Fourteen years ago, I decided that I wanted to live in the United States, where I could succeed in any career path I might choose. For a high school student in the small Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, this was a lofty ambition. After five years of crusading against socialistic bureaucracy, I finally boarded a plane to New York in 1991. I had finally achieved the goal that I had set for myself: I was free, in America, to determine my life's path.

At first I was not certain about what I wanted to do with my future, but in the summer of 1993,my plans solidified. While I was visiting my parents in Kyrgyzstan, a friend of mine suggested that I call the American Embassy and ask for a list of organizations that might need a Russian/English interpreter. After calling a few such organizations, I began working for a group that was considering investing $10 million in the development of tourism in Kyrgyzstan. The group, though geographically diverse, all hailed from English-speaking nations: an ecologist from Australia, a lawyer from the US, and a specialist in handcrafts from England. They shared the common goal of helping the Kyrgyz economy to recover. (After the collapse of the USSR, Kyrgyzstan became an independent country, and a variety of international organizations have taken the opportunity to try to jump-start the new economy.) After a month of working with this group, I knew that I wanted to enter the international business world and help to remodel the socialist economy in my homeland. I enrolled in Moscow State University and graduated in 1996,with a degree in International Trade.

The next crucial step in my career advancement is to earn a Masters Degree in International Business. I am eager to learn the psychology of the American corporate world. In addition, I want to acquire a solid grasp of marketing, with a particular interest in the marketing development of the Eastern European and Central Asian regions. Based on the courses the Robinson College of Business offers, as well as its academic reputation, I believe that it will fulfill my needs perfectly. My short-term professional objectives, therefore, are to gain admission to Robinson and to receive excellent grades while enrolled. I am prepared to engage in a challenging curriculum, made particularly difficult by my situation as a single mother. I will strive to set an example for Gabriel, my seven-year-old son, so that he too will learn to persist in attaining his goals.

A few weeks ago, while reading a Russian newspaper on the Internet, I saw an advertisement for some American fat-burning pills. The English meant something like "Five minutes on your lips, all your life on your hips, " but the Russian translation sounded extremely vulgar. As this amusing advertisement demonstrates, cross-cultural skills are critical to international business, but are often overlooked. My ability to speak Russian fluently and my understanding of Russian, Kyrgyz, and American cultures will help enable me to succeed in the global business economy. I think that my intercultural capabilities will be a major contribution to the Robinson student body, as well as an asset to my future career in international marketing.

Along with my cross-cultural savvy, I also hope to bring to Robinson my previous academic experience in international marketing. My final project in Moscow State University was titled "Marketing of Russian Products & Services Abroad Using Stock Company Volga-Dnepr". I spent six months researching and writing my thesis on Volga-Dnepr, a joint venture of the British company Heavy Lift and the Russian company Volga-Dnepr, and a leader in the Russian cargo transport market. I spent most of my time in the marketing department, observing the creation of a company's portfolio, the company's advertising strategies in the international market, and the company's relationships with Russian and foreign clients. The experience proved absolutely fascinating, and I hope to encounter similarly exciting academic endeavors at Robinson.

After studying international marketing in-depth and graduating from Robinson College of Business, I hope to secure a position with a company that operates in Eastern Europe, CIS, or an ex-Soviet republic. My long-term professional objective is to find a job that fully utilizes my unique educational and cultural background. My ideal job would be with a marketing department--I would like to be involved in promoting new products and enhancing the image of current ones. Furthermore, I am interested in conducting marketing research, and building new relationships between American and Russian companies. I might also enjoy working for an international company here in the States, or perhaps in a company like USAID. Eventually, regardless of what career path I choose after earning my Robinson degree, I would like to return to Russia and teach Russian/Kyrgyz companies the key principles of international marketing. I know that I may be aiming high with my career objectives right now, but I have learned from my life thus far that I am capable of achieving my dreams if I set my mind to it. As Henry David Thoreau wrote, "In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, they had better aim at something high."

