Up until a few years ago, I thought hummingbirds had no feet. I had graduated from college with honors and was writing and producing newscasts for a nationally recognized television station, yet I still believed that hummingbirds never perched on a branch to take a break from flying. How could they stop and rest if they didn’t have any feet?

I was a freckle-faced five-year-old on my grandmother’s back porch in Lawrence, Kansas, when I first encountered a hummingbird. It seemed like the yellow-bellied birds never gave up, never stopped their frantic flapping in pursuit of food. I never saw a hummingbird land, and I couldn’t see any feet, so I simply assumed that they didn’t have any.

When I finally figured out that hummingbirds actually did have feet, the realization was slightly embarrassing. I endured taunts from my coworkers and minor humiliation, but in the end, the hummingbirds taught me a little something about myself. Before the incident, I had considered myself a naturally inquisitive journalist with excellent instincts and a knack for retaining details. Apparently, hummingbirds turned out to be the one topic that I had failed to research properly. As a result, I started to question my surroundings more than I ever had before. It was also about this time that I first seriously considered attending law school.

Like those hummingbirds I saw as a child, I have always pursued my goals relentlessly. After graduating from the University of Colorado, I packed up and moved to California, determined to make a name for myself as a journalist. Shortly after arriving in San Francisco, I was offered a job writing for the Nine O’Clock News on BayTV. It was quite a coup for a guy fresh out of college to land a job in the fifth-largest television market in the country. Every day, I researched and wrote more than a dozen stories, taking information from various sources and explaining it in an unbiased, twenty-second news clip.

Television is a taxing career with long and odd hours, but the overnight shifts were worth it for the thrill of a great story. I researched the intricacies of a scandal involving California’s former insurance commissioner and the unethical settlements he negotiated following the Northridge earthquake. I tackled legal assignments ranging from the 2000 presidential election and Supreme Court decision to the battle over leash laws and vicious dog statutes in San Francisco.

At Bay TV, my manager promoted me to producer in charge of the entire newscast. Supervising older and more experienced workers taught me invaluable lessons about communication. I then moved on to write for both KRON and KPIX. Now, I’m ready to continue my personal and professional growth by pursuing a law degree.

I have been preparing for law school since I was an undergraduate. I took several political science and law courses, including communications law and two semesters of constitutional law. In these classes, I discovered my fascination for the legal system and my concern for people’s rights. After graduation, I volunteered at the Legal Aid Society of Colorado. I completed the LSATs more than a year ago, and I’ve spent the time since then reading up on various schools and programs.

My research has led me back home to the University of Colorado. In addition to Colorado’s highly regarded programs in appellate advocacy and environmental law, I am also excited about the Legal Aid and Defender Program. My past experiences with legal aid programs made quite an impression on me, and I look forward to taking part in a program that will further my education while helping the community at the same time.

My snap judgment about hummingbirds made me vulnerable to good-natured kidding from my friends. But that judgment taught me an important lesson: there is always another side to a story and more information to uncover. With law school, I have not made any unfounded assumptions, the way I did with the hummingbirds. I have fully researched and considered the implications of applying to law school, and I’m certain that my unrelenting diligence and strong work ethic will aid me in my pursuit of a law degree. I also know now that I am ready for the commitment of law school and a legal career, and, most importantly, I know that hummingbirds do, in fact, have feet.

點評：

作者一直天真地不假思索地認為蜂鳥是沒有腳的，但后來得知事實并非如此。身為一名名牌大學的優秀畢業生和一名對事實真相有著靈敏觸覺的新聞工作者，作者竟然會毫無根據地對事件做出推斷，導致了蜂鳥這一鬧劇而遭到同事和朋友們的嘲笑。作者對此進行了反思，事件雖小，但作者卻看到了自己的不足。原以為自己心思比較縝密，考慮比較周到，但現在卻發現自己原來還是會做一些理所當然的推測，缺乏尋求真相的主動性。于是這使他萌生了去法學院學習的念頭，并決定將他的職業生涯奉獻給那些需要幫助的人們。這是一個崇高的理想，也是作者似乎已下定決心追求的目標。

