音频下载[点击右键另存为][00:00.00]Big Challenges 巨大的挑战
[00:05.19]“Keep staring! I might do a trick！”
[00:09.67]That’s the message on a T-shirt of mine.
[00:13.63]People stare at me all the time
[00:15.91]so I thought this shirt would be funny.
[00:18.22]See I’m a dwarf.
[00:20.17]Most of the time people aren’t trying to be rude—
[00:24.65]they just haven’t seen many dwarfs like me before.
[00:28.61]I can understand that.
[00:31.00]But I also want to let them know
[00:33.53]that I see them staring.
[00:35.37]Usually the T-shirt makes
[00:37.57]them laugh at themselves not at me.
[00:39.74]I was born with achondroplasia,
[00:42.94]the most common form of dwarfism.
[00:45.44]I have an average-size torso,
[00:47.96]but my arms and legs are shorter
[00:50.58]and my head is bigger than average.
[00:52.88]Right now I’m almost four feet tall
[00:55.38]and that’s about as tall as I’m going to get.
[00:58.47]I’m not going to pretend
[01:00.41]that my height isn’t a challenge.
[01:02.39]It is. Light switches and counters are usually too high for me.
[01:07.32]I can’t reach some shelves in the grocery stores.
[01:10.81]It takes me almost three steps to keep up
[01:13.67]with one step of an average-size adult.
[01:16.50]And my mom has to hem almost all of my pants.
[01:20.10]But everyone faces challenges.
[01:22.52]You just have to face them with a good attitude.
[01:25.38]So I have a long barbecue fork to pull things down
[01:29.53]from pantry shelves.
[01:30.93]I’m a great climber
[01:32.14]and I can make a stool out of just about anything.
[01:35.21]I’ll even be able to drive a car with the help of pedal extensions.
[01:39.70]If all else fails, I ask for help.
[01:42.53]Due to the way I see it,
[01:44.84]I can do just about anything that an average-size person can do.
[01:49.21]So I’ll never play professional sports
[01:52.27]but I have no problem testing my limits.
[01:55.34]I have to. For instance, everyone uses stoves.
[01:59.60]Little people just have to figure out
[02:02.43]how to use them in different ways.
[02:04.31]I use a stool to reach mine at home.
[02:07.36]It may take me longer and it may be harder
[02:10.44]but I can still do it.
[02:11.95]My T-shirt shows people the real me—
[02:14.92]a kid with a sense of humor.
[02:16.87]And maybe that’s the real trick showing others
[02:20.06]that I’m just like them.
[02:21.38]I play sports and video games,
[02:23.88]I go to school and I hang out with my friends.
[02:26.85]I’m just shorter.
[02:28.47]I mean no one is exactly the same.
[02:31.44]And anyway, I’m proud of who I am.