我的高考

高考是普通人改变命运的途径，没有高考就没有我的今天。

1979年的夏天，爸爸决定让我回户口所在地石家庄准备参加80年的高考。只有一年的准备时间，用现在的标准来看简直就是完成不可能的任务。

我从小学到高一都在一个小渔村的学校上学，双桥子村学校。高中那年，全公社四六八庄的中学生都集中到公社所在地双桥子中学上学。我的学习成绩名列前茅。难一点的考试，我的成绩能甩第二名20分。用现在的话说是颜值和智商都在线。我们学校的水平是什么样的呢？我同级的同学只有两个上了中专的，其余的都高中毕业参加了工作。可想而知我们学校的水平。

我爸妈都没上过学，爸爸在建筑公司做瓦工，妈妈在街道的食品店卖菜。他们对学校的事情知之甚少。我两个弟弟都在石家庄郊区的振头学校上学，他们学习都很好，上学没咋让爸妈操心。好像只是大弟弟在小学的时候因为喜欢他的班主任回家生孩子，他逃学而挨过我爸的打，剩下的就没管过我们了。

我在双桥子学校上学，一直做班长，中学以后入团又做团支部书记。学习工作，甚至家里织鱼网赚钱都不耽误。姑姥姥住院我还经常请假陪床，我的自学能力挺强的。语文政治等死记硬背的科目考试都是满分，作文能得高分。

到了石家庄，我需要转学。弟弟们在的振头学校（十一中）我不想去，还有一个对口的中学，大院里的孩子们都在那个学校，据说很不好，打群架出名，忘记是哪个学校了。大院里有一对医生有三个孩子，大女儿苏莉和我一样大，她在六中上学。我爸妈把她介绍给我认识，她告诉我六中是区重点，她上二班是考上的。我无知无畏，自己决定去那里转学。我妈上班的菜店正好在学校附近，我俩骑车到学校门口，我自己一个人进大门告诉门卫找教务处，我妈直接去上班了。

我拿着档案袋，在一座灰色的三层楼下，遇到一个高高瘦瘦，非常清秀的男人，大概有30多岁的样子。我问：老师，教务处在哪里？他问：你要做什么？我说：我要转学。他问：你有档案吗？我递给他档案袋，他竟然直接打开。我慌了：你不能打开，这是密封的。他说我就是教务处管招生的。一看成绩这么好，评语这么棒，就说：我是三班班主任，你来我班里上学吧。

我遇到了生命中的第一个贵人：樊志杰老师！后来他告诉我，他从来没见过学生自己来转学的，我的一双眼睛打动了他。出国之前我和樊老师夫妇都有联系，每年过年都和老公去看他，感谢我生命中的贵人。

六中一共有6个毕业班，一二班是尖子班，三班是混合班，数理化英语语文的老师和一二班共享。我到了三班数学，物理和英语课垫底，我很多的知识没学过。这里的老师和我们村里的老师都不一样，他们在我的眼里都太有气质了！

和我一起进入三班的有两个复读生，其中一个叫林清的成为我的朋友。她复读一年也没考上。还有一个从唐山转来的学生叫张喆，她只上了中专。我说话的口音也近似唐山口音，但我马上能快速转成普通话。

化学老师也是新来的，他谁都不认识，而且化学基本都是死记硬背的东西，我一考试就满分，他自然高看我一眼。还有班主任樊老师的政治课我也是不含糊，这样两科被我拿下。至于语文课我也不怵，一篇作文《我的老师》，直接把老头拿下。我的作文被当成范文。

我想那时候老师们一定总是开会讨论学生们的潜力，提高升学率，我脸皮厚不怕丢人，不耻下问，上课积极配合的劲头得到所有老师们的赏识。

我卯足了劲的学习，在学校里拼命的表现。刚入学时，我每天都收到家乡同学的来信，过了一个月就一封都没有了。有一天樊老师把我叫到办公室，指着一堆信说，你的信都在这里，别看了，好好学习别分心。我竟然很听话的没有再和同学们通信。

学校开运动会，班上没人跑800米，樊老师让我去跑，我竟然答应了。从来都没参加过运动会，我差点儿没被累死。

一年里，我没看过电视（电视长什么样子我也不知道）那时候正在演《大西洋的来客》，所有的邻居和我爸妈，弟弟们都去加工厂看电视，我只是学习。我最爱看的小说自然也都戒了。

