哪件事改变了你的性格？
What is that one thing that changed your personality?
10岁时老师冤枉我把跳绳落在操场上，竟然罚我写5000个句子，我没同意。
At ten years old, I was falsely accused by a teacher of leaving a jump rope on the play ground. She assigned me the outrageous punishment of writing 5000 sentences. I refused.
她把我送到校长室，校长用木板打了我屁股和腿后面10下。
She sent me to the principal’s office. He used a wooden paddle and beat my buttocks and back of legs 10 times.
我永远不会忘记让我弯腰时他脸上的笑。
I’ll never forget the smile on his face as he told me to bend over.
我永远不会忘记那种坐不下的疼。
I’ll never forget the agony of not being able to sit down.
我永远不会忘记我妈妈带我去淋浴时看见我光着的屁股时脸上的表情，从屁股到膝盖后面青一块紫一块。
I’ll never forget the look on my mom’s face when she saw my naked butt on the way to the shower; black and blue from the butt to the back of the knee.
她把这件事交给我爸爸处理，爸爸只说我要学会怎样避免麻烦。
She left it to my dad to deal with who only stated that I needed to learn how to avoid trouble.
我从一个快乐的小学生变成了一个十足的混混。
I went from a happy school boy to an absolute terror.
我学会了躲着老师和其他掌权者。
I learned to evade teachers and anyone else in authority.
我对老师做恶作剧，给老师的轮胎放气。
I played pranks on teachers, let the air out of teachers' car tires, etc.
如果哪天我知道自己会被抓住，就会穿两条裤子，尽可能多穿内裤。
On days when I knew I would be caught, I wore two pairs of pants and as much underwear as possible.
被打时我会装哭，然后走出办公室时对其他学生露出得意的笑。
I would fake the cry when paddled then give my school mates a smirk as I came out of the office.
那就发生在教会学校，被打使我认清了一个事实，这些教会的领导都是暴君，我变成了一个不可知论者。
This was at a religious school. The paddling woke me to the fact that these religious authority figures were tyrants. I became an agnostic.
我再也没学会无忧无虑和快乐，直到自己有了孩子。孩子们使我再次学会了笑。
I didn’t learn to be care-free and happy again until I had children of my own. They taught me how to laugh again.
我小时候一直特别害羞，大多数时候甚至都不抬头，眼神接触对我来说极其困难。
I was extremely shy most of my early years. I wouldn’t even look up most of the time. Eye contact was extremely difficult.
16岁时姐姐和我正在内华达大道上走，她逼我去跟旁边车里的男孩儿说话，要是我不去她就会大喊“她爱你！”我不信，她就真喊了！
When I was 16 my sister and I were cruisin’ Nevada Avenue, she forced me to talk to the guys in the cars next to me by telling me that if I didn’t talk to them, she was going to yell “she loves you!” I didn’t believe her, but then she did it!
我无地自容了！哎！
I was mortified! Yikes!
所以后来她再让我去跟男孩或别人说话，我都照做！
So then the next time she said, talk to him or else, I did!
我就只说“嗨”，他们都很友好地回一句“嗨”。
I just said “hi” and they were friendly and said “hi” back. From then on it was easy!
从那以后一切都变得容易了！我不再只走路，在学校会跟别人打招呼，后来工作上也变勇敢了。
So then it went from just cruisin’ to me saying hi at school. Then I got brave at work.
从那以后，我跟别人说话时会看着他们的眼睛。
From then on, I could look people in the eye and speak to them.
现在我一点都不害怕别人对我的看法。
Now, I’m not afraid of people’s opinion of me at all.
我很喜欢友善的感觉！
I just love being friendly!