上周，近期刚刚收获美国多所顶尖学府录取通知书的Daniel同学来到FLIS TALK, 通过精心准备的演讲与大家分享了多年来在福州西湖国际学校所学所获，以及珍贵的升学经验。

Last week, Daniel, who has recently been accepted to several top schools in the U.S., came to FLIS TALK and gave a well-prepared speech to share what he has learned over the years at Fuzhou Lakeside International School, as well as his valuable experience in further education.

说到FLIS TALK, Daniel同学与这个栏目倒是缘分匪浅：作为听众，他通过之前的讲座了解到iGEM（国际遗传工程机器设计竞赛，麻省理工学院于2004年首创的世界级合成生物学竞赛）并参与其中；作为采访主持，他与嘉宾就药物研发展开深入对谈；如今作为主讲人，他又将自己这些年的成长娓娓道来，同与大家分享。

When it comes to the FLIS TALK, Daniel's relationship with this column is very close: as an audience member, Daniel learned about iGEM (Internationally Genetically Engineered Machine, a world-class synthetic biology competition pioneered by MIT in 2004) through previous lectures and participated in it; as an interviewer, he had in-depth conversations with guests about the pharmaceutical industry; and now as a speaker, he shares his own growth over the years with other students.

九岁之前，Daniel的身体一直不算太好。彼时，每个月要多次前往医院的他听着诊室、病房里其他孩子的哭声，沮丧之余也不免开始思考，自己能做些什么，比如更加了解人体结构，比如改善人的健康状况……他对生理学的兴趣就此萌芽。进入FLIS后，在中学课堂上Daniel由当时的科学老师引介，迈入生物学的大门，之后，经过自主探索、校内外讲座、活动、竞赛等等，他进一步细化、明确了自己现阶段的研究兴趣所在，并据此确定了三类大学申请方向：营养学、神经科学与微观生物学。

Up until he was nine years old, Daniel's health was not very good. At that time, he had to go to the hospital several times a month and listened to the cries of other children in the clinic and ward. While he was frustrated, he started to think about what he could do, such as understanding more about the structure of the human body and improving human health. His interest in physiology sprouted from there. After entering FLIS, Daniel was introduced to biology by his then science teacher Mr. Cyrus. Afterwards, through independent exploration, lectures, activities, competitions, etc., he further refined and clarified his current research interests, and accordingly determined three directions of college applications: nutritional science, neuroscience and microbiology.

提到Daniel，不少FLIS老师的首要印象都是：这是个相当自律的学生。此次分享会，他针对大学申请、备考、时间安排等方方面面都给出了建议，其规划之详尽与条理之清晰令人佩服。Daniel同学的自律或有其家族传统。据他介绍，自己与父母、哥哥有个施行多年的传统：每月举办一次的家庭会议。多数情况下，会议分为三部分，兄弟俩的财政梳理、目标管理（规划-执行-查核-行动），以及全家人的阅读分享。这一家庭会议在Daniel的生活中扮演了相当重要的角色，不仅让他与家人的关系更加紧密，培养了他的理财意识，还让他在自律的同时也善于自省。

The first thing that strikes many FLIS teachers when they think of Daniel is that he is a very disciplined student. Daniel's self-discipline may be due to his family tradition. According to him, he, his parents and brother have a tradition that has been in place for many years: family monthly meeting. There are three sections in the meeting: Financial accounting (Daniel and his brother), PDCA plan or sort of KPI Excel (Daniel and Brother), book sharing (all four). This family meeting has played a significant role in Daniel's life, not only bringing him closer to his family and modifying his financial awareness, but also allowing him to be self-disciplined and self-reflective at the same time.

