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[2024·¹ã¶«Ê¡ÉÇÍ·ÊÐÄ£Ä⿼ÊÔ]“Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits, and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.” This is dedicated to my first­year self four years ago, who was addicted to getting good grades, and failed to seek the happiness found in everything else that college has to offer.

Like some people, I grew up with a family that valued academics over all else, who gave you a little extra love when you were doing great in your classes, and took it away when you didn't. As a result, my self­worth became tied to my academic success. As an international student, I sometimes felt our parents didn't quite understand the heavy academic weight.

There is a difference between trying to always better yourself for yourself, and simply putting too much on your plate until you burn out from attempting to live up to certain expectations. We should all strive to do the former, but unfortunately our mindsets have been always wired to follow the latter.

I used to believe school killed the creative spirit inside all of us, but as I get older and further into my academic career, I find that it is we who make the choice to kill that creative spirit. I am definitely not saying that you should throw your GPA out of the window and go painting all day. However, we should all try to develop a long­sighted perspective on how we want to shape our lives. Take some classes on topics that you're genuinely interested in learning about, not just passing. Join clubs or work on projects that resonate with you and push you beyond your boundaries. And most of all, accept the fact that failure and loss are sometimes inevitable in life.

I promise you, when you look back at these four years, you will not remember the good grades or the bad grades, but you will hold in your memory the connections you made with people, the things that inspired you to create and the times you learned something special. And so I ask you now, what do you want to get out of college?

1£®Who is the author of the passage?

A£®A professor.    B£®A freshman.

C£®A parent.    D£®A graduate.

2£®What did the author's parents stress most on his college life?

A£®Seeking happiness.

B£®Getting good grades.

C£®Building self­worth.

D£®Developing various interests.

3£®What is bettering ourselves for according to the author?

A£®To be a better self.

B£®To realize our dreams.

C£®To push our boundaries.

D£®To live up to others' expectations.

4£®Which of the following may the author probably agree with?

A£®Academic growth helps to promote creativity.

B£®Students themselves have a say in their hobbies.

C£®Failures can be avoided with more efforts put in.

D£®School is to blame for killing students' creativity.