人生不设限·无法控制恐惧，只会让屁股更痛
When I was a kid, I had what seemed like a very natural fear, a fear of doctors with needles. Whenever I had to get my school vaccinations for measles and rubella or the flu, I'd hide from my mum. Part of the problem was that doctors had a limited number of places on my body where they could stick me. With other kids, they could do either arm or the butt. My abbreviated body offered only one target site, and since my bum sits very low to the ground, it was especially painful for me, even when they administered the shot high in my hip. Whenever I received a shot, I couldn't walk for a day.
因为身体状况的关系，我从小就像医生们的靶子，我对打针产生很深的恐惧。我因为光看到针筒就昏倒而出名。
Because of my disability, I'd spent a good part of my youth serving as a pincushion for doctors with needles, and I'd developed a very deep fear. I was known for fainting at the mere sight of a hypodermic and syringe.
小学时有一次，两个显然不知道我过去的纪录，也不太了解人体解剖学的校护一人一边地把我架在轮椅上，然后在我两个肩头各给了一针——我的肩膀可没有太多肌肉和脂肪呀。那两针简直把我痛死了，痛到我得请我的朋友杰瑞帮忙推轮椅，因为我快昏倒了。杰瑞推着推着，然后，我眼前一黑，果然在轮椅上昏了过去。可怜的杰瑞不知道该怎么办，只能飞快地把我推到理科教室，请老师帮忙。
Once in grade school, two school nurses who apparently didn't know either my history or much about human anatomy came up on either side of me, pinned me between them in my wheelchair, and gave me shots in both shoulders—where there is very little muscle or fat. It was excruciating. The pain was so bad, I asked my friend Jerry to walk alongside me and steer my wheelchair because I felt faint. Jerry took control, and sure enough, I blacked out. Poor Jerry didn't know what to do, so he steered my wheelchair into our science class, with me hanging over the side, and asked the teacher for help.
妈妈知道我怕死打针了，所以她事先不会跟我和弟弟、妹妹说我们去找医生是为了打预防针。大约在我12岁时，我们有过一次可怕的经验，后来成为我们家的传奇故事。那天，妈妈说要带我们去做学校要求的“身体检查”，坐在等候室时，我就觉得有点不对劲。我们看到一个年纪跟我差不多的小女孩走进检查区，接着传来一阵惨叫，她挨了一针。
Knowing my great fear of needles, my mum didn't tell me or my brother or sister that we were headed to the doctor for our school inoculations. When I was about twelve years old, we had a wild visit that became part of family lore. Mum claimed we were just going in for our school "checkups." My first tip-off was in the waiting room. We'd seen this little girl about my age go into the examining area, and then we heard her screaming as she received her shot.
“你们听到了吗?”我问亚伦和蜜雪儿，“他们也会给我们打针了!”
"Did you hear that?" I asked Aaron and Michelle. "They are giving us the needle too!"
恐惧袭来，我陷入恐慌，大哭大叫，跟妈妈吵着说我不要打针，太痛了，我要回家。因为我是那里年纪最大的孩子，于是其他更小的小朋友就学我这英勇又醒目的模样，全都开始鬼哭狼嚎，哀求着要回家。
My fear kicked in, and I went into a panic. I was crying and yelling, telling my mum that I didn't want to get a shot, that they hurt too much and I wanted to go home. Since I was the oldest child, the younger kids followed my brave and shining example. They too started caterwauling and begging to go home.
我们的护士妈妈当然不为所动，对付这种打针大战，她可是老手了。她把我们这三个又哭又叫、拳打脚踢的家伙拽进检查室，就像宪兵把喝醉的大兵抓进禁闭室一样。
Our mother the nurse had no sympathy, of course. She was a veteran of the hypodermic wars. She hauled her howling and kicking and clawing pack into the examining room like a marine MP dragging drunken soldiers to the brig.
眼看恐慌和哀求完全无济于事，我试着跟医生商量：“你可不可以让我换成用喝的?”边讲还边嚎哭。
Seeing that sheer panic and pitiful begging was not working, I tried negotiation with the family physician. "Don't you just have something I can drink instead?" I bawled.
“恐怕不行哦，小朋友。”
"I'm afraid not, my son."
于是我决定采行B计划，也就是弟弟(Brother)计划，要老弟亚伦协助我脱逃。我已经想好办法了：亚伦先假装从检验台上跌下去，分散医生的注意力，同一时间，我奋力蠕动着跳下轮椅逃走。但是我被妈妈从中拦截，而小妹蜜雪儿那个机会主义者则趁乱飞快逃出。一位路过的护士在走廊逮到她，但蜜雪儿用力伸长手脚卡住门口，所以他们没办法把她塞进检查室。她是我的英雄。
Time for Plan B, as in Brother. I turned to Aaron and asked him to help me escape. I had a getaway all planned out. Aaron was to distract the doctors by falling off the examining table so I could squirm out of my wheelchair and make a run for it. But mum intercepted me. Ever the opportunist, my little sister bolted for the door. A passing nurse grabbed her in the hallway, but then Michelle wedged her little arms and legs in the doorway so they couldn't get her into the examining room. She was my hero!
整间诊所都听得到我们歇斯底里般的鬼哭狼嚎。医护人员冲了进来，因为那声音听起来好像我们正被严刑拷打。不幸的是，增援部队一看到那幅景象，马上站到我们的敌方去。有两个人用力夹住我，然后给了我一针，我像个妖怪一样尖叫。
Our hysterical cries could be heard throughout the clinic. Staff came running because it sounded as though we were being brutally tortured. Unfortunately, the reinforcements quickly took the wrong side. Two of them pinned me down for an injection. I screamed like a banshee.
当他们把针头挤进我的屁股时，我还是不停地扭来扭去，而因为我一直乱动，所以已经插进去的针头又被挤了出来。结果，医生又得再打一次。我的尖叫声大到让停车场里的车子警报器都响了起来。
I kept squirming just as they went to jam the needle in my bum. I jerked around and forced the needle to go in and pop out again. So the doctor had to jam it in me again! My screams set off car alarms in the parking lot.
所有人——我们兄弟姊妹、妈妈跟医护人员那天到底是怎么撑过去的，我不知道，我只记得我们三个小孩是一路大哭着回家的。
How any of us—my siblings, my mother, or the clinic staff—survived that day, I'll never know. The three of us wailed all the way home.
比起乖乖让他们打针，我强烈的恐惧反而造成更大的痛苦。事实上，因为没有控制好自己的恐惧，我的痛楚变成两倍——那次打完针后，我有两天不能走路，不止一天呢!
Because I was so afraid, my fears made the pain worse than it would have been if I'd just let them administer the shot. In fact, I doubled my pain because I did not manage my fear. I couldn't walk for two days instead of just one!
