2019-07-11

【Aiden in English】

        What is work? A job – a monotonous, persistent pursuit of promotion? Is it sitting at a desk, eight hours a day mulling over some characters on a computer? Is it speaking into a microphone for four hours a day to an unknown source of people? Is it smiling at the camera, waving goodbye to millions of people? Or is it pointing the camera at such persons?

        Well, whatever it is, the US social climate demands work to dictate the majority of one’s life. In addition, the first twenty years of a person’s existence involves learning how to survive and possible careers for the workforce. Oddly, it isn’t until the final three or four years that students receive the serious challenge of choosing a profession, but that’s a story for another day.

        I’m entering that final stretch of education. College looms, and I’m terrified, but once the experience comes, the fear will pass. However, before any of that occurs, the pre-requisites for the next education and even the real world include internships. So, as all encouraging Asian parents do, they toss their children into the teeth of the flames and ask them nicely to not die.

        And, I would’ve much rather face fire than the hazards of a chemistry lab, as not only could I start a fire myself but also that there were plenty of other mysterious substances that could affect my well-being. With that fact in mind, my mother grabbed me by the throat, and figuratively dropped me into a Jefferson Hospital Neuroscience Lab. Under the direction of Dr. Yu and Dr. Chen, her goals for me were to experience science and perhaps convince me to enter the scientific field. However, my goals were a little different: try not to waste grant money and don’t die.

        If you are reading this, then most likely I have not accidentally gained an unhealthy disease. Most likely. On the other hand, in the lab, I may have screwed up a few times to my chagrin, but hey what’s new. Regardless, I picked up a few important details about lab work. 

        Last summer I interned at UPenn, and while doing similar experiments, a year changes a lot. First of all, it appears that the jump from 15 to 16 in age grants a few extra perks. For example, I ran PCRs and electrophoreses, cut frozen tissues and stained samples, even received an intern badge! Suddenly, I found myself in a lab coat casually pipetting DNA samples into Eppendorf tubes for analysis alone (sounds cooler than reality). 

        While nothing changed between my experiences this year and last, there is a more professional notion at Jefferson-- possibly due to a larger amount of Asian scientists. It was a different type of work as well; a lot more individual projects in an open lab space. I’m pretty sure I could’ve gone an entire day without communicating if needed. 

        As for this experience granting insight on my future… well, I remain undecided. While science-ing in a science lab, work wasn’t particularly *fantastic* or sensationally appealing. There were parts I enjoyed – experiments, mostly – and parts I didn’t. Thus, I suppose I’ll try again next year, but maybe not a lab.

【紅霞譯文】

        什麼是工作？工作──一種單調乏味、無休無止追求晉升的職業？或是坐在辦公桌前，一天八個小時苦思冥想計算機上的符號？或是一天四個鐘頭對着麥克風跟素昧平生的人談話？或是在攝影機前面帶笑容，向成千上萬的觀眾揮手道別？再不然就是負責把鏡頭瞄準對象？

       不管它是什麼，美國社會環境決定了人生大半輩子必須工作，而且頭20年不光要學習生存能力，還得培養打拼職場的潛質。滑稽的是，學生們直到最後三、四年才抉擇職業，不過這個問題留待以後再談。

         我正進入最後一個階段教育環節，大學生涯迫在眉睫，心裡像十五個吊桶打水七上八下，但好歹知道“兵來將擋，水來土掩”。然而，在事情發生之前，接受高等教育乃至迎接新世界的前提條件少不了實習見習，如此說來，身為普天下所有望子成龍望女成鳳的亞洲父母，都會激勵自己的孩子在所不辭，哪怕上刀山下火海。

        我寧願跳油鍋爬太陽，也不想身受化學實驗室的危害，因為火焰之外，尚有許多其它可能影響本人健康的神秘物質存在。考慮到這一點，媽媽抓住我的注意力，象徵性地把我丟進傑弗遜神經學醫院實驗室，在於博士和陳博士的指導下，她期待我體驗科學，沒準還能說服我投身科研領域，而我的目標則有所不同：儘量不浪費研究經費，千萬別作死。

        如果你讀到這裡，恐怕我沒意外染上有害疾病。極有可能。另一方面，我也許免不了幾度懊悔搞砸了實驗，嘿，這有啥新奇的。無論如何，我從實驗室工作中收穫了一點重要心得。

        去年夏天，我在賓州大學實習，儘管當時做過類似實驗，但一年來變化很大。首先，從15歲飛躍到16歲，我贏得一點特殊待遇。比方說，我動手做聚合酶鏈式反應和電泳跑膠、給冰凍組織切片並染色、甚至領到實習生身份證！忽然間，我發現自己穿上白大褂麻溜地將脫氧核糖核酸樣品移到微型試管里進行分析（聽起來比現實還酷）。

        雖然今年與去年相比我的經驗沒有多大長進，但傑斐遜大學有着更加強化的專業信念―可能緣於亞裔科學家較多，工作類型也不盡相同；在一個開放實驗室內，很多人都在從事各自獨立的研究課題，我敢肯定，如果必要的話，我可以整天悶頭不語。

        至於這種經驗為我的未來提供多少指南……這麼說吧，我依然拿不定主意。在科學實驗室做科研，工作並非特別*了不起*或別具誘惑力，我有喜歡的部分──主要是實驗──也有不喜歡的地方，因此，我想明年再試一回，但可能不進實驗室。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2018: Venice—Last Day in Water City, Italy(意大利威尼斯─道別水城)

2017: Budapest—Pearl of the Danube, HUN(匈牙利布達佩斯—多瑙河明珠)

2017: Budapest—Matthias Church, Hungary(匈牙利布達佩斯—馬加什教堂)

2017: Budapest—Queen of the Danube, HUN(匈牙利布達佩斯—多瑙河女王)

2017: Budapest the Heart of Europe, HUN(匈牙利布達佩斯—歐洲心腹之地)

2017: Budapest the Capital of Freedom, Hungary(匈牙利布達佩斯—自由之都)

2016: Belfast—Linenopolis, NIR(北愛爾蘭貝爾法斯特—亞麻大都會)

2016: Gaelic Towns, NIR(北愛爾蘭愛爾蘭蓋爾村鎮)

2016: Glens of Antrim, NIR(北愛爾蘭安特里姆峽谷)

2016: Antrim Coast Road A2, NIR(北愛爾蘭安特里姆海岸A2公路)

2016: County Antrim the Lone Ridge, NIR(北愛爾蘭安特里姆郡—孤獨的農場)

2016: Giant's Causeway of NIR, UK(北愛爾蘭巨人堤道)

2014: YMCA Camp—Outdoor Pool-2(基督教青年會營戲水池之二)

Crosslink(相關博文):

2018: Ninth-Grade Summer Internship @ UPenn(賓大高一暑假見習)

10th Grade(高中二年級)