Acknowledgements from the translator: My thanks to Andrea, who was a student at Stanford ten years ago, for giving me permission to translate and publish her writings in China.            

                Personal statement：My wagon   (Source: English Salon, 2002.7)

                 Andrea J. Johnson     Translator: Liu Chunying

        Instead of an established home, my parents gave me something better: a gypsy wagon, so that I could make my home wherever I might be. My father built with boards of art, music, adventure, and deviation from the norms of society. My mother used boards of unfaltering support, philanthropy, and appreciation of beauty. Between these supports were nailed planks from each generation of my ancestors, allowing all of my history to mold me and stay with me. My Norwegian ancestors provided boards of great sturdiness, simplicity, and education; my ancestors from a mixture of European descent gave fanciful boards reflective of city society and grandeur.

         The wagon is simplistic in style--no useless porticos, no shutters nailed to the outside. Its construction is expedient to all for which it is used; I am never weighed down with anything unwanted. The inner walls are painted a Norwegian blue, the outer with a chameleon sheen adaptable to its surroundings. The few choice furnishings have been acquired in my wanderings and there is still room for more--always room for quality.

         The mobility of my gypsy wagon is responsible for my adaptability. Though I might often caravan, I am not afraid to go my way alone. I can sit around the fires of any group in society and because I am completely immersed in their environment, I am able to learn about them without preconceptions or prejudices. My understanding of them is then based on their environment and history; I don’t try to understand them on my terms or make them fit to what I already know. I respect and admire that which is true unto itself, no matter how different it may appear. Because of this, I gravitate towards what is unique and unusual--be it a culture, an idea, a person, or a creation. I have often acted as a harbinger for my peers and even myself. I have laid tracks with something as simple as the clothes I wear, to my soy-rich diet, to the humanitarian, Taoist views I possess. Often what I discover on my own, about a year later, becomes an offbeat trend. I collect from different sources to construct my thoughts and actions; I don’t wait for someone else to do it for me.

         Each summer my wagon returns to a square cottage in rural Minnesota: the spring of my youth. Without a television, or any modern conveniences added since the 1940’s, the secluded wooded lot on a small lake has retained its purity. The solace and free reign of my time has led me to find my creativity. I have been awed by nature by spending my days out in the woods and on the islands. At times I attempt to capture nature’s beauty on paper or old Ping-Pong paddles with paints and brushes. At other times I build dams in the stream or carve its course into the sandbar, but the stream always prevails and follows its natural course. On stormy days, I choose a musty book from the shelves and read it in my great-great aunt’s rocking chair in front of the fireplace as I listen to a constant drip through the roof to the floor of the concrete stairwell. I reflect and contemplate at night as I lie in our hammock and watch the night sky turn, until familiar constellations are lost beneath the horizon. The repose of these days and nights fills my wagon with calmness.

         My wagon often makes trips to the Black Hills of South Dakota to rest at the home of my father and stepmother. Together we hike the hills and partake in the events of the artist community. In my father’s shop, I learn the trade of fused glass; in the house, he often instructs me on the classical guitar. When the lessons are over, he plays for me his Flamenco melodies and songs of Segovia. His music will fill the air of my gypsy wagon indeterminately.

         Two summers ago I decided to come with my mother to Wisconsin whereupon I set my wagon atop a wooded hill overlooking the city lights. In Eau Claire I have exposed myself to an array of new people and activities, and have begun to explore—in depth—the law, journalism, the Chinese language, and the interaction between community and youth. Faces contorted with pity always ask me how it was to “move” my junior year. For most, moving would be tearing up roots and trying to transplant them in new soil; I simply carved out another set of tracks to a new land.

         My wagon, simple yet expedient, is the confluence of all my experience, knowledge, and ideas, and is therefore my home. I wasn’t just given a house that I could look back upon with fond memories, but a sturdy gypsy wagon that will house me wherever I choose to voyage.

