No-hair Day
無發日
If you are turning 16, you stand in front of the mirror observing every inch of your face. You agonize that your nose is too big and you're getting another pimple , your hair isn't blonde, and that boy in your English class has not noticed you yet.
如果你快到16歲，站在鏡子前仔細觀察自己的臉。你發現自己的鼻子太大，臉上又長了一顆痘痘，頭髮不是金黃色的，英語課上的那個男孩還沒注意到自己，這一切都會令你痛苦不已。
Alison never had those problems. Two years ago, she was a beautiful, popular and smart eleventh-grader, not to mention a varsity lacrosse goalie and an ocean lifeguard. With her tall, slender body, pool-blue eyes and thick blonde hair, she looked more like a swimsuit model than a high school student. But during that summer, something changed.
艾利森從不為這些問題煩惱。兩年前，她是個漂亮的姑娘，上11年級，有人緣又聰明。此外，她還是學校曲棍球隊守門員和海灘救生員。她身材高挑修長，湛藍的眼睛，一頭濃密的金髮，看上去不像學生倒更像泳裝模特。但是那年夏天，情況有些變化。
After a day of lifeguarding, Alison couldn't wait to get home, rinse the saltwater out of her hair and comb through the tangles. She flipped her mane forward."Ali!"her mother cried,"What did you do?"She discovered a bare patch of skin on the top of her daughter's scalp ." Did you shave it? Could someone else have done it while you were sleeping?" Quickly, they solved the mystery - Alison must have wrapped the elastic band too tightly around her ponytail. The incident was soon forgotten.
一次，艾利森當了一整天的救生員後，迫不及待地想回家沖掉髮間鹹鹹的海水，再梳理一下糾結成團的頭髮。她把濃密的長髮甩到了臉前。“艾利！”她母親叫道：“你幹什麼了？”她發現女兒頭頂禿了一塊。“是你剃的嗎？會不會是你睡覺時別人剃的？”很快她們解開了謎團——艾利森肯定是用皮筋把馬尾辮扎得太緊。這件事很快就被淡忘了。
Three months later, another bald spot was found, then another. Soon, Alison's scalp was dotted with peculiar quarter-sized bare patches. After diagnoses of "it's just stress" with remedies of ointments , a specialist began to give injections to each spot. To mask her scalp, bloody from the shots, Alison was granted permission to wear a hat to school, normally a violation of the strict uniform code. Little strands of hair would push through the scabs , only to fall out two weeks later. Alison was suffering but nothing would stop it.
三個月之後，她頭上又出現了一塊禿斑，接著又是另外一塊。艾利森的頭皮很快佈滿了少見的25美分硬幣大小的禿斑。診斷認為不過是“壓力過大”，治療辦法是局部塗藥膏，一位專科醫生開始給她的每處禿斑注射藥物。為了遮蓋她因注射而血跡斑斑的頭皮，艾利森獲准可以戴著帽子上學——通常這可是違反學校嚴格的著裝規定的。小撮頭髮會從痂疤裡鑽出來，但長兩週之後就脫落了。艾利森很遭罪，但她的病無藥可治。
Alison's sunny spirit and supportive friends kept her going, but there were some low points. Like the time when her little sister came into her bedroom with a towel wrapped around her head to have her hair combed. When her mother untwisted the towel, Alison watched the thick hair bounce around her sister's shoulders. Gripping all of her limp hair between two fingers, she burst into tears. It was the first time she had cried since the whole experience began.
艾利森性格開朗，朋友們也對她予以支持，這使她生活依舊，但有時還是會出現低谷。比如，一次妹妹頭裹毛巾，走進她臥室梳頭。當媽媽把毛巾解開時，艾利森看到一團濃密的頭髮在妹妹肩頭盪來盪去。艾利森用兩個指頭緊緊夾住僅有的軟塌塌的頭髮，眼淚奪眶而 出。這是她脫髮以來第一次流淚。
As time went on a bandanna replaced the hat, which could no longer conceal her balding scalp. With only a small handful of strands left, the time had come to buy a wig . Instead of buying a long blonde one, pretending as though nothing had been lost, Alison bought a shoulder-length auburn one. Why not? People cut and dyed their hair all the time. With her new look, Alison's confidence strengthened. But as the summer approached, Alison worried. If she couldn't wear a wig in the water, how could she lifeguard again? "Why? Did you forget how to swim?" Her father asked. She got the message.
隨著時間推移，她戴帽子也無法遮掩住變禿的頭皮，只得改扎一塊大手帕。後來當剩下一小把頭髮時，她不得不買了頂假髮。不過艾利森並沒有買頂長長的金色假髮，假裝不曾有過脫髮，相反，她買了一個齊肩的赭色假髮。為什麼不呢？人們一直都在剪髮和染髮。艾利森的新形象增強了她的信心。但隨著夏天的臨近，艾利森變得焦慮不安。如果在水裡不能戴假髮，她可怎麼再當救生員呢？“怎麼了？難道你忘了如何游泳嗎？”父親問道。艾利森明白了父親的意思。
After wearing an uncomfortable swimming cap for only one day, she mustered up the courage to go completely bald. Despite the impolite stares and comments - "Why do you crazy kids shave your heads?" - Alison adjusted to her new look.
她只有一天戴著一頂彆扭的泳帽，後來就鼓起勇氣露出了光頭。儘管有不禮貌的目光和諸如“你們這些瘋狂的小孩為什麼要剃光頭？”之類的話語，艾利森還是適應了自己的新形象。
She arrived back at school that fall with no hair, no eyebrows, no eyelashes, and with her wig put away somewhere in the back of her closet. As she had always planned, she would run for school president, changing her campaign speech only slightly. Presenting a slide show on many famous bald leaders like Gandhi, Alison had the students and faculty rolling in the aisles .
那年秋天返校時，艾利森光著頭，眉毛和睫毛都掉光了，假髮也被她塞到了衣櫥深處。按照先前的計劃，她仍參加了學生會主席的競選，只對競選演講稿做了細微的調整。艾利森展示了一個幻燈片，裡面有許多像甘地一樣的著名領導人的禿頂照片，引得學生們和教職員工捧腹大笑。
In her first speech as the elected president, Alison talked of her condition, quite comfortably answering questions. Dressed in a T-shirt with the words "Bad Hair Day" printed across the front, she pointed to her shirt and said, "When most of you wake up in the morning and don't like how you look, you may put on this T-shirt." Putting on another T-shirt over it, she continued, "When I wake up in the morning, I put on this one." It read, "No- Hair Day." Everybody cheered and applauded. And Alison, beautiful, popular and smart - not to mention varsity goalie, ocean lifeguard and now,school president - smiled back from the podium .
當選主席後，艾利森在首次講話中說到了自己的病情，並對種種提問應答自如。她身穿一件胸前印有“糟糕髮型日”一行字的T恤。她指著自己的T恤說：“當你們多數人早晨醒來不喜歡自己的樣子時，不妨穿上這件T恤。”她又套上另一件T恤，接著說：“但早晨醒來，我會穿上這件。”上面印著：“無發日”。聽到這兒，大家都歡呼鼓掌。聰明美麗又受人歡迎的艾利森——更別提她是校隊守門員、海灘救生 員，如今又是學生會主席——在講臺上對此報以微笑。
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