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"In our house, there is beauty in the way we speak to each other ... language is not broken but rather, bursting with emotion. It is a little messy. But this is where we have made our home."
“在我们家里，我们彼此交谈的方式中充斥着一种美。我们的语言并不破碎，而是充满了情感。有些杂乱无章，但这是我们的家。”
Those were words from 17-year-old Cassandra Hsiao, whose moving college essay caught the attention of multiple US universities and the world.
这些是17岁女孩萧靖彤写下的文字，她的大学申请文章打动了美国多所大学和整个世界。
The Malaysian-born teenager, who now lives in California, had written about her humbling experiences learning English while growing up in an immigrant household.
萧靖彤出生于马来西亚，目前住在加州，她写下了自己在一个移民家庭长大过程中学习英语的普通经历。
She has received offer letters from all eight Ivy League colleges, including Harvard, Princeton and Yale. She hasn't made her decision yet but said that she would be visiting colleges in the coming weeks.
她已经收到了包括哈佛、普林斯顿和耶鲁在内的所有八所常春藤名校的录取通知书。她尚未作出决定要去哪一所大学，但是称自己接下来几周将造访这些大学。
"Identity and the desire to belong are two of the most relatable struggles that people face. I wanted to share a slice of our home life, my relationship with my mother and both of our stories," she told BBC News.
她向BBC透露：“身份认同和对归属感的渴望是人们面临的两个最大的难题。我想把我们的家庭生活、我和母亲的关系、以及我们两人的故事分享给别人知道。”
Born to a Taiwanese father and a Malaysian mother, Cassandra grew up in the southern state of Johor. The family moved to the United States when she was five.
萧靖彤的父亲是台湾人，母亲是马来西亚人，小时候她住在马来西亚南部的柔佛州。5岁时她们全家搬往了美国。
"I miss Malaysia and think about my home country quite often. Growing up, I loved flying kites, going to markets and setting off firecrackers. I spent my childhood babbling in a mixture of Chinese, Malay and English," she recalled fondly.
她深情地回忆道：“我很想念马来西亚，也时常想起我的祖国。小时候我很喜欢放风筝、去市集玩耍、放鞭炮。我的童年是在汉语、马来语和英语混杂使用的背景下度过的。”
But tackling the language barrier in a foreign country proved difficult. In her essay, Cassandra recounted a "humiliating" experience which happened to her mother in school. She was criticised and laughed at by her peers after the teacher criticised an English paper she wrote.
但是在国外解决语言障碍很困难。萧靖彤在她的文章中回忆了她母亲在学校遭遇的一次“耻辱”的经历。当时老师批评了萧靖彤母亲的一篇英语文章，事后她的同学们都来批评嘲笑她。
A kind classmate came to her defence. "She took her under her wing and patiently mended my mother's strands of language. She stood up for the weak and used her words to fight back," Ms Hsiao wrote.
一位好心的同学帮她母亲说话。萧靖彤写道：“她把我母亲护在身后，耐心地帮她修改语言。她为弱者挺身而出，用自己的语言进行回击。”
But the challenges did not end there. "My mother asked me to teach her proper English so old white ladies at Target wouldn't laugh at her pronunciation. It has not been easy."
但是这件事并没有就此结束。“母亲叫我教她正确的英语，如此一来那些傲慢自大的老师就不会再嘲笑她的发音。但是这并不是一件容易的事。”
"I believe this essay really embodies values I hold close to my heart: standing up for those without a voice, even when you think you haven't quite found your own yet," said Cassandra.
萧靖彤说道：“我认为这篇文章真正体现了我心中的价值观念：为那些不能发声的人挺身而出，即使你自己也力有不逮。”
