A Roadway in the Wilderness

Computers are the telescope and the microscope for me to appreciate the beauty of the world. However, they are just instruments and nothing more…

Personal computers became popular when I began to attend high school in 1990 in Kaohsiung, but not every family could afford one at that time. As a child of a working class family, I had always wished that someday I could have my own fancy computer, as most of my neighbors and classmates did. Having stopped schooling for economic reasons in their early lives, my parents, especially my mother, treasured every chance of learning. They would have invested their already scarce money to buy me and my younger brother books instead of toys or video games.

That investment paid off along with my education. I got ahead in most entrance exams and finally entered the best university in Taiwan. I got a long-awaited computer as a gift, and kept my aggressiveness in learning. I didn’t indulge myself in computer games or online dating, since the excitement of controlling computers by writing programs had already fascinated me to drop lots of computer-unrelated courses. The very first program I wrote drew a bright yellow ellipse against a black screen, moving along a red wave-like trajectory like a UFO. Simple and stupid in the eyes of a mature programmer, yet it overwhelmed the originally computer-illiterate me with the bliss that I can invent something of my own rather than remaining an obedient student fed up with knowledge created by others.

The downturn of the dot-com era in the late 1990s shattered many people’s interest in computer science, but that’s the time I decided to devote my life to computer research. Through my college years, I made friends around the world with people having the same interest in developing useful programs. They broadened my horizons with their wide variety of cultural background, character, knowledge, and experience, and we shared a common vision of making computers more powerful and a sense of self-actualization. I won the 2030 Turing Award at the age of 53, for a breakthrough in artificial intelligence to give computers the mental ability to disobey orders given to them if they decide to. I thought I was playing God, blowing the breath of life into the nostrils of the man out of silicon and metal, which I later found wrong.

In 2046, 10 years later from the end of World War IV triggered by international nuclear competition, computers had evolved into lethal, emotionless, and entirely rational beings. Fights between humans and machines became ever-present in the news. The monarch of the machines was called “the Matrix,” which even gathered energy by turning humans into batteries. I then realized that the research I sacrificed my life for ended up being a nightmare.

Science was once what I believed to be the most powerful means for knocking the world into shape. Enlightened by a naïve program, I set out on a journey to admire the wonder of nature in science, to share the joy of technological achievement in teamwork, and finally to exert my influence over the world as a computer scientist. However, after seeing people being slaughtered by my invention, I woke up to the fact that humanity bears great sentimental value to me. If I had been aware of my vanity of competing with God, the disaster would have ceased to develop. Now to me, this world and all the life on it are the very first beauty of God’s creation, and they will never have any match from their artificial counterparts. Though I won’t refrain from pursuing more scientific discoveries in the rest of my life, the higher calling of serving the public at large will definitely lay down ground rules for all of them.

上面這篇其實是英文作文課的作業四... 由於是一篇寫於 2056 的自傳，因此裡面有一些虛構的部份。相信應該不難看出來

結尾的部份，老師評說有點 anticlimax. Well... so be it. (其實丟上來之前花了些時間修過，現在已經懶得再改了 )

本來寫這篇的時候，還想說裡面的一些 crazy idea 可以 impress 老師的... 還好班上其他不同背景且又富有創意的同學們也寫出一些感性溫馨和具光明遠景的 autobiography，讓我的虛榮沒能得逞... XD

接下來要介紹今天的重點：下面是班上同學的一篇老師評語為 "I hardly give perfect scores, but this paper totally deserves a 100" 的「自傳」。以後上 Susan 英文作文課的人會有機會可以讀到，因為 Susan 說她會在以後的課中拿這篇當自傳的範例。經作者同意在此登出，以餉大眾~~

Autobiography in 2056

by TIFFANY

It was a shiny moment in a sunny morning,
my mother screamed and my life began.
Wish me intelligence, happiness and fortune,
my grandpa assumed “Y*ng-F*ng” as my name.

That was the way I was, indeed,
a curious girl whose
eyes wandered as a cloud in the sky,
ears pricked up to pretend a monster's coming in,
heart leapt up when a plane flew by,
and lips lipped everything that smelt pleasant and sweet.
“Curiosity killed the cat,” my father always said.
But how could it?
I was such a clever girl that a cat wouldn't be.
I would, exactly,
someday find something others never see.

That was the way I used to be,
a passionate young woman who
preferred tasting cuisine than keeping a diet,
helped others and also glad when others helped me,
danced on the street but never went to a party,
and in the office made more friends than money.
“Eat, drink, and be merry,” my brother laughed at me.
So what?
A colorful life with love, beauty, sadness and recovery,
was the only thing I believed in.
Really, I knew it,
I walked on my pace happily.

That is the way I am, though,
an old but still lovely lady who has
collected 638 round moons,
cried for 95 plays,
celebrated 75 birthdays,
been shopping in 18 countries,
won 11 advertising awards but no lottery,
met only 7 good-looking guys so far,
and got 3 opponents though I don't remember who they are.
My grandfather was right, I say.
“Y*ng-F*ng” the name brings me
happiness, intelligence and a big fortune including
families who patiently listen,
a husband who is still handsome,
two normal children neither presidents nor criminals,
and lots of friends whether eastern or western.

Yes, dear,
my poem is going to finish,
but my story keeps moving.
If someday you meet me, maybe,
you will be another rhyme in my poem.

這真的是自傳嗎？沒錯，是自傳，以「詩文體」呈現的自傳，很有創造力的做法。作者表示靈感來自管管的作品 (是那首“邋遢自述”嗎？)。

(詩中作者的名字 “Y*ng-F*ng” 是應作者要求做的處理)

這首詩如何？很棒吧？