最強學霸:八所常春藤高校都青睞!
It would have been a success story if Fullerton High School senior Fernando Rojas, the son of Mexican immigrants whose schooling stopped in the eighth grade, was accepted to college. But the 17-year-old achieved a surprising clean sweep — he was accepted to every Ivy League school。
這真的是一個相當勵志的故事。富勒頓高中畢業班學生費爾南多·羅賈斯成功被大學錄取，他的父母是墨西哥移民，教育水平只有八年級。而他們的兒子，這個十七歲少年，贏得了令人驚訝的“大滿貫”——八所常春藤高校都拋來橄欖枝。"I didn't think I would get into any," Rojas told The Orange County Register on Saturday. "When I got all eight, it was a blessing and a curse because I had to choose. I was excited and scared and everything at the same time."
羅賈斯在接受橘郡記事報採訪時說：“我本以爲一所學校都去不了。這八封錄取通知書，既是幸事也是不幸，因爲我不得不從中作出選擇。我很興奮也很恐懼，一切都在同一個時刻發生。”
The first call came from Yale University in February. Within weeks calls, emails and letters followed from Dartmouth College, Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, Columbia University, Harvard University and Princeton University。
二月，羅賈斯收到第一封來自耶魯大學的錄取通知書。幾周內，錄取通知書、郵件、信件接踵而至，分別來自達特茅斯大學、布朗大學、賓夕法尼亞大學、康奈爾大學、哥倫比亞大學、哈佛大學和普林斯頓大學。
Rojas also was accepted by Stanford University and two nearby schools, the University of California, Irvine, and California State University, Fullerton。
羅賈斯還收到了來自斯坦福大學以及附近兩所學校的邀請，分別是加州大學歐文分校和富勒頓的加州州立大學。He is one of four children of Raul Rojas, 59, and wife, Maria, 56, who moved to Fullerton from Jalisco, Mexico, in the early 1980s. Raul is a machine operator, and Maria is a seamstress。
59歲的勞爾·羅賈斯和56歲的妻子瑪利亞一共有四個孩子，他們在二十世紀八十年代初從墨西哥的哈利斯科搬至富勒頓。勞爾是機牀工人，瑪利亞是名女裁縫。A national speech and debate champion, Rojas reasoned that if he applied to the eight Ivy League schools, he might get into one。
羅賈斯認爲，作爲全國辯論賽冠軍，如果他申請常春藤高校，應該能進入其中一所。Sal Tinajero, Rojas' speech and debate coach at Fullerton, told the newspaper that Rojas is a tenacious self-starter who thrives on competition. "His biggest motivation was his parents to know that their hard work meant something," Tinajero said。
羅賈斯的辯論指導老師帝那傑羅表示，羅賈斯頑強堅韌，主動積極，在競爭中快速成長。“他最大的動力就是想讓他的父母看到他們的辛苦付出是有回報的。”After visiting several campuses, he settled on Yale, which costs $64,000 a year with room and board. He is responsible for $6,000; Yale scholarships and federal grant money cover the rest。
在參觀了幾所大學後，羅賈斯選擇了耶魯大學。連帶住宿在內一年6.4萬美元，羅賈斯支付6千美元，耶魯獎學金和聯邦津貼承擔其餘費用。"I loved Princeton," Rojas said. "It was a beautiful campus, but it felt very stressful. Stanford was too big and overwhelming."
“我喜歡普林斯頓，”羅賈斯說，“校園非常美麗，但是感覺很壓抑。斯坦福很大很壯觀。”"The (incoming) Yale kids were a little bit more enthused to get started and get going," Rojas added。
“耶魯的同學都很熱情，從那裏開始另一段人生應該很不錯”，羅賈斯補充道。With Fernando Rojas translating, his mother said she didn't initially realize the magnitude of her son's accomplishment. But once the media outlets started calling, she knew it was a big deal。
藉助於羅賈斯的翻譯，他的媽媽說她起初沒有意識到自己的兒子這麼出色。媒體採訪紛至沓來，讓她意識到這件事非比尋常。Rojas attributes his academic success to hard work and the guidance of his older siblings. "I went into high school knowing what I was supposed to do," he said。
羅賈斯說他的成功得益於自己的努力，以及哥哥們的指導。“我進入高中就已經知道應該怎麼做了。”He'll mostly take it easy during the summer before heading to Yale in late August. He's considering majoring in Latin American studies and perhaps a career as a lawyer or in international affairs。
在進入耶魯前，羅賈斯想要過一個輕鬆愉快的夏天。他考慮主修拉美研究，之後成爲國際事務方面的律師。
