What if the moon were made of cheese? Or Neptune made of soap? Pick a celestial object, reimagine its material composition, and explore the implications. Feel free to explore the realms of physics, philosophy, fantasy…the sky is the limit!
如果月亮是用奶酪做的会怎么样？海王星是用肥皂做的会怎么样？请选择一个星球，自由改变它的物质结构，并探索它的含义。请你尽情发挥自己天马行空的想象力，不受限地探索物理、哲学等各个领域。
In Homer’s Iliad, Helen had a “face that launched a thousand ships.” A millihelen, then, measures the beauty needed to launch one ship. The Sagan unit is used to denote any large quantity (in place of “billions and billions”). A New York Minute measures the period of time between a traffic light turning green and the cab behind you honking. Invent a new unit of measurement. How is it derived? How is it used? What are its equivalents?
在荷马史诗的《伊利亚特》中，海伦拥有着可以“使千艘战舰齐发的容貌”。因此，“1毫海伦（即千分之一的海伦）”则可以成为使一艘战舰启航的计量单位。除此之外，1萨根可以代表任何庞大的数量（代替几十亿），而1纽约分钟代表交通信号灯变绿到你身后的出租车按喇叭的时间间隔。请发明一个全新的计量单位，并解释这个计量单位是：怎么得到的？怎么使用的？该单位和其他什么东西相等？
Jin的破题建议
我认为"价值"是这个题目的关键词。最简易且最常见的等价计量单位就是金钱，而题中所举出的例子无不是与金钱关系相似的价值关系。
海伦的美貌被认为（或证实）值得一千艘船，Carl Sagan的研究成就足够相关以代表billions and billions。在举出的三个例子中，物理层面的计量单位都被赋予了所在社会中为大众所熟悉的价值，是在相对客观之上印下人类文明的印记。因此，申请者可以观察所处社会中群体所共有的经历（例如，996制度），并思考如何它可以作为丈量客观事实或是社会现象的工具。
This measures the appropriate amount of time to arrive before something scheduled. One Pun would usually be sufficient for casual hangouts, to account for the time it may take to locate the meet up place, while for job interviews, most people tend to leave three Pun for safety: even if traffic was abysmal or a bus was missed, the result wouldn’t be detrimental. However, although arriving three Pun may be appropriate, it may not be a good idea to walk in and announce you’re here for an interview until around one Pun: you wouldn’t want your potential employer to have to decide between the task they have on hand and accommodating you.
Nevertheless, just as most of the world tend to measure distances with meters while Americans prefer football fields, there seem to be metric and imperial units when it comes to Puns as well: although instead of geographical location, different systems of measurements seem to depend on each individual person. For some people, it seems that arriving early isn’t enough until it comes to six Pun: if two people like this happen to have both been invited to the same group hangout but don’t know each other well, then a game of hide-and-seek from catching the other person’s eye would be inevitable. There would also always be a selected few in each group: to them, Puns seem to never take on positive values. Depending on traffic, other commitments as well as whether you planned their journey to the meet up point for them, there’s only two consistent things about their Puns: the value’s always negative, and it grows more negative each time you check with them.
Essay Option 4
"There is no such thing as a new idea" - Mark Twain
Are any pieces of art, literature, philosophy, or technology truly original, or just a different combination of old ideas? Pick something, anything (besides yourself), and explain why it is, or is not, original.
没有所谓的“原创”——马克·吐温
这世界上有没有任何一件艺术品、文学著作、哲学理论或科学技术是完完全全的“原创”？还是它们只是一些已经存在的想法的集合？请从除你之外的世间万物中挑出一件，解释它是否拥有原创性。
这个prompt的关键词是original。自然，可以从epistemology的角度讨论知识，或是信息，是否可以被originally创造出来。
偏重humanities的芝大固然喜欢这种偏哲学的讨论，但是想必走这个角度的applicant会很多，从中脱颖而出想必不会容易。我比较建议抓住这个关键词思考。比如，我有一个朋友想要创立一个小型慈善组织，但是觉得自己的主意太过普通：这样的组织恐怕数不胜数。这个主意固然不original，但是在某些情况下，originality有多重要呢？
我自己的essay思路和这个选关键词的方法很相似。我选的prompt是 “How did you get caught? (Or not caught, as the case may be.)” 我抓住关键词 “get caught”，但是把它曲解成了 “escape” 。
对，可以这样做，只要解释清楚为什么就行了：the prerequisite of getting caught is an attempt to escape。通过escape，我讲了一个自己半夜溜出家门和朋友滑板去看日出的故事，然后引出了我如何被caught in一个过于注重拿到好的成绩，申上好的大学，找份好的工作的cycle，而忽视了最重要的事情：高中，大学的经历。
Essay Option 5
It's said that history repeats itself. But what about other disciplines? Choose another field (chemistry, philosophy, etc.) and explain how it repeats itself. Explain how it repeats itself.
人们说“历史总在不断重演”，那么其他的学科呢？请选择一个其他的学科领域，并解释他们是如何重演的。
最后，T同学为大家带来的芝加哥文书创作建议：
要是看了prompt没有灵感，不要怕多花一点时间，哪怕需要花一两天去看过去的prompt。同时，要熟悉自己的素材，看prompt的同时想着这个prompt可以如何把自己的素材连在一起。同时，要记住take a little risk：prompt不是需要一味follow的essay question，而应该被理解成思考的起点，或是一条线索。
对prompt也可以有自己的理解，比如我把get caught变成了escape。这篇essay最重要的是灵感，因为有这么多天马行空的past prompt可以选，要是写的过程变成了冥思苦想挤牙膏，那恐怕是时候考虑考虑别的prompt了。
我当时对着一堆past prompt看了半天，看到凌晨一点，灵感乍现，去门口加油站买了一罐红牛之后，两个小时写了芝大的两篇文书将近两千字，可谓一气呵成——除了其他大学一模一样，复制粘贴的why major，这篇文书恐怕是写的最开心的文书了。
最后，祝大家脑洞大开，灵光乍现，写作顺利；记住最后一个prompt最后一句话：take a little risk, and have fun!
