小作文
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也许是假期原因，下午整个人学习都没有动力了……
先是跑到底层图书馆的懒人躺椅晒着冬日暖阳刷视频，再是回到办公室刷某中文问答网站，后来又日常性地看看某代码交友网站的动态，发现 XQ 也点了上次我点赞过的一个仓库。点赞本意是收藏起来为了以后有空学习学习，但往往点过之后就没有再翻出来看了。无比惭愧之余，点进了其中一个学习视频，也算稍微弥补了下整个下午无所事事的颓态。
晚饭过后，还是没法集中精力学习，去拜读了 Rubin 的访谈，再加上前段时间看的 Breiman，这些统计大师的经历非常丰富，颇具传奇色彩，比如 Rubin 本科先是主修物理再修心理学，而研究生又辗转了三个系。一个很深刻的感受是，他们都推崇统计在实际问题中的应用，而非拘泥于数学细节。
读罢访谈，似乎思绪也稍微静下来了。其实下午有试图通过写博客来整理心情的念头，但是当时处于一种丝毫没有打字动力的状态。而现在大概是从访谈的文中感受到 Rubin 对于统计的激情，意识到文字的力量是很强大的，自己应该坚持与自己沟通……
啰嗦这么多，就是想描述一下此时的写作背景与心情。至于内容，其实已经在脑海中成型，差不多被搁置一个月了，但写出来保不齐还没有上面的字数多。
上个月月底是一篇英语小作文的 DDL，往常应该是交流结束写的，这样也能全方位地回顾整个交换，但今年因为疫情本来预计暑期交流的项目变成了现在，所以只好简单写写飞逝过去的一半时光。
除了小作文，还需要提供照片。这时才发现自己还没有好好探索，连游客照都没有。于是约着 Z 先去买了件印有学校 Logo 的卫衣，然后成为日常步行需要绕开聚在雕像前拍照的那群人中的一员。起初摆着pose还极其忸怩不自然，特别是还面对着旁边围观也等着拍照的群众，非常想快速咔咔咔地结束，但后来竟然想正好乘机换景点多来点游客照，大概是心理建设已经完成，厚脸皮地摆出了第一个 pose，后面就一鼓作气了。
拍完照，便需要写小作文了。因为毫无头绪，所以写之前把历年的年报翻出来看了个遍，竟然发现了很多有趣的小故事，比如某某老师具体什么时候入职的，还有他们青涩的照片，特别是某某带着墨镜的照片。当然最主要还是分析历年小作文的写法，隐约间摸出了点套路，开头必是简单介绍自己去哪了，同时感谢系里的支持。结尾部分呼应开头，再次感谢。这两部分的句式大家用的都很相近。至于正文，很多会具体地介绍研究项目，然后再捎带着介绍下学校环境以及生活方面。
可能还是想写点不太一样的，至少从句式上说，但是奈何能力驾驭不了。非常想类似中文写作中那种以环境描写切入，借此把初来乍到者的新鲜感以及第一印象表现出来。唉，书到用时方恨少……搜肠刮肚了一晚上，最后憋出了五百余字的英语小作文。
With the support of the Overseas Research Award for Ph.D. students, I am visiting Prof. Jun S. Liu in the Department of Statistics, Harvard University.
Shrouded in a peaceful and natural atmosphere, the squirrels jump down and up along the tree trunk to have a sincere morning greeting, and the ring of the bell from Memorial Church kindly reminds the start of one day. The “Keep Harvard Health” slogan, together with sanitizers, appears everywhere to fight the world pandemic, the requirements of self-assessment per day and self-testing per week help to work in a stable and healthy environment.
In the first meeting with Prof. Liu, he introduced me to a project related to my recent research. The project was just initiated by two members of his group. Upon any progress, we can be free to arrange a meeting with Prof. Liu. I am truly appreciated that he can always point out the key issue, and guide us to think more broadly. There is also a weekly group meeting, where the group members share their research status, the interesting topics and insightful comments from Prof. Liu help me broaden the research area. I had also presented my recent research in the group meeting, the valuable comments would help me to improve my work.
In addition, I have the opportunity to listen to the work from other researchers in the seminar course STAT300 every noon on Thursday. The professors also organized a panel chatting, and they shared their experiences and suggestions on the academic job market, which is pretty helpful for career planning. An in-person meeting is quite a luxury in the pandemic era. Although the mask hides the smiles, their clear eyes can still convey sparkling enthusiasm, which inspires me to work harder.
Moreover, I am further widened by the weekly colloquium on Monday, in which the invited researcher would have a thorough talk. Besides, there are many cross-department (e.g., from Computer Science) and even cross-university (e.g., from MIT) virtual seminars.
I also joined the annual Ph.D. Student Retreat activity, which consists of two parts. The first part is hiking in the city—-randomly walking across the old streets in Boston. I made several friends by casual chatting and had a fantastic immersion into the city. Many families had displayed skull-shaped pumpkins for the coming Halloween festival. In the afternoon, all professors had a nice short talk to introduce their research interests and welcome students for collaborating.
Besides those academic activities, I also take an active part in sports, such as playing badminton twice a week and swimming occasionally, to have an energetic mood for further research. To immerse myself in Harvard, I visited several historical buildings, such as the Harvard Museum of Natural History.
How time flies! When I am typing the above words, half of the visiting period has passed. I will cherish the remaining time to work with wonderful people and to have a deeper campus exploration.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my host advisor Prof. Liu for his worthy guidance, and my supervisor Prof. Fan for his considerable support, and our department for offering such a great opportunity.