姐姐曾告诉我，如果我闭上眼睛，向一束蒲公英轻轻吹一口气，我所有的愿望都会实现。我就那么轻易地相信了，甚至早早起床去找寻那束蒲公英。爸爸妈妈一定笑话过我：那个无知的小女孩儿在后院摸爬着四处找寻，然后对着为数不多的灰色种子吹，直到脸颊都吹疼了。

我总是许一些听上去很不切实际的愿望，我渴望拥有一只猴子，一只鹦鹉和一只独角兽；我渴望长大后成为就像拥有非凡力量的公主希瑞的人。我许了一千多个愿望，当然，这还远远不够…

我一直都希望那些愿望成真，但是它们都没有实现。这时，我就会跑到姐姐面前，让她给我解释，她总是微笑着说我许愿的方式不对，只有在一种特定的方式下，愿望才能实现。我用一种仰望和崇拜的眼神看着她，认为姐姐说的一定是对的。那时的她比我大十岁的样子，已经对这个世界很了解了，所以我以为姐姐讲的一定是对的，我又乖乖地回去，再次尝试。

时间一点点过去，我也渐渐在长大。我眼里的“女神”姐姐离家出走了。突然失去她的光环我很不适应，所以大部分时间都在呆呆地望着窗外，想象她去哪里了，为什么不告诉我们。有时候也会到外面抓一束蒲公英回来，许一个愿望，想让姐姐快点回来。每一次，也都急切地想把愿望快点许完，好可以快点实现。

等了很久，我不抱任何希望了，不只是对姐姐回家这件事情，还有对着蒲公英许愿。我对姐姐离开从一开始有些震惊，现在变成了有些生气，甚至排斥她以及她之前告诉过我的一切。我已不再是那个总爱幻想的小女生，取而代之的是并不让人开心的青少年时期，总会有人在我耳边唠叨，我应该更加了解现实，而不是活在虚幻的幻想里面。这些经历告诉我，忘记我曾经期待过的独角兽，不要再妄想长大后还可以成为高大时尚，拥有非凡力量的希瑞公主，不要再傻了，不要再那么感性了，去看看现实生活，接受自己本来的样子，也要了解姐姐是什么样子，好好过现实的生活。

很长一段时间，我试图抛下曾经的幻想，曾经的愿望，一头扎进学校，奋发学习，获得更好的分数，让更多的同学知道我。一段时间过后，我在各方面都遥遥领先，甚至每天早上已不再毫无防御的啜泣，取而代之的竟是冷漠的耸肩，丝毫无所谓。然而，这些我都不开心，很多时候，我都会莫名地脑子里面一直想着蒲公英，想着姐姐…

我试图将他们忘记，但是我慢慢地不再生气和愤怒，也渐渐醒悟，那个曾经的自己一点点又一次渗透出来。不论那些看透现实的人怎么努力，我仍然开始注视外面的蒲公英，甚至会许愿。

当然再也不似从前了，以前大部分愿望和期待都永远消失了。我再也不会期待着有叫做独角兽的宠物了。而且更多的愿望不再虚幻，而是基于现实的多一些。比如以前会幻想成为城堡里的公主或者充满魔力的女魔法师，现在会希望生活在丛林里，或者像塞林格一样写小说，亦或者独奏或管弦乐伴奏的柴可夫斯基的协奏曲等等。我现在脑海里的愿望都只如这些一般。我曾经拒绝现实的存在，可事实上它们就在那里。自姐姐离开的时候，我就已渐然明白。

我必须承认正是这些愿望，让我不再觉得每天在学校的那些努力毫无意义，让我每天过得开心。也是这些愿望和希望终有一天可以实现的希冀，让我没有成为野兽般冷漠的样子，让我没有掉进毫无意义的竞争的跑道上。没有它们，我想我早就放弃了，早就跌倒在跑道上了。

