Christina Chen '23

The reading this morning is from A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean.

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. 这条河被世界上最大的洪水切断，从时间的地下室流过岩石. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.” 

I grew up at one of the frontiers of modern globalization. 上海浦东新区融合了全球化所能带来的所有好处. 就在我公寓的街对面，是各种文化的混合体. 在街区的北边是典型的当地中国商店——一个装满新鲜鱼缸的杂货店, stands of tofu, and rows of every kind of vegetable imaginable; a street vendor selling steamed buns and tea-steeped eggs for a cent; a pharmacy of traditional medicinal cures. On the westside, local elementary school students, dressed in tracksuits and red ties, performed exercises each morning on the outdoor track. On the eastside, there was a row of restaurants established by expats, such as Olivier’s, 这是一家可丽饼咖啡馆，同时也是奥利维尔古怪作品的艺术画廊, and Yasmine’s, a steakhouse that grilled A5s from Australia to Argentina. 

尽管在这个拼凑的街区上发生了各种文化的进步和融合, 我的眼睛总是莫名其妙地被附近那块被篱笆围起来的绿色牧场所吸引, 在混凝土建筑和购物中心林立的街道上显得格格不入. 我每天可以花几个小时观察住在小房子里的农民, squat houses at the center of the pasture. 我会看着牧羊人带着羊群走来走去，还有游客从大门进来, 形成了通往人造池塘的小径，在那里他们被指控为一对夫妇 yuan to fish for an afternoon. The more I observed the block of pasture, the more I began to imagine it as the beating heart of the city, a rare remnant of the past, when Pudong was nothing but miles upon miles of fields, joined end-to-end as far as the eye could see. 甚至有一次，在我中学的最后几年里，牧羊人和渔夫失去了他们珍贵的羊群和钓鱼洞, 当独立的绿地被拖拉机和起重机夷为平地，取而代之的是一座公寓大楼, the image of the pasture never left my mind. 

At the time, these observations were fleeting, a simple way for me to procrastinate or fill empty time. As I was too caught up in my own life, 对我来说，从街对面发生的事情中走出来很容易. 我从来没有问过人们去了哪里，或者他们是否找到了另一个家. 我没有时间停下来思考一下，我以极快的速度匆匆度过了我的生活. 在我生活的国际社会中，事情总是在不断变化. Friends were always moving from one country to the next, and the city itself changed rapidly each month, 每隔几年就会有新的摩天大楼和高速公路拔地而起, completely altering the skyline. Around every corner was fresh excitement, and before I could ground myself, I was once again swept off my feet by the tide.

当我学会航海时，我第一次开始考虑我观察周围世界的方式. Sailing was something I picked up on one of my father’s whims. 在圣地亚哥学会航海后，他爱上了这项运动. It appealed to him not only as a physical activity but also a mental one; so much of success in sailing counts on the course you navigate. Out on Dianshan Lake, a two-hour drive away from my home in Pudong, 我通过观察地平线上每一个变暗的水的阴影来学习如何导航自己的航线，这是我应该变成的阵风的标志. Alone on the lake, with no guidance but the wide expanse of wind and waves around me, all I could depend on were my observations and judgment. 在湖上航行教会了我对大自然的敏感——在风吹到船帆之前，风吹在我脸颊上的感觉, what break in the clouds means slightly stronger wind, 以及以最小的阻力在水中奔跑的感觉. My observations were no longer ephemeral – they were my guidebook, a map of the waters that I charted. 

Reading the waters was not quite so different from reading my father. Just as I learned the sensitivities of nature, I learned empathy. 在湖上划了一整天皮划艇，而我则随队出海，父亲脸上泛起一抹满足的涟漪，几乎是孩子般的喜悦，这与远方的欢迎之风并无太大区别. 他，曾经看起来如此坚忍和难以读懂，在我熟练的眼睛里变得像水一样多变. 每当他想到一个新奇的想法时，我学会了从他的眼神中认出他的光芒. Always the quietest in our family of three, 我意识到，每当我和母亲争论时，他总是沉默，不是因为他对我们的争论不感兴趣，而是因为他在听, trying to find rationality within our chaos. During our early-morning drives to the lake, 我学到了父亲喜欢的东西:我们每次开车都会听特里·格罗斯(Terry Gross)的Fresh Air播客, “Enjoy the Silence'' by Depeche Mode, 还有新鲜去皮的橘子，我会把它们当作中途的零食递给他. Observing my father became my way of learning who he was, 这是一种比任何偶然的交谈都更能了解他的方式.

Like Dianshan Lake, Groton became my oasis for observation. Here, as I’m grounded on the Circle, 观察不再是一个被动的过程，而是我学习和了解周围的人和环境的方式. 我通过她在淋浴时轻柔的哼唱和她的手指划过我头发的感觉来了解安布尔, 奥利维亚被她灿烂的笑容和她晚上爬上床的声音迷住了, 顺便说一下，她总是轻轻地打开门，以免吵醒房间里正在打盹的人. 我是通过她在学习过程中时不时发出的掰关节的声音来认识凯拉的. I know Room 246, my Third Form English classroom, by the view through the window, where the tree still stands, 一年四季以不同的角度在玻璃窗上投下无数的阴影.

当我开始真正了解易胜博app安卓下载时，遥远的记忆开始在我脑海中微妙地浮现. I began to remember my grandmother’s earlobes, soft and supple between my infant fingers, that I liked to call mu er, or “wood ear,” one of my favorite ingredients in Chinese cooking. 当我学会像外科医生一样精确地解剖三年级生物中的小猪时, 我记得妈妈给我讲的所有她在实验室里的故事, how she would gesture to me the way that she examined slides of drosophila until fruit flies filled my dreams as they did hers. 每当我在我的唱诗班乐谱上做一个发夹标记或在五线谱的线条之间画一个音符时, 我还记得我第一次从音乐老师那里学习画符号的那个小木头教室的气味, 当我试图模仿他完美的弯曲旗帜和条子头像时.

So why observe? On days when you are alone, or when the people who mean the most to you are no longer around, 这些观察将使他们的记忆在你的脑海中复活. Perhaps it’s a cool breeze on your cheek, the feel of mu er比如你手中手术刀的重量，或是乐谱、橡皮屑和木头的味道. At one time buried deep in your mind, those memories will start to resurface, vivid mementos of the people whom you have truly learned and known.