點(diǎn)評(píng)：

整篇文章內(nèi)容緊湊，閱讀起來很有條理性。并沒有用什么華麗復(fù)雜的詞匯，但是卻從平實(shí)的語句中透露出作者的不平凡的理想。作者來自東歐的一個(gè)小國，高中的時(shí)候就萌生了去美國的愿望并在91實(shí)現(xiàn)。在一次回國探親的偶然機(jī)會(huì)下，通過工作發(fā)現(xiàn)只有把外國先進(jìn)的經(jīng)商理念帶進(jìn)自己的國家才有可能使自己的祖國經(jīng)濟(jì)有所復(fù)蘇，并萌生了學(xué)商的想法并付諸于行動(dòng)。文章中作者也表露出自己對(duì)羅賓遜商學(xué)院的感冒，及從這里畢業(yè)后能夠使自己達(dá)到什么樣的目標(biāo)。

作者還提到了自己是一個(gè)單身媽媽，要以身作則，為自己7歲的兒子做榜樣。雖然只是一句帶過，但是卻讓讀的人覺得作者很了不起。單身媽媽已經(jīng)很不容易了，還有有這么遠(yuǎn)大的理想，而且并不是紙上談兵，而是都付諸于行動(dòng)。作者去美國讀書的目標(biāo)并不是單純的從自己利益出發(fā)，而是考慮到在美國學(xué)到的東西可以給她及她的國家?guī)硎裁礃拥幕貓?bào)。

文章不算很長，卻能讓人印象深刻；故事也不算很精彩，但卻讓人回味無窮。

譯文：

十四年前,我決定了我要住在美國, 一個(gè)無論我選擇任何職業(yè)道路都可以成功的地方。作為一名蘇維埃吉爾吉斯斯坦共和國里的高中學(xué)生，這是一個(gè)雄心壯志。經(jīng)過5年的征討反社會(huì)主義官僚運(yùn)動(dòng)，我終于在1991登上了前往紐約的飛機(jī)。我終于實(shí)現(xiàn)了我給自己定目標(biāo)：我是自由的，在美國，去確定我人生的道路。

起初我不知道我將來想要做什么，但在1993年夏天，我堅(jiān)定了我的計(jì)劃。當(dāng)我回吉爾吉斯斯坦看望我的父母時(shí)，在一位朋友的建議下我打電話給美國大使館，要求提供一個(gè)有所有可能需要俄英翻譯的公司名單。打了幾通電話后，我開始為一個(gè)計(jì)劃在吉爾吉斯斯坦旅游業(yè)發(fā)展上面投資一千萬美金的組織工作。在這個(gè)組織里，每個(gè)人都來自不同的地方，但都是英語系國家：一個(gè)澳大利亞的生態(tài)學(xué)家，一個(gè)來自美國的律師， 還有來自英格蘭手工藝專家。他們都有一個(gè)共同的目標(biāo)就是幫助復(fù)蘇吉爾吉斯斯坦經(jīng)濟(jì)。（蘇聯(lián)瓦解后，吉爾吉斯斯坦成為一個(gè)獨(dú)立國家，許多的國際企業(yè)趁機(jī)進(jìn)入這個(gè)剛剛啟動(dòng)的新經(jīng)濟(jì)。）在這里工作了一個(gè)月后，我意識(shí)到我想進(jìn)入國際商業(yè)世界，并幫助改造我祖國的社會(huì)主義經(jīng)濟(jì)。我進(jìn)入了莫斯科國立大學(xué)攻讀國際貿(mào)易，并于1996年畢業(yè)。