我很长时间才接受这一事实，我不应否定梦想，那么多年来，年少的我一直活在其中。为了以后的成功和更好的生活，我需要在这两者间找到平衡。

姐姐是对的，我一直都没有找到实现愿望的正确方式。如今，我更明白了。此时此刻，我走进花园，捧起一束蒲公英，我相信愿望会实现的。

英文原版赏析

ESSAY27:“Dandelion Dreams”

--By Emmeline Chuang

My big sister once told me that if I shut my eyes and blew on a dandelioin puff, all of my wishes would come true. I used to believe her and would wake up early in the morning to go dandelion hunting. How my parents must have laughed to see me scrambling out in the backyard, plucking little gray weeds, and blowing out the seeds until my cheeks hurt.

I made the most outrageous wishes. I wished to own a monkey, a parrot, and a unicorn; I wished to grow up and be just like She-Ra, Princess of Power. And, of course, I wished for a thousand more wishes so I would never run out.

I always believed my wishes would come true. When they didn’t, I ran to my sister and demanded an explanation. She laughed and said I just hadn’t done it right.

“It only works if you do it a certain way,” she told me with a little smile. I watched her with side, admiring eyes and thought she must be right. She was ten years older than me and knew the ways of the world; nothing she said could be wrong. I went back and tried again.

Time passed, and I grew older. My “perfect” sister left home – not telling my parents where she had gone. Shocked by her apparent fall from grace, I spent most of my time staring out the window. I wondered where she had gone and why she hadn’t told us where she was going. Occasionally, I wandered outside to pluck a few dandelions and wish for my sister’s return. Each time, I hoped desperately that I had done it the right way and that the wish would come true.

But it never happened.

After a while, I gave up – not only on my sister – but on the dandelions as well. Shock had changed to anger and then to rejection of my sister and everything she had told me. The old dreamer within me vanished and was replaced by a harsh teen-age cynic who told me over and over that I should have known better than to believe in free wishes. It chided me for my past belief in unicorns and laughed at the thought of my growing up to be a five foot eleven, sleek She-Ra. It told me to stop being silly and sentimental and to realize the facts of life, to accept what I was and what my sister was, and live with it.

For a while I tried. I abandoned my old dreams, my old ideas, and threw myself entirely into school and the whole dreary rat race of scrabbling for grades and popularity. After a time, I even began to come out ahead and could start each day with an indifferent shrug instead of a defeated whimper. Yet none of it made me happy. For some reason, I kept on thinking about dandelions and my sister.

I tried to forget about both, but the edge of my anger and disillusionment wore away and the essence of my old self started to seep through again. Despite the best efforts of the cynic in me, I continually found myself staring out at those dandelions and making wishes.

It wasn’t the same as before, of course. Most of my old dreams and ideals had vanished forever. Certainly, I could never wish for a unicorn as a pet and actually mean it now. No, my dreams were different now, less based on fantasy and more on reality.

Dreams of becoming a princess in a castle or a magical sorceress had changed into hopes of someday living in the woods and writing novels like J. D. Salinger, or playing Tchaikovsky’s Concerto in A to orchestral accompaniment. These were the dreams that floated through my mind now. They were tempered by a caution that hadn’t been there before, but they were there. For the first time since my sister’s departure, I was acknowledging their presence.

I had to, for it was these dreams that diluted the pure meaninglessness of my daily struggles in school and made me happy. It was these dreams and the hope of someday fulfilling them that ultimately saved me from falling into the clutches of the dreaded beast of apathy that lurked alongside the trails of the rat race. Without them, I think I would have given up and stumbled off the tracks long ago.

It took a long time for me to accept this truth and to admit that my cynical self was wrong in denying me my dreams, just as my youthful self had been wrong in living entirely within them. In order to succeed and survive, I needed to find a balance between the two.

My sister was right; I hadn’t been going after my dreams the right way. Now I know better. This time around, when I go into the garden and pick my dandelion puff, my wishes will come true.

注：ESSAY选自哈佛成功ESSAY50篇之第一版