学校里有很多坏小子，他们经常欺负我。在上学的路上用自行车别我的自行车，我走路的时候用粉笔头往我身上丢，班上不好好学习的男生递纸条，各种各样的干扰都被我屏蔽。

最后一学期我还做了团支部书记，主持了班里的新年联欢会。招来各种羡慕嫉妒恨。

最后高考时，家里顶多给煮几个鸡蛋，一切照常。考完之后，楼道邻居有一盆花，大哥说，这盆花要是开了我就能考上，结果花开了，我考上了。全班第一，全年级第八名，398分，可以上全国重点大学。而班上的前几名都没考好。

化学老师一手操办我的志愿填写。我想学医，第一志愿北医没被录取，第二志愿他给我报了北京化工学院，也没被录取。第三志愿北京中医学院，被中药系录取。这是什么操作啊！其实我的想法是北医上不了，我上河北医学院就可以，我要当大夫治病救人啊，化学老师说不能丢掉重点大学的名额。现在看来都是命中注定。

招生的老师一个是我的辅导员徐作山，还有一个是宣传部的房书亭。前者招我的时候就想好了让我做班上的宣传委员，后者看中了我的作文《达芬奇画蛋》。

我一年的时间备考考上重点大学，我就不明白现在的学生为啥三年都那么的玩命去准备考试。

无论怎样，高考面前人人平等。这应该是寒门子弟的改变命运的一扇门。

有意思的是，我第三志愿被录取，而老公上清华的分数却成了我的同学，只能说这就是命运的安排！

The college entrance examination (Gaokao) is the path for ordinary people to change their destiny. Without the college entrance examination, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

In the summer of 1979, my father decided to send me back to my registered hometown, Shijiazhuang, to prepare for the college entrance examination in 1980. With only one year of preparation time, it seemed like an impossible task by today’s standards.

I studied in a small fishing village school called Shuangqiaozi Village School from elementary school to the first year of high school. In my first year of high school, all the middle school students from the around villages commune gathered at Shuangqiaozi high School, located in the commune’s center. I excelled in my studies and consistently ranked at the top. I would outscore the second-place student by 20 points in challenging exams. To put it in today’s terms, I had both good looks and intelligence. You can imagine the level of our school. Only two of my classmates from the same grade went on to attend a technical secondary school, while the rest graduated from high school and joined the workforce.

Neither of my parents had received an education. My father worked as a tile worker in a construction company, and my mother sold vegetables at a food store on the street. They knew very little about matters related to school. My two younger brothers attended Zhentou School in the suburbs of Shijiazhuang, and they did well in their studies, causing little concern for my parents. It seemed that only my first younger brother, during his elementary school years, skipped school and received a beating from my father because he stayed home due to his fondness for his homeroom teacher who was having a baby. After that incident, my parents didn’t bother much about us.

During my time at Shuangqiaozi School, I served as class president and later became the secretary of the Communist Youth League branch. My studies, work, and even making money by weaving fishing nets at home didn’t hinder each other. I was quite self-sufficient in self-study. I would score full marks in subjects that required rote memorization like Chinese and politics, and I excelled in writing compositions.

When I arrived in Shijiazhuang, I needed to transfer to another school. I didn’t want to go to the school my brothers attended (Shi Yi Zhong), and there was another corresponding middle school where children from the large residential complex attended. I can’t remember which school it was, but it had a reputation for frequent fights. In the residential complex, there was a pair of doctors with three children. The eldest daughter, Su Li, was the same age as me, and she attended Liu Zhong (No. 6 Middle School). My parents introduced her to me, and she told me that Liu Zhong was a key school in the district, and she was in Class 2, having passed the entrance exam. Being ignorant and fearless, I decided to transfer there. My mother’s vegetable store happened to be near the school, so we rode our bikes to the school gate. I went in alone and told the gatekeeper that I needed to find the administration office, while my mother went directly to work.

Carrying my file folder, I encountered a tall and slender, very handsome man who appeared to be in his thirties, standing in front of a gray three-story building. I asked, “Teacher, where is the administration office?” He asked, “What do you need?” I said, “I want to transfer schools.” He asked, “Do you have your file?” I handed him the file folder, and to my surprise, he opened it directly. I panicked and said, “You can’t open it; it’s sealed.” He replied, “I am in charge of admissions at the school.” Seeing my excellent grades and comments, he said, “I am the homeroom teacher of Class 3, come and study in my class.”

