Boy meets girl, girl meets boy: Arin Andrews, 16, left, was once a girl called Emerald while his girlfriend Katie Hill, 18, right, was born a boy called Luke. |
To the casual observer, this young couple look just like any other teenagers in love. But pretty Katie Hill and her boyfriend Arin Andrews share a unique bond - they were both born as the opposite sex. Katie, 18, spent the first 15 years of her life as Luke, son of a Marine colonel, while Arin, 16, was born a girl called Emerald who excelled at ballet dancing and won beauty contests. Both struggled with their sexuality all through their childhoods and were teased and bullied but their lives were changed when they both began hormone therapy and later met at a trans support group in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and instantly fell in love. Katie said: 'All I saw was a handsome guy. We're perfect for each other because we both had the same troubles growing up. 'We're both size five, so we even swap our old clothes our mum's bought us but we hated. 'We look so convincing as a boy and a girl, nobody even notices now. We secretly feel so good about it because it's the way we've always wanted to be seen.' High-school student Arin undergoes testosterone shots to give him the more masculine shape he's craved his whole life. Meanwhile high-school graduate Katie, 18, has finished her female hormone course - oestrogen shots - which helped her to develop natural breasts with no silicone implants. Katie, who has legally been a female since she was 15, believes she was born with naturally high levels of oestrogen and was teased as a boy throughout school for having small AA-cup breasts. Katie added: 'Even from age three, I knew deep down I wanted to be a girl. All I wanted was to play with dolls. I hated my boy body and never felt right in it. 'I kept my feelings a total secret growing up and was petrified of what people in our tiny Christian town would say. Now Arin and I can share any problems we face together.' Arin recalls a similar experience and says he knew he was a boy inside from his first day at school, aged just five. Arin realised he wasn't alone after reading about Katie's transition from male to female in their local newspaper. The pair eventually met in a local trans support group and hit it off. (Read by Emily Cheng. Emily Cheng is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
乍一看,這對年輕的情侶和其他熱戀中的年輕人沒什么不同。但美麗的凱迪-希爾和她的男朋友艾瑞-安德魯斯的親密關(guān)系卻非常與眾不同—兩人都做過變性手術(shù)。 18歲的凱蒂在15歲之前一直是個男兒身,名叫盧克,父親是一名海軍上校。而16歲的艾瑞卻是女兒身,名叫艾莫瑞德,擅長跳芭蕾,也曾贏得過選美比賽。 兩人童年都因性別困擾,遭到別人的嘲諷和欺辱,但在他們都去接收了激素治療進行變性后,兩人的生活改變了。兩人隨后在俄克拉何馬州塔爾薩的一家支持變性的組織結(jié)識,隨后墜入愛河。 凱蒂說:“我眼前是個帥小伙。我們是對方的完美伴侶,因為我們在成長過程中都遇到過相同的困境?!?/p> “我們的身材差不多,所以甚至?xí)Q穿對方的舊衣服,那些都是媽媽給我們買的,但我們都很討厭穿在身上?!?/p> “我們現(xiàn)在看起來就是一對男女伴侶,不會有人再注意到我們了。我們暗自感到高興,因為這就是我們想要展現(xiàn)出來的模樣?!?/p> 高中生艾瑞接收了雄性激素注射治療,使他看起來身材更像一名男子,這也是他一直以來的愿望。 同時,18歲的高中畢業(yè)生凱蒂已經(jīng)完成了雌激素治療,幫助她的胸部自然發(fā)育,而不是依靠硅膠移植。 凱蒂在15歲時從法律上講就已經(jīng)變性為一名女性,她認(rèn)為自己的雌激素水平自幼就很高,上學(xué)時曾因為胸部發(fā)育而遭到嘲笑。 凱蒂補充說:“從3歲開始,我在內(nèi)心深處就想成為一名女孩了,我想玩洋娃娃,我討厭自己的男性身體,一直覺得別扭?!?/p> “在成長過程中,我從沒和別人說過這個秘密,害怕遭到我們這個基督教小鎮(zhèn)的人們的非議?,F(xiàn)在艾瑞和我可以分享我們遇到的任何問題了?!?/p> 艾瑞回憶說,自己也有相似經(jīng)歷。他說,從5歲上學(xué)起自己就在心底覺得自己是個男生。 在當(dāng)?shù)貓蠹埳献x到凱蒂變性為女性的故事后,艾瑞意識到自己并不孤獨。兩人最終在當(dāng)?shù)匾患易冃灾С謾C構(gòu)相識,并墜入愛河。 相關(guān)閱讀 (中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 Julie) |
Vocabulary: petrified: 驚呆的;目瞪口呆的 |