有一次做特殊需求学生助理工作时，学生刚交完作业，顺口说了一句，她想投一份简历。
我说可以帮她一起看看。

我帮她把雇主要求的身份证件和简历一并附上。因为这封邮件是引用之前发给雇主的旧邮件，我提议把邮件标题稍作修改，改成更简明、准确的表达，让雇主一眼就能看出内容和意图。

当我帮她改好邮件标题后，她有些感慨地说，她以前从不知道邮件标题是可以修改的。

那一刻，我有一点点停顿。
不是因为她的问题，而是因为我突然意识到，一个人觉得习以为常、理所当然的事情，对另一个人来说，可能是一个从未被点亮的领域。

以我做翻译的工作经验来看，如果希望邮件能更快得到回复，把标题写清意图，往往比正文写得多漂亮更重要。

这也让我想起以前读中学教育课程时，教育心理学老师的一句玩笑话。他总提醒大家要把作业的文件名写清楚，不要只写“Assignment 1”，也就是“作业1”。他说，每个学期他都会收到一百多份名字一模一样的作业。

有些同学明明花了很多心力完成作业，却忘了在文件里写上自己的名字，甚至学号。最后让老师最头疼的，不是批改作业本身，而是这份作业究竟是谁交的。

English version

On one occasion, while working as a support assistant for a student with special needs, the student had just submitted an assignment and casually mentioned that she wanted to apply for a job. I told her I could help.

I assisted her in attaching the identification documents and resume required by the employer. As the email was forwarded from a previous message sent to the employer, I suggested that we revise the subject line to make it clearer and more specific, so the employer could immediately understand the content and purpose of the email.

After I updated the subject line, she remarked, somewhat thoughtfully, that she had never known an email subject line could be edited.

At that moment, I paused for a brief second.
Not because of her question, but because I suddenly realised that something one person sees as routine and self-evident can be an entirely unexplored area for someone else.

From my experience working as a translator, if an email is to receive a prompt response, a clear statement of intent in the subject line is often more important than how polished the body of the email may be.

It also reminded me of a secondary education course I once took. Our educational psychology lecturer, who had a great sense of humour, repeatedly reminded us to name our assignment files properly. He told us not to submit files simply titled “Assignment 1” or “作业1”. He joked that each semester he received over a hundred assignments with exactly the same name.

Some students, despite putting significant effort into their work, forgot to include their names or even their student numbers in the file. In the end, the most frustrating part for the lecturer was not marking the assignment itself, but figuring out who the assignment actually belonged to.