2021-05-02 International Harry Potter Day

【Aiden in English】

〖Please indicate any special talents or skills you possess. You should write in either paragraph or bulleted-list format (250 words).〗

        Creativity is difficult to achieve. I’d realized this at a young age, banging my head against the desk and trying to overcome writer’s block; however, with time, I discovered the best method to break the creative slowdown is to force your pencil onto the paper, make something up, and go with it.

        The beauty of this strategy unveiled itself at a recent, virtual Science Olympiad invitational. One of my events, Experimental Design, decided that the best procedure would be to list tools and materials rather than provide images. While this made it open for creativity, an event prioritizing the construction of a thorough experiment while not supplying detailed pictures did not seem reasonable.

        My team awaited my instructions. Much like pushing through writer’s block, I decided to open myself to all options and make something up. I imagined sitting in front of a lab bench with a Bunsen burner, copper and aluminum sheets, metal tubing, tweezers, and safety gear lying in front of me. The theme for the event popped into my head: Thermal Expansion.

        I was foreign to chemical physics, but creativity and problem-solving can be found in unexpected places. Through context clues, we designed an experiment that explored the relationship between an increase in temperature and the expansion of copper. Despite having little knowledge of molecular physics, our work on this experiment earned us a 1^st place medal.

【红霞译文】

〖请注明你所拥有的特殊才华或技能，用段落或列表方式书写（250 字）〗

        创造力是很难实现的，我在很小的时候就已经意识到这一点，曾不惜用脑袋瓜狠磕桌子以试图突破写作笔障，但随着时间流逝，我发现改变灵感呆滞的最佳方法就是拿起笔来胡编乱造，然后再从杂乱无章的字迹间整理文思。

        在最近一次线上科学奥林匹克邀请赛中这种策略之美展现得淋漓尽致。我参加的活动之一依照“实验设计”来确定方法和材料才是最佳步骤而非提供图像，尽管这样做可以激发创造力，但在没有详细图片的情况下优先进行全面实验似乎不合常理。

        团队成员正等待我下达指示。如同突破写作笔障，我决定放飞遐思，从中找出解决问题的办法。我想象坐在实验室台前，面对煤气灯、铜铝板、金属管、镊子和安全钳，活动的主题突然浮现在脑海中：热膨胀。

        我不熟悉化学物理，只是无意间创造性地解决了问题。通过上下文线索，我们设计了一个探讨升高温度与铜膨胀关系的实验，虽说对分子物理学了解甚少，不过我们还是在该实验比赛上摘得桂冠。

Withdrawal of Wisdom Teeth @ Commonwealth Oral and Facial Surgery & Dental Implant Ctr

(宾州口腔和面部外科及植牙中心·拔智齿 01/05/2020)

Crosslink(相关博文):

12th Grade(高中四年级)