I encountered my first mentor in life: Teacher Fan Zhijie! Later, he told me that he had never seen a student come to transfer schools on their own, he was attracted by my eyes. Before going abroad, I stayed in touch with Teacher Fan and his wife, and every Chinese New Year, my husband and I would visit them. I am grateful for the mentor in my life.

There were a total of six graduating classes at Sixth Middle School. Class 1 and 2 were the top classes, while Class 3 was a mixed class, sharing the same teachers for math, physics, chemistry, English, and Chinese with Classes 1 and 2. I joined Class 3 and struggled in math, physics, and English since I hadn’t learned much of the material. The teachers here were different from those in my village; they all seemed so refined in my eyes!

There were two repeater students who entered Class 3 with me, and one of them, named Lin Qing, became my best friend. She had repeated a year but still didn’t pass the exam. There was also a student named Zhang Zhe who transferred from Tangshan and had only attended a vocational school. I had a similar accent to the Tangshan dialect, but I could quickly switch to standard Mandarin.

The chemistry teacher was also new and didn’t know anyone. Since chemistry mostly involved rote memorization, I consistently scored full marks in exams, which naturally caught his attention. As for the political science class taught by homeroom teacher Fan, I didn’t fall behind either. I was also confident in my Chinese class and even wrote an essay titled “My Teacher,” which impressed the old teacher. My essay was treated as a model.

I believe that during that time, the teachers must have held meetings to discuss students’ potential and improve the university admission rate. I was not afraid of embarrassment. I actively participated in class and gained the appreciation of all the teachers.

I put in a lot of effort into my studies and worked hard at school. At the beginning, I received letters from my hometown classmates every day, but after a month, I didn’t receive a single one. One day, Teacher Fan called me into his office and pointed to a pile of letters, saying, “Your letters are here. Don’t read them. Focus on your studies.” I obediently stopped communicating with my classmates.

During the school sports meet, no one in my class wanted to run the 800 meters. Teacher Fan asked me to participate, and surprisingly, I agreed. I had never participated in a sports meet before, and I was almost exhausted.

In that year, I didn’t watch TV at all (I didn’t even know what a TV looked like). At that time, “Visitors from the Atlantic” was being aired, and all the neighbors, my parents, and my brothers went to the processing factory to watch TV, while I focused solely on my studies. I even quit reading the novels I loved.

There were many troublemakers at school, and they often bullied me. On my way to school, they would stop my bicycle, and when I walked, they would throw chalk dust at me. Male students who didn’t study well in class would pass notes to me, trying to distract me in various ways, but I blocked them all.

In the last semester, I became the secretary of the Youth League branch and hosted the New Year’s party for my class. This attracted envy, jealousy, and hatred from others.

When it was time for the college entrance examination (Gaokao), my family could only afford to cook a few eggs as usual. After the exam, there was a potted flower in the hallway. My neighbor I called him older brother said, “If this flower blooms, you will get into college.” And the flower bloomed, and I got in. I ranked first in my class and eighth in the whole grade, scoring 398 points, which qualified me for top universities in the country. The top-ranked students in my class didn’t perform as well.

The chemistry teacher took charge of my college application. I wanted to study medicine, but I wasn’t accepted by Beijing Medical University, my first choice. For my second choice, he applied for me to Beijing University of Chemical Technology, but I wasn’t accepted there either. Finally, my third choice was Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, and I was accepted into the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It was quite a twist! In fact, I thought if I couldn’t get into Beijing Medical University, I could go to Hebei Medical University. I wanted to become a doctor and save lives. However, the chemistry teacher said I shouldn’t give up a spot at a top university. Looking back now, it all seems destined.

The teachers in charge of college admissions were my counselor, Xu Zuoshan, and the person from the propaganda department, Fang Shuting. The former had decided to make me the class propaganda officer, and the latter was impressed by my essay titled “Da Vinci’s Egg.”

I spent a year preparing for and passing the entrance exam to a top university. I still don’t understand why students nowadays spend three years preparing for exams so intensively.

Regardless, the college entrance examination is a level playing field for everyone. It should be a door that allows children from humble backgrounds to change their destiny.

Interestingly, I was accepted at my third choice, while my husband, who scored higher than me, he should go to Tsinghua, however became my classmate.

It can only be said that this is the arrangement of fate!