When I reentered the school gate on September 1, I realized that this would be the last of my seven years at the Yucai Middle School.

　At the thought of it, I feel a little bit sentimental and my steps seem to be heavier. From the innocent, carefree and fearless junior student, I am on the threshold of being an adult. It reminds me of the Irish folk song The Last Rose in Summer.

　However, it is inevitable that a young sapling will grow into a giant tree and an eyas into an eagle. We youngsters are bound to leave home and school for the colorful world.

　My sole and most important task in the new term is to prepare for the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) that will take place in June — a month ahead of the previous ones. The NCEE is one of the most significant turning points in one’s life, so nobody can make light of it.

　In midsummer, millions of students study late into the night for a single goal so that they will win out in the cruel examination and be able to enter college.Many curse the NCEE, saying it deprives teenagers of the most beautiful things, turning them from energetic kids into machines.

　Some say that the examinations strangle imagination and creativity. The NCEE is regarded as more of a devil than of an angel.Admittedly, there are some unreasonable aspects of the current NCEE system. But it is a relatively fair method for selecting the talents admitted to college.

　Just like the law of the survival of the fittest in nature, competition and elimination is unavoidable in human society, otherwise, society will cease to progress.Had man only pursued ease and pleasure and escaped from hardship, he would have remained in the times a savage.

　In fact, struggle is a kind of pleasure. If we lost the chance to sit for the NCEE and consequently the chance of going to college, how would we feel? There are plenty of examples.During the “cultural revolution,” millions of youths were stripped of the opportunity to go to school, let alone participate the NCEE.A young girl had cherished the dream of entering Beijing University from her childhood, but leukemia brought her dreams crashing down.

　In her last days, her only wish was to be carried to the university and cast last glimpse of the campus she had dreamt of. Then she buried her dreams there forever.The thought of unfortunate people like this makes me shelve any complaints I might have.

　My dream is within my reach. I have been waiting for my dream to become reality for 12 years. And in living my dream, I will perfect it.