That Day We Used Our Hands To Break The Ice 那一天，我们动手打破了僵局

Author: Angela Chen, Class of '21, Shanghai American School, Puxi Campus

Welcome back, SAS. A new chapter is imminent. Do you not smell the scent of promise, the fizzle of potential, in our next fast-approaching year together?

欢迎回来，上海美国学校的各位。新的篇章将要开启。在即将到来的新学年里，你没有察觉到成功的迹象以及潜在的失败吗？

To me, that jump between the last day of the summer into the first day of your school—the sheer physicality of it—represents in and of itself a spur of growth, a welcoming of something novel. As intimidating as it may seem to many, if not all of us, it’s one of the most universal, daunting, and pivotal moments in our growth. And, get this: it’s entirely what you make of it.

对我而言，从暑假的最后一天到开学的第一天，这种跳转——用纯粹的物理意义来说——本身就是一种成长的刺激，一种对新奇事物的欢迎。在我们中的许多人看来（即使不是所有人），这种转换可能令人生畏，是我们成长过程中最普遍、最严峻和最关键的时刻之一。但你要明白：这完全只是你对此的想法。

Whether you are a returning student or a newcomer to our community, our narratives all hold a common, underlying vein: change. We are all advancing into our own unfamiliar territory.

无论你是返校学生还是我们社区的一名新成员，我们的故事都有一个共同的、根本的特质：改变。我们都进入了自己不熟悉的领域。

Here’s a way to digest it. Think of all you have done, all you will ever do, as one vast field of canola flowers. Paths converge and diverge through the waist-high stalks, splitting into increasingly narrow trails as one moves forward into the future. As students of all ages and from all walks of life, we tackle our own fields with a similar goal in mind: to tread favorable trails by making favorable choices, to take the path that leads to the view and experience we each uniquely dream of. We strive to be happy and remarkable by leaving the smooth-paved traditional road that pegs one as commonplace, unfulfilled.

这里有一种可以融会贯通的方法。想想你所做的一切，你即将做的一切，就像一块巨大的油菜花田。路径在齐腰高的茎杆上汇聚并分叉，在向前迈进的时候，路径分裂成越来越狭窄的小径。因为学生来自不同年龄段、拥有各种各样背景，我们可以用相似的目标来处理自己的“花田”：通过做出有利的选择来走上顺利的道路，走上一条能找到我们每个人各自观点和经历的道路。我们离开了平凡的、没有成就感的传统坦途，努力地去获得快乐以及卓越的成就。

As we ascend to a higher grade after two months of glorious summer, we find ourselves presented with a wider, brighter array of opportunities that we have heretofore never even imagined. Be it a new ASA, exploratory, sport, club, or class, the fields have considerably broadened for all of us. New paths present themselves. The canola is lusher than last year, flowering with opportunity. We ourselves are a year older, ready to push through the upcoming year with flying colors.

当愉快的两个月暑假过去之后，在升入更高的年级时，我们发现自己拥有了更广阔、更光明的机会，这些机会是我们迄今为止从未想过的。无论是新的课后活动、探索课程、运动项目、俱乐部、还是班级，对我们而言，这些“花田”都扩大了范围。新的道路出现了。油菜花比去年更加茂盛，更加有机会盛开。我们自己也大了一岁，准备好成功地度过即将到来的一年。

Over the next year, we all strive to be fulfilled. The term “fulfillment” is different for each of us: forging friendships, excelling in classes, foraying into different areas of study, finding new pastimes… and I encourage you in this coming year to indulge yourself in a bit of impulse. Go forth into these sprawling fields, wander audaciously, and discover new routes! Risk it. Seize these new opportunities that you never would’ve considered in the past. Your time at SAS is a soul-searching process, each coming year more so as you grow, learn, and sharpen your experiences into wisdom. And you only have so much time. Over the course of your next year, you might just begin to grasp what fulfillmenttrulymeans to you.

在接下来的一年里，我们都将努力取得成就。“成就感”这个词对每个人的意义都是不同的：获得友谊、学业表现出色、深入不同的学习领域、寻找新的消遣……我鼓励你们在未来一年里冲动一点。走进这些广阔的花田中，大胆地漫步，发现新的路线！大胆去闯吧。抓住这些你过去从未考虑过的新机遇。你在上海美国学校的时间是一个自我反省的过程，每一年，随着你的成长、学习，并把经验磨砺成智慧，你就会更深入地思考。你的时间只有这么多。在接下来的一年里，你可能会开始领悟到真正意义上的成就感。

In the meantime, I want to remind you of how fluid our lives truly are—just like this field of flowers, dynamic in the wind. Nothing about this upcoming year is immutable. We will be prompted to make higher-stakes decisions, but none that will singlehandedly make or break our lives. Paths of a flower-field are ever-changing; some fall to disuse time and time again, while others are newly paved by new minds to accompany our evolving world, our evolving interests. There is no cast-iron upshot. There is always freedom.

同时，我想提醒大家，我们的生活是如此的多变，就像这片花田，在风中不断变化。未来一年里，没有什么是一成不变的。学校鼓励大家做出有更高得失的决定，但没有一个决定会单独地成就或破坏大家的生活。花田的路径千变万化，随着我们的世界不断发展、我们的兴趣不断变化，有些道路会一次又一次地被弃用，而新思想铺就了一些新的道路。没有不可变更的结果。自由无处不在。

With this in mind, I urge you to let loose, allow your heart to take rein from time to time again—and do something inconsequential and silly that delightsyouthe most. For all of us, the next year is going to be harder, more memorable than the last. For some of us, the next year is going to be the most difficult out of all our years at SAS. Yet amidst all this glorious, perpetual clamor of ambition and merriment, remember that there is always opportunity to breathe. This can mean playing a couple of basketball games with your friends after school, dedicating two hours to uninterrupted napping, or meeting up with classmates to bemoan your workload over a Caesar salad. Stroll, make art, close your eyes, breathe.Let loose enough to drink the winds that roll from the mountain slopes, run a hand through the soft-petaled canola.

考虑到这一点，我请大家放松一下，时不时地遵从自己内心最真实的想法，做一些无关紧要、蠢蠢的但最让你开心的事情。对所有人来说，明年将会比去年更加艰难、更加难忘。对我们中的一些人而言，明年可能是他们在上海美国学校度过的最困难的一年。然而，在这些不可磨灭的雄心壮志以及欢乐的喧闹中，请记住，你总有放松的机会。这可以是放学后和你的朋友们打几场篮球赛，不受打扰地花上两个小时小睡一下，或者和同学们见见面，抱怨一下你在凯撒沙拉上花费的精力。散步、艺术创作、闭上眼睛、呼吸。放松一下，呼吸从山坡上吹来的风，用手抚过柔嫩的油菜花。

Perhaps a lot to keep in mind—but for now, we have everything to look forward to. Do the skies not look so broad from here, the fields so vast?Onward.

也许有很多事情需要牢记，但现在，我们拥所有值得期待的东西。从这里看天空不是那么宽广？田野不是那么广阔？那么，前进吧。

Founded in 1912, Shanghai American School (SAS) is the largest and most established international school in China. In short, it's the kind of school you wish you would've attended when you were a kid.

创建于1912年，上海美国学校是中国最大的也是历史最悠久的国际学校。简而言之，如果你能回到小的时候，这会是一所你想要去的学校。