高大的矮人從容應對挑戰-2

( To continue)

The hardest thing about being a dwarf is dealing with people's reactions. Sometimes people seem to think I'm invisible and they'll do stuff like cut in front of me in a line as if I'm not even there. And one time I was with about five of my dwarf friends and this woman wanted to take our picture. We said no, but she kept asking. It was like she thought we were street performers or something.

My average size friends will stick up for me like when there's a new kid at school who's making fun of me. If I'm with my dwarf friends mostly we just ignore the stares and the teasing. Sometimes we'll stare back—hard—and that usually embarrasses the person so much that the staring stops.

stick up for 為…辯護teasing n. 戲弄、逗弄

Except for rude people I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. So I don't mind some questions. Usually people want to know what to call a person with my condition. I tell them it's OK to refer to people like me as dwarfs or little people. Just don't call us midgets—it's an outdated term that offends us. I don't mind talking about dwarfism because that makes people see I'm a person just like them.

midget n. 侏儒outdated adj. 過時的offend v. 冒犯、使…不愉快

My T-shirt kind of does the same thing. It shows people the real me, a kid with a sense of humor. And maybe that's the real trick showing others that I'm just like them. I play sports and video games, I go to school and I hang out with my friends. I'm just shorter. I mean no one is exactly the same. We're all different in some way, so we should just accept each other's differences. And anyway I'm proud of who I am. Why would I want to change?(finished)

kind of 有幾分

中文:

(續)身為矮人最難的事就是應對人們的一些反應。有時人們好像對我視而不見,在我面前顯示他們的本領——比如站成一排擋住我的去路,好像我根本不在那兒。甚至有一次我和五個矮人朋友在一起時,有個女人還想給我們拍照!她不顧我們的反對一直要求,好像把我們當成了街頭表演者之類的人了!

當學校里有新生作弄我的時候,我那些身高正常的朋友都會保護我。如果和矮人朋友在一起,我們大部分時候都不理會別人的注視和嘲弄。有時我們也會回以嚴厲的目光,這常常令那個人很尷尬而停止注視。

我不想弄得別人不愉快,除非他們表現得很粗魯無禮,所以我並不介意人們提一些問題。通常人們想知道該怎么稱呼像我這樣的人,我就告訴他們叫我們矮子或小矮人都沒關係,但是別叫侏儒,那可是個令我們惱怒的過時辭彙。我也不介意談論侏儒症,因為那會讓人們明白我和他們一樣也是人。

我的T恤衫也就有這方面的意思:它向人們展示真正的我——一個有幽默感的孩子。也許這才是我的真實用意:告訴人們我和他們沒什麼兩樣。我不僅運動、玩電子遊戲、上學,還和朋友們一起閒逛。我只是矮了一點,我是說沒有人同別人一模一樣,人和人之間總有某些方面是不同的,所以我們應該接受彼此的不同之處。不管怎么樣,我為自己感到自豪。既然這樣,為什麼還想著改變呢?(完)

※本文作者:佚名※