个人陈述范文：我的旅行车[1]

安德莉亚·约翰逊著  刘春英译

父母并没有给我一个固定的家，但他们给了我更好的东西：一部吉普塞式旅行车，我于是得以四海为家、浪迹天涯。父亲搭的木板富有艺术感和音乐感，新奇独特、与众不同。母亲搭的木板坚实可靠，简朴典雅。支柱之间的钉板都是家传之物，历史于是在我身上打下烙印，并得以继承，挪威先人传下来的木板质地坚固、线条简洁，富有启迪意义；欧洲血统的先人传下来的木板则式样华丽，折射出都市的繁华气息。

旅行车式样简洁，其建筑一切以方便实用为上，绝没有多余的虚饰。车内四面涂着挪威蓝，外面是一层变色光泽，色彩随周围的景色而变动。仅有的几件装饰品是我在流浪途中收集的，车内仍然留有余地-- 永远都为质量留有空间。

车儿载着我奔走四方，拓宽了我的视野，铸就了我融通万象的适应性。虽然我常常结队而行，却并不怕孤身上路。我可以围着篝火坐在任何一群人当中，由于我与他们苦乐与共，我可以毫无成见、毫无偏见地了解他们。我对他们的理解基于他们的环境和历史。我尊敬真实，无论它的外形是美是丑。正因如此，我尤其推崇独特不凡的东西-- 无论它是一种文化、一种思想，还是一个人、一个作品。我常常为我的同辈、甚至我自己充当先行者的角色。常常是，我得出一个新发现，一年之后，它就成为一种时尚。我集思广益、博采众长，从而建立自己的思想行为方式；我从不跟在别人后面。

每年夏天我的车子都要返回明尼苏达州的一家农舍，那是我青春的源泉。小木屋倚湖而立，林木掩映，幽深宁静。屋内的现代设施自四十年代以来便没有任何增添，就连电视机也没有。无拘无束的自由时光激发了我的创造力。如梦如幻的湖光山色培育了我对大自然的敬意。我有时在纸上或旧乒乓球拍上涂画，试图捕捉大自然的美丽，有时在山溪中筑坝，在沙堤上划出一条小道，让山溪流过，但溪水总不就范，还是重回原路。遇到狂风暴雨，我便从书架上抽出一本发霉的旧书，坐在壁炉前太姨婆用过的摇椅上，边读边听那屋顶上的雨点滴滴答答地打在楼梯井上。晚上，我躺在吊床上静观夜空的变幻，幽思默想，思绪纷扬，直到熟悉的群星一一隐入天际。这种宁静的日子给我的旅行车注入了一种从容坦荡的气度。

我的车子常常载着我来到南达科他州的贝列克山丘，到我父亲和继母家中停留。我们一起走过山坡，一起参加社区的艺术活动。在父亲的商店里，我学到了熔凝玻璃的手艺；在家里，他常常教我弹古典吉他。课后，他为我演奏弗拉曼柯舞曲和塞高维亚乐曲。乐声飘渺，在我的吉普赛旅行车中缭绕。

两年前我决定随母亲迁往威斯康星。我把车儿停放在林木葱郁的山坡上，俯瞰着城市的灯火。在清水市我置身于新人新事之中，并开始探索—深入地探索—法律、新闻、中文，并积极投身社区活动和青年活动。总有一些人带着怜悯的表情问我少年时“迁徙”的滋味如何。对于大多数人来说，迁移就是把根拔掉，然后重新植入新的土地；我却扎根地上，劈开一条新路。

我那简朴方便的旅行车凝聚了我所有的经历、知识和理想，因此是我的家。它不但是一所令人回味无穷的房子，而且，无论何时，它都可以伴我闯荡天涯。

常用词与短语

deviation n. 背离

philanthropy n. 慈善事业

sturdiness n. 强壮、坚固

porticos n. 门廊、柱廊

expedient a. 有利的

chameleon n. 易变

sheen n. 光泽，薄膜

adaptability n. 适应性

harbinger n. 先驱

peer n. 同等的人

humanitarian a. 人道主义的

offbeat a. 不落俗套的

Taoist a. 道教的

trend n. 潮流

secluded a. 隐退的、隐蔽的

solace n.安慰

sandbar n. 沙洲

prevail v. 流行、盛行

hammock n. 吊床

constellation n. 星群、灿烂的一群

interaction n. 相互作用

contort v. 扭曲, 歪曲

transplant v.移植

confluence n. 汇合