英语博客：Money For Blondes.

 　　I came across some interesting information the other day, bizarre information, crazy information, that has led me on a journey of discovery. I was watching one of my sons run during a track meet (1). There were six middle schools all competing in the various track events, and the place was packed. I sat in the middle of the large crowd of parents who had come to cheer on (2) their children. A lady who I knew was talking to me about children growing up, entering high school, and applying for scholarships. “My oldest is a few years away from all of that,” I said. “But still (3), I should probably start looking into (4) scholarships.” She told me that she had already done so, as her son is older than mine. “There are all kinds of private scholarship funds out there. You won't believe it. There's even one for being blonde!” There was a long pause, as I frowned and thought about what she had said. “For being blonde?” I asked in disbelief(5). So many questions rushed into my head. “How blonde do you have to be?” “Could I bleach¹ (6) my hair blonde to get a scholarship?” “And who decides if you qualify? Does a little old lady with a huge Madonna wig² come to your house and check-out your hair?” This couldn't be true, I decided³. How ridiculous. But, my friend told me that lots of rich individuals will leave money for people who have certain qualities. I had to investigate. So, back at home, I did some research on the internet. I came across a website called '45 of the weirdest⁴ college scholarships'. Well, I didn't find any scholarships for being blonde, even though there were many searches for 'scholarships for blondes'. But I did find a lot of other bizarre ones: if you are a male over 6' 2'' or a female over 5'10'', you could qualify for $1000 by writing an essay entitled 'What being tall means to me.' If you're a nudist, a vegetarian⁵, if you wish to study fungi⁶, if you enjoy duck calling, or if you like to watch the series 'Star Trek⁷', then you can get money for college! Or if you can predict the future, play the bagpipes⁹, or can design clothes for the prom (7) out of duct tape (sticky tape), then you are also eligible¹⁰ (8) for money. If only I had known about all of this 20 years ago! I could have joined all of those groups, and got a PhD for free! I could have been a duck calling, bagpipe⁸ playing, fungi studying, future predicting nudist vegetarian (well, perhaps not the nudist part) who could predict her own shining educational future..... and not even have to change from a brunette to a blonde.

　　1. 'Track' has several meanings. It can mean a small path created by man or animals. It can mean 'to follow', or it is a noun meaning the sporting events that are running based.

　　a. My son competed in the running long jump and did quite well.

　　b. The mile run was the last event in the track meet.

　　2. 'To cheer on' can also be expressed as 'to cheer for'. The first expression implies encouraging someone in their event, the second implies supporting an individual or group.

　　a. As the athletes ran, we cheered them on.

　　b. Though he was last, we cheered him on, and tried to encourage him to go faster.

　　3. 'But still' is often used like 'however' when you are using 2 slightly contrasting ideas.

　　a. They won't arrive until later, but still we should get the house ready now.

　　b. We have plenty of food in the fridge, but still we shouldn't be wasteful¹¹.

　　4. 'To look into' can mean to investigate.

　　a. We looked into getting a loan, but we didn't qualify.

　　b. They looked into scholarships and found one for bald people!

　　5. 'Disbelief' means 'not believing' and is usually preceded by 'in' or 'with'.

　　a. I looked at him in disbelief; I couldn't believe what he had just said.

　　b. He put his hand to his mouth in disbelief when he saw how beautiful she looked.

　　6. 'Bleach' is a powerful chemical cleaner that is used to remove color from hair. It can be used as a verb sometimes.

　　a. I used some bleach to clean out the garbage can. That should clean it!

　　b. The sun has bleached¹² our patio¹³ chairs; they look so pale now!

　　7. The 'Prom' is a very important dance at High School.

　　a. Are you going to ask someone to go to the Prom with you?

　　b. Their Prom costume is very elegant, but if you look closely, you can see that it is made of duct tape!

　　8. 'Eligible' is when you satisfy characteristics for something, it could be age, gender¹⁴, ethnicity, background etc.

　　a. He wants to run for President of the Student Body, but he is too young; he's not eligible.

　　b. At 65 years of age, you're eligible for a pension.

1 bleach   

vt.使漂白；vi.变白；n.漂白剂

参考例句：

• These products don't bleach the hair.这些产品不会使头发变白。
• Did you bleach this tablecloth?你把这块桌布漂白了吗？

2 wig   

n.假发

参考例句：

• The actress wore a black wig over her blond hair.那个女演员戴一顶黑色假发罩住自己的金黄色头发。
• He disguised himself with a wig and false beard.他用假发和假胡须来乔装。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 weirdest   

怪诞的( weird的最高级 )； 神秘而可怕的； 超然的； 古怪的

参考例句：

• Think of the weirdest, craziest shit you'd like to see chicks do. 想想这最怪异，最疯狂的屁事。你会喜欢看这些鸡巴表演的。
• It's still the weirdest damn sound I ever heard out of a Jersey boy. 这是我所听过新泽西人最为怪异的音调了。

5 vegetarian   

n.素食者；adj.素食的

参考例句：

• She got used gradually to the vegetarian diet.她逐渐习惯吃素食。
• I didn't realize you were a vegetarian.我不知道你是个素食者。

6 fungi   

n.真菌，霉菌

参考例句：

• Students practice to apply the study of genetics to multicellular plants and fungi.学生们练习把基因学应用到多细胞植物和真菌中。
• The lawn was covered with fungi.草地上到处都是蘑菇。

7 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

8 bagpipe   

n.风笛

参考例句：

• The bagpipe is a sweet musical instrument.风笛是一种听起来很悦耳的乐器。
• A wailful bagpipe played out in the night.夜幕中传来悲哭般的风笛声。

9 bagpipes   

n.风笛；风笛( bagpipe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Yes, and I'm also learning to play the bagpipes. 是的，我也想学习吹风笛。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Mr. Vinegar took the bagpipes and the piper led the cow away. 于是醋溜先生拿过了风笛，风笛手牵走了奶牛。 来自互联网

10 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

11 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

12 bleached   

漂白的，晒白的，颜色变浅的

参考例句：

• His hair was bleached by the sun . 他的头发被太阳晒得发白。
• The sun has bleached her yellow skirt. 阳光把她的黄裙子晒得褪色了。

13 patio   

n.庭院，平台

参考例句：

• Suddenly, the thought of my beautiful patio came to mind. I can be quiet out there,I thought.我又忽然想到家里漂亮的院子，我能够在这里宁静地呆会。
• They had a barbecue on their patio on Sunday.星期天他们在院子里进行烧烤。

14 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。