這是一篇比較好的反問，它說明，一段平凡的經歷也可以完全可以像那些轟動大事一樣產生轉折性的影響。所以當你動筆寫Essay時，不僅應該花時間想想那些顯而易見的教訓，也要思考那些你沒有指望要學到的東西。但無論你從轉折的瞬間中吸取了什么經驗教訓，都要盡量解釋它如何在更多方面影響著你的一生。這也是這篇文章中所缺少的一點，如果文章可以詳細闡述思考過程中的一些細節，那就會更有說服力了。

譯文：

蜂鳥

幾年之前，我一直以為蜂鳥是沒有腳的。我雖然是大學畢業并獲得榮譽畢業生的稱號，畢業后還在國內一家比較出名的電視臺負責新聞稿的編輯工作，但是我始終認為蜂鳥是不會停止飛行而在樹枝上棲息的。如果它們沒有腳又怎能停止下來休息片刻呢？

我首次碰見蜂鳥是在家在堪薩斯州勞倫斯鎮的祖母的后走廊里，那時的我是一個臉上生有雀斑的五歲小孩。蜂鳥就像黃腹啄木鳥一樣從來都不休息，也從來不會停止他們的獵食飛行活動。我從來就沒有看見一只蜂鳥飛落到地面，也從來未曾看到過他們的腳，所以我就簡單地認為它們是沒有腳的。

后來當我發現蜂鳥確實是有腳的，這一事實令我有點尷尬。我曾為此被同事們嘲笑，自己也感到一絲的羞愧，但最終是蜂鳥讓我進行了自我反思。在這之前，我認為自己是一個不折不扣的充滿好奇心的新聞工作者，有著靈敏的觸覺和追求細節的恒心。但顯而易見蜂鳥事件是一個我沒有足夠研究清楚的例子。于是我開始比以前更加嚴重地質疑我身邊的人和事。也是從那時起我開始想著要去法學院念書。

就像我兒時所見的蜂鳥一樣，我總是瘋狂地追求著我自己的目標。在科羅拉多大學畢業之后，我收拾好行裝，移居到加州并決定要成為一名出色的新聞工作者。在到達San Francisco后不久，我就在海灣電視臺的找到了一份工作，主要是做九點新聞稿的編輯工作。對于一個剛剛大學畢業出來的學生，能在國內的第五大電視臺里工作簡直是出人意料的。每天我都在收集資料并且撰寫十幾篇新聞稿，試著從不同的源頭里獲取信息并將其加工成不帶個人主觀意識的20秒的片段新聞。

電視廣播業是一份工作繁重的職業，工作時間長而且不定時，但是為了能夠寫出優美的故事，熬夜工作也是值得的。我曾調查過前保險業委員的有關在Northridge地震過后進行的不正當交易丑聞中錯綜復雜的關系。我所報道過的與法律相關的有2000年總統大選事件和和舊金山的犬類出戶有關條例的制定。

在海灣電視臺，經理晉升我為整個新聞臺的制片人。管理一些高資歷和經驗豐富的老員工使我明白了溝通的重要性。然后我也繼續寫與KRON與KPIX的報道。現在我想通過攻讀一個法律碩士的課程來提高我的個人以及專業水平。

我從本科階段開始就為我以后在法學院的學習做準備。那時候我就選修了多門政治科學和法律的課程，包括和交通運輸法兩個學期的憲法課程。上了這些課程之后，我發現我對法律體系的學習非常的感興趣，同時我對于人權的話題也非常的關注。

我的研究工作讓我回到了我的母校－科羅拉多大學。除了學習科羅拉多大學有名的上訴辯護和環境法課程以外，我還對法律援助和辯護感興趣。我之前對于法律援助知識的學習給我留下了非常深刻的印象，我也期待著我能更深入地去學習這方面的知識，這樣一方面可以提高自己對這方面內容的理解同時也可以幫助到別人。

我對蜂鳥的所下的莽撞的判斷使得我對于朋友們善意的嘲笑有點耿耿于懷。但是也是那次莽撞的判斷使我上了重要的一課：凡事都有兩面，有很多信息等著我們去挖掘。在法學院里面沒有憑據的假設是不被允許的，就像我對蜂鳥所下的毫無根據的判斷不被允許一樣。我已經做了很深入的研究，也知道進去法學院對我來說意味著些什么，而我堅信我堅持不懈的努力和我的良好的職業道德會幫助我在法學院的學習。我也知道自己已經為進入法學院和以后從事法律相關的工作做好了準備。而最重要的是，現在我知道蜂鳥是有腳的。