我未來仕途的下一個(gè)關(guān)鍵一步是去攻讀碩士國際商務(wù)。我渴望學(xué)習(xí)美國企業(yè)世界的心理。除此之外，我希望學(xué)到扎實(shí)的營銷知識(shí)，尤其是東歐和中亞地區(qū)的營銷發(fā)展。從羅賓遜商學(xué)院的課程設(shè)置以及其學(xué)術(shù)聲譽(yù)上來看，我相信它將完全符合我的需要。因此，我的短期職業(yè)目標(biāo)是進(jìn)入羅賓遜并以優(yōu)良成績?nèi)?bào)名。我準(zhǔn)備參與一個(gè)具有挑戰(zhàn)性的課程，使我的情況像作為一個(gè)單親媽媽那樣特別困難。我將努力以身作則，讓我7歲的兒子加布里埃爾也學(xué)會(huì)堅(jiān)持實(shí)現(xiàn)自己的學(xué)習(xí)目標(biāo)。

幾周前，我在網(wǎng)上看俄羅斯新聞的時(shí)候，看到了一篇關(guān)于美國燃燒脂肪藥片的廣告。英文的意思大概是"你只需要?jiǎng)觿?dòng)嘴5分鐘，你的人生就會(huì)在你的臀部上表現(xiàn)出來。" 但用俄語翻譯過來卻極為庸俗。正如這個(gè)有趣的廣告所表現(xiàn)的，跨文化的技能對(duì)國際商業(yè)是至關(guān)重要的，但卻往往被忽略了。我能講流利的俄語和我對(duì)俄羅斯、吉爾吉斯斯坦、美國文化的了解將幫助我全球商業(yè)經(jīng)濟(jì)里成功。我覺得我的跨文化能力將會(huì)成為羅賓遜學(xué)生團(tuán)體乃至我在國際市場(chǎng)的未來事業(yè)一個(gè)的重大貢獻(xiàn)。

除了我跨文化的悟性，我也希望把我以前對(duì)國際營銷學(xué)術(shù)經(jīng)驗(yàn)帶進(jìn)羅賓遜。我在莫斯科國立大學(xué)最后參與的項(xiàng)目名為"通過上市公司Volga-Dnepr的俄羅斯產(chǎn)品及服務(wù)的海外營銷"。我花了6個(gè)月的去研究和進(jìn)行對(duì)Volga-Dnepr，一個(gè)由英國公司Heavy Lift與俄羅斯公司Volga-Dnepr的合資公司，及俄羅斯貨運(yùn)市場(chǎng)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者的論文寫作。我花費(fèi)了大量的時(shí)間在營銷部門，觀察公司的有價(jià)證券是如何創(chuàng)立的，該公司在國際市場(chǎng)上的廣告策略，及該公司與國內(nèi)外客戶的關(guān)系。經(jīng)驗(yàn)告訴我那是絕對(duì)的精彩，希望在羅賓遜也能遇到同樣精彩學(xué)術(shù)機(jī)會(huì)。

通過對(duì)國際營銷的深入學(xué)習(xí)及畢業(yè)于羅賓遜商學(xué)院，我希望能夠在一個(gè)東歐、獨(dú)聯(lián)體、或者前蘇聯(lián)共和國的公司里工作。我的長期職業(yè)目標(biāo)是要找一個(gè)能夠充分利用我獨(dú)特的教育及文化背景的工作。我的理想工作會(huì)是在市場(chǎng)部門—我喜歡參與新產(chǎn)品的推廣及形象提升。另外，我還有意從事于市場(chǎng)研究、建立美俄兩國公司的新關(guān)系。我也會(huì)喜歡在美國的國際公司里工作，或許在類似USAID這樣的公司里。最終，不管我從羅賓遜畢業(yè)后會(huì)選擇什么樣的職業(yè)道路，我都希望回到俄羅斯，把國際營銷的關(guān)鍵理念傳遞給俄羅斯/吉爾吉斯斯坦的公司。我知道我現(xiàn)在可能把我的職業(yè)目標(biāo)定位的太高，但我從我的生活中學(xué)會(huì)了只要下定決心，就一定可以實(shí)現(xiàn)我的夢(mèng)想。正如亨利.大衛(wèi) 梭羅寫道:"從長遠(yuǎn)來看，人們只會(huì)擊中他們所瞄準(zhǔn)的。因此，他們最好瞄的高一些。"