7.2.7 签经七

　　个人背景：北京大学电机工程专业 本科毕业

　　VO: …

　　Me: Here.(走上台去)

　　Me: Morning sir. My card. (微笑着递过卡片)

　　VO: How are you doing today？

　　Me: Great!

　　VO: So you are going to Northwestern？

　　Me: Yeah.(我语速较快，也比较流利，因此他跟我说话也很快，马上会接着问问题，但交流无障碍。)

　　点评：

　　评估签证准备是否到位不应该是看25问多么无懈可击，而是看能否到达一种交流的状态。此时的VO，只是你的一个普普通通的朋友，你们将进行一次简单的对话……

　　VO: What are you going to study？

　　Me: I plan to pursue my PhD degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

　　VO: (看着我，敲电脑，意思是让我继续？)

　　Me: (好，那我开始演讲)Well, sir, I want to tell you something more specifically about my major, you know my future study will focus on the challenges of developing digital hardware for complex systems. This area investigates how best to design integrated circuits, processors, and computing systems to deliver the highest performance at reasonable cost and power consumption.

　　VO: (没反应，接着敲电脑)

　　Me: I guess I’ve made that quite clear.(给他一个微笑吧)

　　VO: (微笑)Electrical Engineering…

　　(转向右边墙上的敏感专业列表，开始翻。我可不能让他check，我等不起)

　　Me: No, Electrical and Computer Engineering, this is the name of the department.

　　And actually I am gonna join the Computer Engineering group.

　　VO: Computer Science? (天真无邪孩童般的表情——他不懂，我知道了，我得让他懂。)

　　Me: (微笑)Sir, you know that in ECE department at Northwestern, we have 3 large groups.(还没说完)

　　VO: (反应很快，求知欲很强，微笑)Oh, what are they？

　　Me: Solid State and Photonics, Systems and Computer Engineering. You see I'll join the Computer Engineering group.

　　(微笑，我对于两个人的交流感到非常满意，显然他也很满意。不去管那该死的敏感专业表了，同时在我的表上写字，时不时看看电脑。现在想想当时他已经打算给我签过了。)

　　点评：

　　其实这个女孩的形势开始并不怎么样，但是依靠信息不均衡，引导VO，她有效地扭转了局面。这是需要胆量的，很多人签证的时候总是很被动地回答问题，这样遇到大秃这样tough的杀手，就很难有机会了。

　　VO: What are you going to do after graduation?

　　Me: Well, I plan to develop my future career in China. First of all, I'd like to find a good position in a research institute or a large Electronic corporation. You know, my desired working place is Shanghai. As far as I know, ****, ****, ****, and **** are all some of my good choices. And there are also plenty of excellent state-owned Technology Corporations that I'd like to consider.(本来还想接着说我要做group leader and then technical chief的，结果被他打断了。不过我这段话的确够长，幸亏我说话快，不然他怎么听得下去。)

　　VO: So you are confident that you can find such a position?

　　(感觉他这句话不像是在刁难我，倒像是替我说出我想说的，大概他想加速签证进程吧。)

　　Me: Yeah! First of all, I am quite confident of my personal ability. Second of all, actually it is already easy for me to find a research position right after my graduation. **** offered me a job but I declined it because I want to further my education.(实话)

　　VO: Oh, sure.(微笑，感觉满意的样子，表情好像是说：行了，我的问题也问完了，你答得不错。)

　　Me: (什么，连为什么不呆在美国都不问么？)And you may wonder why I don't want to find a job in US. You know, my long-term career goal is to be a technical chief in a large research institute or electronic corporation. For me, a PhD degree from Northwestern means much advantage in China and can easily help me to achieve this goal. But if I want to find a similar position in US, I will have to struggle very hard and compete with thousands of native competitors. And many of them have a PhD degree from top universities such as Harvard, Yale and Stanford. Do you think I have a high chance to win? Even if I can do that, why should I give up the easy life for an authority in my own country and struggle on a strange land for a similar position？

　　点评：

　　主动帮助签证官问问题, 真是一个不甘寂寞的女子。不过这种方式不能随便copy, 对于拿号比较晚到了中午才签的签证者，这是VO已经非常疲劳，最好长话短说，能不说就不说。

　　VO: (看我一眼，点点头。虽然表示同意但是好像他根本不关心我这个答案，真是的，人家准备得这么精彩。拿起我的DS表，开始写写划划。)

　　Me: (嗯？干什么呢？不管，反正不能闲着，准备好多材料，啥都不看，我白带来了，还怪沉的，不行。) Sir, my future advisor wrote me a supporting letter, I hope you can have a look at it.

　　VO： ……不知所云，整个过程中惟一没听懂的句子，但其实最关键, 他在说给我Visa呀。

　　Me: (露出不解的表情？)

　　VO: I can … Now. I believe you will come back and wish you success(微笑)。

　　Me: (真不敢相信这么easy。他是说给我Visa么？不敢确定，也不说得清楚点，这么重要的话。这时我做出一个前无古人后无来者的举动！)Sir, thank you. But I still hope you can have a look at this letter.

　　VO: (笑)Why?(心想这丫头怎么回事，拿了条赶紧走吧。)

　　Me: (微笑)Actually I didn't ask my advisor to write it, but he thinks it will help. He hopes you can have a look.

　　(我说的是事实，真的很感谢你Dick，你辛苦写了信还附了简历，怎么也不能让你白忙乎!)

　　VO: (郑重点点头，表示同意。看了一会letter，看了一会导师附上的resume。)Is this your future advisor？

　　Me: (微笑)Yeah.

　　VO: (点头，递还给我，撕条)Please go to window 10 and wait for a few minutes. And have a nice time.

　　Me: Oh, thank you and you have a nice time too. Bye.

　　(激动，倒不是因为拿到了Visa，这个我觉得正常。可是他先说have a nice time，真是太nice了。)