12-2 我的头发是蓝色（在线收听）

Till There Was Blue

You know, it’s funny the way things seem to happen. Five minutes of one day can change the rest of your life. I know it did mine. And that change taught me that letting loose and giving in to a spur-of-the-moment¹ idea is what life is all about. I recently was given the opportunity to do research on fruit flies through an eight-week summer program for high school students funded by NASA at Cornell University. I headed out from Florida to the college town of Ithaca, New York, alone and free, not knowing what adventures lay before me.

One weekend, my friends and I were fighting boredom, staring blindly out the window. It was clear we needed to get out and do something, anything. So we headed for the mall. We wandered around the commercial paradise in search of enlightenment, or simply something to do. I discovered our afternoon diversion in a small sized bottle of blue hair spray². “Let’s color our hair blue!” I said spontaneously. We received a few strange glances on the bus ride back to campus, but most of the occupants were either too old or too tired to notice a bunch of crazy kids, and I admit I was a little disappointed at their indifference. After all, our hair was blue!

Later, when we went out for dinner, we got an entirely different reaction. We were waiting for another friend to meet us in front of a beautiful gray stone church not far from our dorms. For the first time, I felt extremely nervous about how others would react to my appearance. I worried about being on campus in broad day light with blue hair, but all three of us idiots quickly reminded ourselves that we weren’t going to see anyone who knew us anyway, so what the heck. I thought about my mother and what she’d say about blue hair, but all I could come up with were her words “ always wear clean underwear.” She never warned me about hair color, so off we went.

That’s when the guys appeared. I think they had been surreptitiously³ hiding under rocks or in their dorm rooms until that moment. Before now, hardly anyone had been on campus. We all forgot that this was the day thousands of college students were arriving. Good timing, Alicia, I thought to myself sarcastically. That is how I met John the cute college guy with the dark hair, incorrigible⁴ air, and playful grin who sauntered⁵ up in the middle of several friends and snickered⁶ at the blue haired buffoons⁷ before him. I consoled⁸ one of my friends, “Don’t worry! We will never see them again!”

The next night, Cornell sponsored a party for those of us in the summer program. They fashioned the entertainment after MTV’s Singled Out show, where a blindfolded person ends up with a date for the night based on a series of ridiculous questions his partner has to answer. A friend and I walked into the room, and John stood up and yelled out, “Blue hair!” The Singled Out game was a great backdrop⁹, as the entire room directed their attention to me. It’s a good thing he did embarrass me, though John and I have been together ever since. If I had never followed a whim¹⁰ to dye my hair blue (which I immediately washed out after dinner that night), I would never have met John, my best friend and boyfriend. The one time I let loose and did something without caring what others thought about it, I had the time of my life.

Things could have ended up differently that day. I could merely have been the girl on the corner in khaki shorts, but that memory would have been fleeting and short lived. There are thousands of people in college, and it takes something unusual to stand out among them. So I was the girl with blue hair. And to this day, I have never regretted it. The five minutes it took to spray my hair changed my life for the better.

And what does John have to say about the whole incident? He still makes fun of me, like when he told his mother how we met. Now his sister and brother-? in-law know, and my parents eventually found out as well. But they all have the same reaction. They all laugh and say that is the funniest “first meeting” of a couple they have ever heard. And despite the fact the blue hair led me to John, he has explicitly asked me not to dye my hair blue again. I promised him that I wouldn’t. No, next time I’m definitely thinking pink. 

注释：

1. spur-of-the-moment [5spE:rEvTE5mEumEnt] a. 出于一时冲动的，不假思索的

2. spray [sprei] n.  喷雾，用作喷雾的液体

3. surreptitiously [7sQrEp5tiFEsli] ad.  鬼鬼祟祟地，偷偷摸摸地，保密地

4. incorrigible [in5kCridVEbl] a.  屡教不改的，不可救药的

5. saunter [5sC:ntE(r)] vi.  闲逛，漫步

6. snicker [5snikE(r)] vi.  窃笑，暗笑，傻笑

7. buffoon [bE5fu:n] n.  滑稽的人，小丑

8. console [kEn5sEul] vt.  安慰，抚慰，慰问

9. backdrop [5bAkdrRp] n.  [戏] 背景幕

10. whim [hwim] n.  突然产生的念头，冲动

我的头发是蓝色

世事的发展往往有些可笑。某一天的五分钟能够改变你的一生。这种事就发生在我身上。从这个改变中我学到，放松一下自己、随着一时的冲动干点傻事才是生活真谛之所在。不久前，我获得了一个机会，参加由国家航空航天局赞助、在康奈尔大学举办的研究果蝇的8周的高中生夏令营项目。我从佛罗里达州出发，直奔纽约的伊萨卡大学城，独自一人，无拘无束，不知道前面有什么冒险经历在等待着我。

