Essay One: Describe an interesting activity that has been particularly meaningful to you. (500 words)

In 2001 when I was still a second-year student in a senior middle school, I was awarded the honorable prize in the Ninth National English Proficiency Competition for School Students, in which I was ranked the seventh among 80,000 students from almost 1,000 middle schools in the city where I lived in.

CET4 is a required test for all undergraduates in universities to pass before they graduate. In 1999, though I was still in my third year of junior middle school, I had passed it with a high score. My score in TOEFL is 660 and my TWE is 4.5 and I got the full mark in the comprehensive reading section. My high scores in those tests turned out to be a great surprise to all who know me.

Besides English, I began to learn Japanese when I was in the first year of senior middle school and in the second year I passed the internationally authorized test of Japanese Language Proficiency band 2, the passer of which is capable of the same language competence as those native Japanese students in senior middle school. On account of all my achievements in the past, all my teachers have already affirmed my competence in foreign languages.

Why am I so crazy about foreign languages? First of all, I should give my gratefulness to the middle school where I studied. Being one of the best middle schools in China, it offered me many valuable chances to exert my talent on language. Secondly, I should give my acknowledgement to our epoch in which I live. It makes me realize the great importance of language ability in the gradually shrinking globe since it determines the fact that the final victor as well as the successful country must be good not only at communication but also at learning. Last but not the least, I should give my thanks to my parents. Since I was born in an intellectual family, my parents influence me unconsciously with their own emphasis on language learning.

In the process of learning a foreign language, I am always excited whenever I think I am learning a total different language. Different culture, different people and their different thinking, habits and behaviors, all are unspeakable temptations for me. Like a mariner at the sea, I am driven by the sense of mystery in learning how to travel even further on my journey. Of course, high scores in tests are always hand in hand with efficient learning methods. Both strong interest and efficient learning methods contribute to my outstanding achievements in study, which correspondingly encourage me to make more progress in my study.

Because of my good competence in foreign languages, I help some foreign-affairs-related units to receive foreign guests, in order to perfect my oral English and to practice communicative ability because the foreign guests speak their native language with the purest pronunciation and intonation. I learn a lot from them while my oral English is highly praised by them.

In learning foreign languages, I broaden my horizon. Through reading extensively and talking with native speakers, I find the disadvantages of our nation and at same time realize the importance of management, which are the direct reason for me to study in USA and to experience different life and culture in a new country.