"Keep staring, I might do a trick" That's the message on a T-shirt of mine. People stare at me all the time so I thought this shirt would be funny. See, I'm a dwarf¹.

dwarf n. 矮子、侏儒

Most of the time people aren't trying to be rude—they just haven't seen many dwarfs² like me before. I can understand that. But I also want to let them know that I see them staring. Usually the T-shirt makes them laugh at themselves not at me.

I was born with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism. I have an average size torso but my arms and legs are shorter and my head is bigger than average.

achondroplasia n. 软骨发育不全　　dwarfism n. 矮小、侏儒症
torso n. 人体的躯干

Right now I'm almost four feet tall and that's about as tall as I'm going to get. I'm not going to pretend that my height isn't a challenge. It is. Light switches and counters are usually too high for me. I can't reach some shelves in the grocery stores. It takes me three steps to keep up with one step of an average size adult. And my mom has to hem³ almost all of my pants.

switch n. 开关、电闸　　grocery n. 杂货、食品　　hem v. 缝…的褶边

But everyone faces challenges. You just have to face them with a good attitude. So I have a long barbecue fork to pull things down from pantry shelves. I'm a great climber and I can make a stool⁴ out of just about anything. I'll even be able to drive a car with the help of pedal⁵ extensions⁶. If all else fails I ask for help.

barbecue n. 吃烧烤肉的野餐　　pantry n. 食品室、餐具室 　　pedal n. 踏板

The way I see it I can do just about anything that an average size person can do. OK, so I'll never play professional sports but I have no problem testing my limits. I have to. For instance⁷, everyone uses stoves. Little people just have to figure out how to use them in different ways. I use a stool to reach mine at home. It may take me longer and it may be harder but I can still do it. (to be continued)

　　中文：

　　“瞧着吧，我会有我的高招！” 这就是我的一件T恤衫上面写的东西。因为人们总爱盯着我瞧，所以我想这件T恤衫会让他们感觉很有意思。猜到了吧，我是一个小矮人。

　　大多数时候人们都不是有意表现出无礼——他们只不过以前很少看到过像我这样的矮人而已。我能理解这点，但仍想让他们知道我注意到他们在盯着我看。这件T恤就常常使他们自嘲起来，而不是笑话我。

　　我生来就患有软骨发育不全症，这是侏儒症最常见的一种。我的躯干大小和常人一样，但胳膊和腿都比常人短，脑袋也比常人大一些。

　　现在我差不多有四英尺高，但基本上不可能再高了。事实就是如此，我不能装作无视身高这个挑战。对我来说灯的开关和柜台常常太高了；在杂货店里有些货架我够不着；我要走上三步才能赶得上普通成人迈一步。妈妈不得不为我把几乎所有的裤子都缝上折边。

　　但每个人都会遇到挑战，我们必须用良好的心态去面对它们。所以我会用一个很长的烤肉叉把东西从食品室的架子上弄下来；我擅长攀爬，任何东西都能被我当作凳子来用。借助踏板延伸设施，我甚至还能开车。要是所有其他的努力都不管用，那我就会请求帮助了。

　　正是这种态度，使得普通人能做的我也一样能做到。是的，我将永远无法参加职业运动项目，但我总有办法测试我的极限——我不得不如此。例如人人都用炉子，我们小矮人就必须想出怎样用不同的方法来使用炉子（在家里我站在凳子上才能够到煤）。这可能会让我花更长的时间，做起来也更困难，但我总算能做到。（待续）