人生不设限·第八章 面对未知，迎向改变

EIGHT The New Bloke in the Bushes

在我12岁时，我们一家人从澳大利亚搬到美国。想到要在连一个朋友也没有的地方重新开始，我简直吓得半死。在前往新国家的飞机上，我们兄妹三人一直在练习美国腔，心想这样才不会被新同学欺负。

Iwas twelve years old when my family moved from Australia to the United States. I was scared out of my wits to be starting all over in a place where I had no friends. On the plane to our new country, my brother and little sister and I practiced our American accents so we wouldn't be teased when we talked to our new schoolmates.

我对自己奇怪的模样无计可施，但我总能修好我的外国口音吧?后来我才知道，其实大部分的老美还蛮喜欢澳大利亚口音的，几年前《鳄鱼先生》这部澳大利亚电影还在美国大卖呢。

I couldn't do anything about my unusual body, but I figured I could fix my foreign accent. Later I learned that most Americans love Australian accents. Crocodile Dundee had been a big hit just a few years earlier.

为了跟班上同学有同样的口音，我反而失去让女生留下深刻印象的机会。

By trying to sound like my classmates, I missed out on all sorts of opportunities to impress girls.

搬到美国是我人生早期的重大变化之一，而试着让自己的口音听起来像个美国人并不是我唯一犯的错。新学校很棒，但我一开始非常辛苦。离开从小生活的地方、转学、交新朋友，对任何孩子来说原本就很辛苦，而除了新来乍到的困难之外，我看起来还不像个“正常”孩子——我是全校唯一坐轮椅、唯一需要有助教陪在身旁的学生。大多数青少年担心脸上如果有青春痘会被取笑，你能想象我都在烦恼些什么吗?

This was the first major change in my life, and trying to sound American wasn't the only mistake I made. My new school was Lindero Canyon Middle School, which is in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains not far from where I live today. It was a wonderful school but I struggled there at first. It's hard for any kid to move away from where he's grown up, switch schools, and make new friends. Along with the usual hurdles of being new, I didn't look like a "normal" kid. I was the only student in a wheelchair, and the only one with a teacher's aide. Most teens worry that they'll be made fun of if they have a pimple. Imagine my concern.

我在澳大利亚墨尔本的第一所学校就读时，已经费尽力气想得到认同。后来，我们搬到布里斯班，我又花了许多精力让同学相信我这个人够酷，可以跟大家一起混。现在，我又得从头开始了。

I'd already fought to be accepted back in Australia, in my first school in Melbourne and then again when we moved to the Brisbane area. It took so much energy to convince my classmates that I was cool enough to hang out with. Now I was forced to begin anew.