一个周末，我和朋友们漫无目的地凝视窗外，感到很无聊。很显然我们需要出门干点什么，任何事情都行。这样，我们直奔购物中心。我们在这座购物天堂里漫步，找灵感，或者说找点事儿干。我发现了一小瓶蓝色染发剂可以为我们的下午解闷。“让我们把头发染成蓝色吧！”我不假思索地说道。在乘车回校的路上，只有几个人用奇怪的目光扫了我们几眼，多数乘客要么太老了，要么太累了，根本没注意到我们这几个疯丫头。我承认，对他们的漠然态度，我很失望。毕竟，我们的头发是蓝色的呀！

后来，当我们外出用餐时，我们得到的反应就完全不同了。我们在离宿舍不远的一座漂亮的、灰石墙教堂前等着另一位朋友。我对他人对我外貌的反应第一次感到非常紧张。我担心大白天在校园里，染着蓝头发怎么见人呀？但是我们3个傻瓜很快提醒自己，反正不会见到熟人，管它呢。我想到了我的妈妈，她对我染蓝头发会说什么？可是我能够记得她所说过的话仅仅是“永远穿干净的内衣”。对我头发的颜色，她从未提出过警告，所以我们出发了。

恰好此时一群男孩子出现了。我想他们在此之前肯定一直秘密躲在石头下面或者藏在他们的房间里，直到此时才突然露面。在此之前，校园里几乎空无一人。我们都忘记了，这天会有好几千大学生到来。挑的好时间，艾丽西娅，我不无自嘲地想道。这就是我如何认识约翰的——一个招人喜欢的大学男生，长着一头深色头发，一副淘气的样子，嘴角挂着一丝顽皮的笑意，在一群朋友中间朝我们走过来，看得出来他在暗笑眼前这几个蓝头发的疯丫头。我安慰一个朋友说：“别担心，我们再也不会见到他们！”

第二天晚上，康奈尔大学为我们这些夏令营项目参加者举办了一个晚会。他们模仿音乐电视频道的“选秀”节目安排娱乐活动，在这个节目中，一个被蒙上眼睛的人最终会与人配对去参加当晚的一个约会，人选是根据对方要回答的一系列荒唐问题来决定的。当我和朋友走进屋时，约翰站起身来大声喊道：“蓝头发！”整屋人的注意力都转到我身上，“选秀”节目成了一个绝好的背景。不过，他出我的洋相是件好事——从那以后我们就结识相恋了。如果我没有一时冲动把头发染蓝的话（那天吃完晚饭我就洗掉了），我或许永远不会认识约翰——我最好的朋友和男友。这一回我彻底放松自己，做了一件不顾他人议论的事，可恰恰就是这一回成了我终生难忘的经历。

那天所发生的一切可能会是完全另外一个样子。我可能只是那个躲在角落里、穿着咔叽布短裤的女孩，但那种印象会一闪即逝，存留短暂。学校里有几千个学生，你必须做点什么非同寻常的事儿才能使自己突出。于是我便成了那个蓝发女孩。直到今天，我一点都不后悔。我用5分钟染了发，而这改变了我的一生，使它变得更美好。

约翰对整个事儿有什么评论？他仍然拿我开玩笑，就像他告诉他妈妈我们是怎么相识时那样。现在他姐姐和姐夫都知道了，我爸妈最终也知道了。但是他们的反应都是同样的。他们都笑着说那是他们所听到过的最有趣的恋人“初次相遇”。虽然是蓝头发把我带到了约翰身边，但他明确地要求我别再把头发染蓝。我答应他我再也不会了。不染蓝了，下一次我肯定会考虑染成粉红色。