The announcement that Donn had reached middle age came quietly and secretly without warning. Donna, at 42 years old, was in perfect health. She was fit, well-dressed, and ate only the healthiest of foods, avoiding soda and candy. She was still asked for her identification when buying wine at the grocery store. She ran several miles every day; in local road races, she was known for beating people half her age.

“Forty is the new twenty!” her friends would say of Donna’s seeming agelessness.

Donna heard the quip (俏皮话) so often that a part of her believed that this aging thing was surely only for other people.

But that all changed during what should have been a fairly common event: a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew her driver’s license.

“Name?” the clerk asked, without looking up. Donna replied.

“Address?” Donna gave to her.

“Look through there, please,” The clerk pointed to an eye-testing screen hanging on the white wall. “Read the first four lines,” she continued.

Donna pushed her head against the equipment. “Go ahead.” The clerk added.

Donna was confused suddenly! Why was everything unclear?

“I think the glass is dirty,” Donna said, searching the desk for a tissue to wipe off the lens (镜头).

“It’s not dirty,” the clerk said, her voice filed with pride and anger. “There must be some problem,” Donna said, pressing her head against the machine once more.

“Madam, do you wear glasses?”

“No, no, I don’t,” Donna responded, a little embarrassed now, as other people in the room began turning to see what was going on.

The clerk looked down at Donn’s old license and back up at her. “Welcome to middle age, Madam. Come back when you’ve had an eye exam and gotten glasses.”

People often ask me for advice on how to learn English. Everyone is different. I’ll share some of my experience. I once learned English in Beijing University, but I mostly learned English on my own.

One thing I can tell is that, once you’ve started learning, you should try to think in English as much as you can. When you’re riding your bike or walking down the street, just think about “how would I say them in English?” At first, it will be with simple words or word groups, but later you should think about bigger phrases and word groups. Now I’m in America, and for most time, I just think in English and speak it directly. It’s amazing how much this helps.

For several years after I started learning, I was often afraid of trying to speak English with others because I didn’t want to make mistakes. Finally I got over it. And while traveling in America, I tried to hang out with friends who speak no Chinese, so I have no choice but to speak English. I wasn’t afraid to make mistakes and I don’t mind others laughing at me. My English started improving more quickly after that.

It may be a good idea to ask any of your American friends to look at the way you’re writing, and give you some advice.

Living beyond limits

Growing up in the hot Las Vegas desert, all I wanted was to be free. I would daydream about traveling the world, living in a place where it snowed.

At the age of 19, the day after I graduated from high school, I moved to a place where it snowed and I found my dream job. For the first time in my life, I felt free, independent and completely in control of my life. That is, until my life took a detour (转折点) . I went home from work early one day with what I thought was the flu, and less than 24 hours later I was in the hospital on life support with less than a 2% chance of living.

Over the course of two and a half months I lost the hearing in my left ear and both of my legs below the knee. I thought the worst was over until weeks later when I saw my new artificial legs for the first time. They were so painful that all I could think was, how am I ever going to travel the world in these things? And how was I going to snowboard again?

But I knew that in order to move forward, I had to let go of the old Self and learn to embrace the new Self. And that is when it dawned on me that if I snowboarded again, my feet aren’t going to get cold.

Four months later I was back up on a snowboard, although things didn’t go quite as expected: My knees and my ankles wouldn’t bend. But I knew that I would be able to do this again if I could find the right pair of feet.

I did a year of research, still couldn’t figure out what kind of legs to use. So I decided to make a pair myself. My leg maker and I put random parts together and we made a pair of feet that I could snowboard in. Then in 2005 I cofounded a nonprofit organization for youth with physical disabilities so they could get involved with action sports.

Eleven years ago, when I lost my legs, I had no idea what to expect. But if you ask me today, if I would ever want to change my situation, I would have to say no. Because my legs haven’t disabled me. They’ve forced me to rely on my imagination and to believe in the possibilities.