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“我”几乎花费了一生的时间来解释自己的状况，但是假如人们相信有四只耳朵如同有四只眼睛一样正常，那么“我”早就一点烦恼也没有了。
My mother was the only one who could understand my gibberish1, so before I entered Kindergarten, she took me to an audiologist2, who confirmed I needed hearing aids. It’s a sensoria-neural3 hearing loss, with no known origin, in which the nerve endings for high-pitched sounds are dead.
I was mainstreamed into regular classes, where my lifelong battle began. The battle of “Making Sure No One Knows I’m Different.”My hair was long enough to cover this dreadful secret. I relied heavily on lip-reading and pretending.
Then one day, in the third grade, it was discovered I needed glasses as well. A boy named Gary started calling me “Four-Eyes”.
Little did I know that wearing glasses would pitch my hearing aids through my hair. They practically waved hello to everyone. So Gary changed his tune. He started calling me “Four-Ears”. When you think about it, that’s pretty clever.
When I was 18, I won first chair in the Texas All-State Choir competition. Persistence and an investment in voice lessons had paid off. The uniqueness of a hearing-impaired person winning this coveted4 honor brought me 15 minutes of fame in the local paper and television news.
“Singer breaks shores of silence,” screamed the headline. Silence? What silence? I was capable of hearing conversation and music, although it was like hearing it with my head between pillows. I felt like an impostor5.
I went to get my teeth cleaned. The dental hygienist6 took one look at me and asked,“Aren’t you that girl that won the singing contest?” With her cleaning tool in my mouth, I could only say,“Uh-huh.”“Wow.You don’t look deaf.”
I went to the gynecologist7, who recognized me immediately. “You’re that girl! The one in the newspaper! You certainly don’t look deaf to me.”
People like things in black and white. You are either deaf or you are not. No gray areas.
I have spent most of my life straddling the fence between deaf and non-deaf worlds, explaining over and over what I can hear and not hear. There are deaf people who resent “hearies” like me. There are non-deaf people who resent having to repeat themselves to me twice, three times, maybe more.
“Mommy, what’s that sound?” my boys ask me from time to time.“Describe it to me,” I reply some days. “Go ask Daddy,” I reply other days.
It’s something I will have to explain over and over to my children as well. But that doesn’t bother me anymore. As long as they believe that having four ears is just as normal as having four eyes, it won’t bother me one bit.
我的妈妈是唯一能够听懂我胡言乱语的人，因此上幼稚园之前，她带我去看耳科专家。因为原因不明的高音区神经中枢坏死，我缺少了听觉神经。这证实我需要戴助听器。
我插班到了普通班，我的终身战斗——“确信没有人知道我与众不同的战斗”——也由此开始了。我把头发留得很长，并依赖于唇语和伪装来掩盖这个恼人的秘密。
在上三年级的某一天，我突然发现自己也需要戴眼镜，一个名叫盖瑞的男孩还开始叫我“四眼”。
我根本不知道戴眼镜会使我的助听器从发间坠落，这向每个人宣布了我的秘密。从此，盖瑞改变了对我的称呼，开始叫我“四只耳朵”。
18岁时，我赢得了得克萨斯唱诗班竞赛的第一名。唯一的一个有听力障碍的人赢得了这令人垂涎三尺的荣誉，当地报纸和电视新闻对我进行了15分钟的报道。
“歌手打破了寂静的海岸”——一个醒目的大标题！寂静的？什么寂静？我能听到谈话和音乐，尽管就像是把脑袋放在两个枕头之间。我感觉自己像骗子一样。
我去洗牙，牙医看看我问：“你就是那个赢得歌唱比赛的女孩？”清洁工具就在我嘴里，我只能哼哼哈哈地回应。“喔！你看上去不聋！”她说。
我去看妇科医生，她也立刻认出了我。“你就是那个女孩！报纸上那个！你看上去一点也不聋！”
人们喜欢黑白分明的事物，你要么聋，要么不聋，没有模棱两可的灰色地带！
我几乎花费了一生的时间，横跨于聋与不聋的两个世界的栅栏之上，一次次地解释听到了什么，什么又听不到。耳聋的人对我这样能听到的人不满，不聋的人抱怨他们不得不一次两次三次甚至多次地向我重复他们的话。
“妈妈，那是什么声音？”我的孩子们时不时地问我。有时回答：“描述一下！”有时也回答：“去问问爸爸！”
有些事情我得一遍遍地向孩子们解释，但这已不再困扰我。只要他们相信有四只耳朵就像有四只眼睛一样正常，我的烦恼就烟消云散了！
1.gibberish[5dVIbErIF]n.快速而不清的言语；乱语
2.audiologist[C:dI5lEdVIst]n.听觉病矫治专家
3.sensoria[sen5sC:rIE]n.感觉中枢；神经中枢
4.coveted[5kQvItId]adj.垂涎欲滴的
5.impostor[Im5pstE]n.冒名顶替者；骗子
6.hygienist[5haIdVi:nIst]n.卫生学家
7.gynecologist[gaInI5klEdVIst ]n.妇科医生
My mother was the only one who could understand my gibberish1, so before I entered Kindergarten, she took me to an audiologist2, who confirmed I needed hearing aids. It’s a sensoria-neural3 hearing loss, with no known origin, in which the nerve endings for high-pitched sounds are dead.
