Hsu Chung-hsin, a law professor at National Cheng Kung University, would have missed out on studying at the University of Cambridge if he had written his address correctly when applying to study abroad several years ago.
Hsu’s English listening ability had never been good. When his school classmates were getting grades of 85 points or higher in their English tests, Hsu once got a measly 19 points. When he was preparing for the exams to study overseas, he couldn’t afford to buy a complete set of books and tapes and had to settle instead for a few tapes that he listened to repeatedly. When he came across something he didn’t understand, he’d spend an entire afternoon at the bookshop searching for the answer.
When his professor suggested that he apply to every university ranked below the University of London, he sent out 30 applications, but heard nothing back from any of them. Undeterred, he sent out another batch of applications to world famous establishments like Oxford and Cambridge, and to small universities he’d barely heard of. Six months later he still hadn’t heard a thing from any of them.
照片:自由時報記者張嘉明
Hsu refused to accept the apparent rejections and began to suspect that he had written his address incorrectly. His family lived at 21 Guang Hwa St, Sinhua Township, Tainan County, so he sent his brother to visit every building numbered 21 in town to see if the occupants had been erroneously receiving his mail. When he got to 21 Chung Hwa Road, the owner produced a stack of acceptance letters from 40 universities, including the University of Cambridge, the London School of Economics and the University of London.
It turned out that the post office had been sending the mail for Guang Hwa Street to Chung Hwa Road. Perplexed, his brother asked the occupant, “Why didn’t you just send the letters back to the post office?” The embarrassed occupant replied, “My daughter is studying English so we let her have the letters to practice with.”
Fortunately the story has a happy ending, because if Hsu had accepted the initial university offers he would never have applied to Cambridge. Fours years later he became the fifth Taiwanese student to get a PhD in law from the University of Cambridge and, according to his professors, he was the quickest to do so.(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY TAIJING WU)
在成功大學法律系教書的許忠信教授,要不是數年前將申請學校回函地址寫錯,可能就錯失上劍橋大學的機會。
許忠信的英文聽力不好,在班上人人每科都考八十五分以上的時候,英語曾經考過十九分。到了準備留學考試申請學校,沒錢買整套英文書和錄音帶,只買了部分錄音帶重複聽。遇有聽不懂的地方,就花一整個下午在書店找答案。
申請學校時,教授建議他倫敦大學以下的學校都試試。聽了建議後,他一口氣申請了三十所,卻「全軍覆沒」,沒有任何一所學校有回音。但是他不死心,另外再申請十幾所聽說過的學校,從牛津、劍橋到沒沒無聞的小校都不放過。但是半年過去仍無消息。
許忠信不信邪,研判可能是地址寫錯。他家住「台南縣新化鎮光華街二十一號」,於是託哥哥到鎮上所有街道的二十一號去問,果然「中華路二十一號」主人抱出一大疊劍橋大學、倫敦政經學院、倫敦大學等約四十所大學的入學許可通知書。
原來,郵局把光華街「Guang Hwa Street」的信,錯投至中華路「Chung Hwa Rd.」,許兄納悶問對方:「為何沒把信退回給郵局?」屋主竟歹勢地說:「女兒正在學英文,信都留給女兒做『補充教材』。」
許忠信卻是有著因禍得福的喜悅,因為若早早就接到入學許可,他就無緣念劍橋了!四年後,他成為第五位取得劍橋法學博士的台灣學生,他的教授也稱讚他為第一位這麼快就得到學位的學生。
(自由時報記者謝文華)
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