['remn?nt] 美 ['r?mn?nt] n. 剩余 adj. 剩余的of days long gone. They sit against a corner of the universe and gather dust like dead stars— without life, without luster⑨luster ['l?st?] n. [光] 光澤；光彩 vi. 有光澤；發亮 vt. 使有光澤, without vigor⑩vigor ['v?g?] n. [生物 ] 活力，精力.

With every new bra, I felt the unmerciful hand of change push me further down a path with which I had no return. The bras no longer had the simplicity of the fi rst; they came equipped with more folds and stitches and frills and patterns that were designed to counteract①contraption 英 [k?n'tr?p?(?)n] 美 [k?n'tr?p??n] n. 奇妙的裝置；精巧的設計counteract 英 [ka?nt?r'?kt]美 [,ka?nt?'?kt] vt. 抵消；中和；阻礙the growing complexity of my responsibilities.

If every new bra meant the death of another star,then the adult world was nothing to me but a lifetime of darkness. I tried so hard not to kill any more stars, but my resistance was not enough, and I found myself adding layer after layer to the ever-increasing pile of bras. With this mindset, I prepared myself for the end, for the moment in which my entire universe would be engulfed②dissipate 英 ['d?s?pe?t] 美 ['d?s?pet] vt. 浪費；使……消散 vi. 驅散；放蕩 ③cast away 丟掉，浪費；使失事engulf 英 [?n'g?lf; en-] 美 [?n?ɡ?lf] vt. 吞沒；吞食，狼吞虎咽by the black hole forming in my closet.

But I was saved.

I learned that life does not occur linearly, but in cycles: New stars can arise from the ashes of former ones, and the darkness of death is replenished③replenish 英 [r?'plen??] 美 [r?'pl?n??]vt. 補充，再裝滿；把……裝滿；給……添加燃料by the light of birth. Thus, what is created is only a reinterpretation of the past in a form that is fitted for the present. In wearing a new bra, I was not casting away my old self but reorienting myself to accommodate to changing times.

Change, as overwhelming as it feels, is only natural—the pile of bras will only get bigger. Though it is hard to accept the existence of the bra in my life,I realize that I cannot live without it, for, as we grow older, things tend to droop more easily, and there is nothing more reliable than a bra to give us the inner support necessary to have a fi rm hold on life.