但追问之下，Daniel同学倒不认为自己有多么自律，他认为当自己对一件事产生了极大兴趣，并看到了行动带来的回报时——当目标确定——计划与执行也就水到渠成。如果一定要说自己有什么优点，Daniel愿意用"open-minded"形容自己，这样的开放心态体现在他对新鲜事物的兴趣（包括同龄人少有涉及的咏春、武夷山茶文化等等）、对得失的坦然，他习惯于不将挑战视作挑战，而用一种尝试的心态去面对。

But when asked, Daniel doesn't think he's all that disciplined. He believes that when he is interested in something and sees the rewards of action - when the goal is set - the planning and execution will follow. Daniel would like to describe himself as "open-minded". This open-mindedness is reflected in his interest in new things (including Wing Chun, Wuyi Mountain tea culture, etc., which few of his peers are involved in), his openness to gains and losses, and his habit of not seeing challenges as challenges, but rather facing them with a mindset of trying.

兴趣，是Daniel同学给学弟学妹建议的关键词之一：它是最佳驱动力。兴趣可以帮助你找到自己的目标，而将感兴趣的知识运用到生活里之后又能顺势保持住这种兴趣，产生持续前进的动力。那么，是寻找目标难，还是制定计划、乃至坚持执行更难？Daniel的答案是，最难不过坚持。许多时候，在完成一些短期出不了成果的任务时，那种无意义感往往令人备受打击，这也是他在演讲中给大家提出另一个建议——拆分任务、设置阶段性奖励——的原因之一。因为这样有助于形成积极的心理循环，让人觉得每个小目标的完成都有回报，从而能够长久坚持下去，实现既定的终极目标。

Interest is one of the key words that Daniel advises FLIS students on: it is the best driving force. Interest can help you find your goal, and applying the knowledge you are interested in to your life can help you maintain that interest and create the motivation to keep going. So, is it harder to find a goal, or is it harder to make a plan, or even stick to it? Daniel's answer is that the hardest part is persistence. Many times, the sense of meaninglessness when completing tasks that don't produce results in the short term is often devastating, which is one of the reasons he gave another suggestion in his talk - to split tasks and set rewards in stages. Because this helps to form a positive psychological cycle, so that people feel that the completion of each small goal is rewarded, so that they can persist for a long time to achieve the ultimate goal.

交流中，Daniel同学亦不忘提及FLIS给予他的种种帮助。他至今记得初来乍到时，班主任外教会在课前让大家围坐在一起畅谈，时间不长，但对拉近距离有奇效，使用英语交谈的忧虑渐渐就消解无踪；纷繁多样的教学活动与课外活动令他变得阳光开朗，也增长了学术自信。在Daniel看来，FLIS的小班教学能让教师给到每个学生足够的关注，结合个体不同升学及发展方向定制的教育计划也更有利于学生升学、成长。Daniel就常在课余时间与信任的老师聊研究专业、未来方向，或许，在无数次看似“闲聊”的过程中，他也收获了诸多宝贵的建议。

During the exchange, Daniel also mentioned the help he received from FLIS. He still remembers that when he first entered FLIS, the foreign homeroom teacher let everyone sit around and talk before class, which didn't take long, but it worked wonders to bring them closer together. His worries about speaking in English gradually disappeared; the variety of teaching and extracurricular activities has helped him to be more outgoing than he used to be, and to grow in academic confidence. In Daniel's opinion, the small class sizes at FLIS allow teachers to give each student enough attention, and the customized education plans are more conducive to students' further education and growth. Perhaps, in the process of numerous seemingly "casual talks", he has also gained a lot of valuable advice.

此次FLIS TALK中，Daniel为学弟学妹分享的宝贵经验还有许多。我们将于近期在官方视频号放出全场视频，敬请期待！也再次祝贺Daniel同学收获多封顶尖学府录取通知书，若人生是绵延不绝的定向游戏，愿他能行至开阔处，在过程中收获更多精彩、更多可能性。我们下期FLIS TALK再见！

In this FLIS TALK, Daniel shared many more valuable experiences for FLIS students. We will be releasing the full video on the official video account soon, so stay tuned! If life is an endless game of orienteering, we hope he will be able to walk to the open place and gain more excitement and possibilities in the process. See you in the next FLIS TALK!