I was mainstreamed into regular classes, where my lifelong battle began. The battle of “Making Sure No One Knows I’m Different.”My hair was long enough to cover this dreadful secret. I relied heavily on lip-reading and pretending.
Then one day, in the third grade, it was discovered I needed glasses as well. A boy named Gary started calling me “Four-Eyes”.
Little did I know that wearing glasses would pitch my hearing aids through my hair. They practically waved hello to everyone. So Gary changed his tune. He started calling me “Four-Ears”. When you think about it, that’s pretty clever.
When I was 18, I won first chair in the Texas All-State Choir competition. Persistence and an investment in voice lessons had paid off. The uniqueness of a hearing-impaired person winning this coveted4 honor brought me 15 minutes of fame in the local paper and television news.
“Singer breaks shores of silence,” screamed the headline. Silence? What silence? I was capable of hearing conversation and music, although it was like hearing it with my head between pillows. I felt like an impostor5.
I went to get my teeth cleaned. The dental hygienist6 took one look at me and asked,“Aren’t you that girl that won the singing contest?” With her cleaning tool in my mouth, I could only say,“Uh-huh.”“Wow.You don’t look deaf.”
I went to the gynecologist7, who recognized me immediately. “You’re that girl! The one in the newspaper! You certainly don’t look deaf to me.”
People like things in black and white. You are either deaf or you are not. No gray areas.
I have spent most of my life straddling the fence between deaf and non-deaf worlds, explaining over and over what I can hear and not hear. There are deaf people who resent “hearies” like me. There are non-deaf people who resent having to repeat themselves to me twice, three times, maybe more.
“Mommy, what’s that sound?” my boys ask me from time to time.“Describe it to me,” I reply some days. “Go ask Daddy,” I reply other days.
It’s something I will have to explain over and over to my children as well. But that doesn’t bother me anymore. As long as they believe that having four ears is just as normal as having four eyes, it won’t bother me one bit.
我的妈妈是唯一能够听懂我胡言乱语的人，因此上幼稚园之前，她带我去看耳科专家。因为原因不明的高音区神经中枢坏死，我缺少了听觉神经。这证实我需要戴助听器。
我插班到了普通班，我的终身战斗——“确信没有人知道我与众不同的战斗”——也由此开始了。我把头发留得很长，并依赖于唇语和伪装来掩盖这个恼人的秘密。
在上三年级的某一天，我突然发现自己也需要戴眼镜，一个名叫盖瑞的男孩还开始叫我“四眼”。
我根本不知道戴眼镜会使我的助听器从发间坠落，这向每个人宣布了我的秘密。从此，盖瑞改变了对我的称呼，开始叫我“四只耳朵”。
18岁时，我赢得了得克萨斯唱诗班竞赛的第一名。唯一的一个有听力障碍的人赢得了这令人垂涎三尺的荣誉，当地报纸和电视新闻对我进行了15分钟的报道。
“歌手打破了寂静的海岸”——一个醒目的大标题！寂静的？什么寂静？我能听到谈话和音乐，尽管就像是把脑袋放在两个枕头之间。我感觉自己像骗子一样。
我去洗牙，牙医看看我问：“你就是那个赢得歌唱比赛的女孩？”清洁工具就在我嘴里，我只能哼哼哈哈地回应。“喔！你看上去不聋！”她说。
我去看妇科医生，她也立刻认出了我。“你就是那个女孩！报纸上那个！你看上去一点也不聋！”
人们喜欢黑白分明的事物，你要么聋，要么不聋，没有模棱两可的灰色地带！
我几乎花费了一生的时间，横跨于聋与不聋的两个世界的栅栏之上，一次次地解释听到了什么，什么又听不到。耳聋的人对我这样能听到的人不满，不聋的人抱怨他们不得不一次两次三次甚至多次地向我重复他们的话。
“妈妈，那是什么声音？”我的孩子们时不时地问我。有时回答：“描述一下！”有时也回答：“去问问爸爸！”
有些事情我得一遍遍地向孩子们解释，但这已不再困扰我。只要他们相信有四只耳朵就像有四只眼睛一样正常，我的烦恼就烟消云散了！
1.gibberish[5dVIbErIF]n.快速而不清的言语；乱语
2.audiologist[C:dI5lEdVIst]n.听觉病矫治专家
3.sensoria[sen5sC:rIE]n.感觉中枢；神经中枢
4.coveted[5kQvItId]adj.垂涎欲滴的
5.impostor[Im5pstE]n.冒名顶替者；骗子
6.hygienist[5haIdVi:nIst]n.卫生学家
7.gynecologist[gaInI5klEdVIst ]n.妇科医生