人生不設限·第八章 面對未知，迎向改變

EIGHT The New Bloke in the Bushes

在我12歲時，我們一家人從澳大利亞搬到美國。想到要在連一個朋友也沒有的地方重新開始，我簡直嚇得半死。在前往新國家的飛機上，我們兄妹三人一直在練習美國腔，心想這樣才不會被新同學欺負。

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.

我對自己奇怪的模樣無計可施，但我總能修好我的外國口音吧?后來我才知道，其實大部分的老美還蠻喜歡澳大利亞口音的，幾年前《鱷魚先生》這部澳大利亞電影還在美國大賣呢。

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.

為了跟班上同學有同樣的口音，我反而失去讓女生留下深刻印象的機會。

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

搬到美國是我人生早期的重大變化之一，而試著讓自己的口音聽起來像個美國人并不是我唯一犯的錯。新學校很棒，但我一開始非常辛苦。離開從小生活的地方、轉(zhuǎn)學、交新朋友，對任何孩子來說原本就很辛苦，而除了新來乍到的困難之外，我看起來還不像個“正常”孩子——我是全校唯一坐輪椅、唯一需要有助教陪在身旁的學生。大多數(shù)青少年擔心臉上如果有青春痘會被取笑，你能想象我都在煩惱些什么嗎?

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.

我在澳大利亞墨爾本的第一所學校就讀時，已經(jīng)費盡力氣想得到認同。后來，我們搬到布里斯班，我又花了許多精力讓同學相信我這個人夠酷，可以跟大家一起混?，F(xiàn)在，我又得從頭開始了。

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.