NPR 10-12:Returning to What's Natural 我喜欢事物最本质的样子

College student Amelia Baxter-Stoltzfus believes in the freedom offered by semi-permanent hair dye

I believe in mystery.
I believe in family.
I believe in being who I am.
I believe in the power of failure.
And I believe normal life is extraordinary.
This I Believe.

Amelia Baxter-Stoltzfus was born and raised in Princeton, New Jersey¹, and her This I Believe essay was written in her last trimester of high school, a little over a year ago. She's now a sophomore² at the University of Chicago studying anthropology³, and although she updated her essay a bit, she says her belief both literally⁴ and symbolically⁵ is holding steady. Here's Amelia Baxter-Stoltzfus with her essay for This I Believe.

I believe in semi-permanent hair dye. The kind that lets you have a few wacky purple headed weeks in the depressing months of winter term. But leaves you plain and brunette again in time for graduation pictures. The kind that lets you be whoever you want, without letting go of how you got there. The kind that lets you embrace those internal contradictions that make up an entire oxymoronic complex complete human being. I believe in hypocrisy⁶ just a little.

Semi-permanent hair dye is about finding security within unlimited⁷ freedom. It's about recognizing what I have in my life and holding on to it even if only at the base of a follicle. Because I also believe in roots. My mother always tells me that the hair color you're born with is the one that looks the best on you. And I want to make sure that there's something inside of me that's always going to be worth returning to. Maybe the house I lived with my parents will never be home for me again. Maybe I'll fall out of touch with people I thought I was pretty close to in high school. Maybe I'll hate the way a darker brown washes me out. But I'll know that in 20 to 26 washes, I'll come back to something that I've had naturally forever and I'll know it looks pretty good.

Here's where the hypocrisy comes in. Every time you get away from home, thinking how you are going to reinvent yourself, you end up hanging on to the things about yourself that are the most familiar. Feeling safe isn't about setting limits on the outside. It's about hanging on for dear life to what's on the inside, no matter how your context changes. Because honestly you'll never know whether you look fantastic as a red head unless you've tried. What you will know is that you have brown to return to you when you are ready.

I've just moved into my first department all on my own and New Jersey has never felt so far away. But this new independence could only come from dependence⁸, from knowing that there are unshakable things within my life that have made me ready to face all the Big Bads out there in the world. We can't be toddlers or teenagers forever, and there's too much out there to experience to make me want to dwell too much in the past. So I do believe in permanent change. Just not for my hair.

Amelia Baxter-Stoltzfus with her essay for This I Believe. Amelia said that since she wrote this essay, her hair has been black, red and purple. By the way Amelia 's mother submitted her essay to us without Amelia's knowledge but she said that was OK. And if you or your mother would like to send an essay into our series, visit our website at npr.org/thisibelieve, where, if you happen to be a teacher, you can also find our free curriculum materials. For This I Believe I'm Jay Allison.

This I Believe is independently produced by Jay Allison, Dan Gediman, John Gregory, and Viki Merrick.

Support for NPR comes from Prudential Retirement⁹, sponsor of This I Believe, Prudential believes every worker can achieve a more secure retirement, Prudential Retirement, where beliefs matter. Support for This I Believe comes from the Corperation for Public Broadcasting.

1 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

2 sophomore   

n.大学二年级生；adj.第二年的

参考例句：

• He is in his sophomore year.他在读二年级。
• I'm a college sophomore majoring in English.我是一名英语专业的大二学生。

3 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 symbolically   

ad.象征地，象征性地

参考例句：

• By wearing the ring on the third finger of the left hand, a married couple symbolically declares their eternal love for each other. 将婚戒戴在左手的第三只手指上，意味着夫妻双方象征性地宣告他们的爱情天长地久，他们定能白头偕老。
• Symbolically, he coughed to clear his throat. 周经理象征地咳一声无谓的嗽，清清嗓子。

6 hypocrisy   

n.伪善，虚伪

参考例句：

• He railed against hypocrisy and greed.他痛斥伪善和贪婪的行为。
• He accused newspapers of hypocrisy in their treatment of the story.他指责了报纸在报道该新闻时的虚伪。

7 unlimited   

adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。

8 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

9 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。