From Shark Diving to Monster Truck Driving, These Girls Are Doing Seriously Cool Stuff

by Sarah Devlin

翻译：芥子

From Shark Diving to Monster Truck Driving, These Girls Are Doing Seriously Cool Stuff

by Sarah Devlin

翻译：芥子

这些女生告诉你，这才是真正的酷

你想过练习跆拳道或与鲨鱼共舞吗？我们访问了五个女生：她们都有非一般的爱好，而且通过努力，她们把自己的爱好发挥到专业水平！尽管爱好各异，但她们都有一样的坚持—你不得不承认，她们是真正的女中豪杰。

Some girls dream of being Olympians, while others want to be competitive[竞争的]cheerleaders—but Navey Baker has always been focused on another part of sports. “In sixth grade, I got to be the mascot for my elementary school,” she says. “I absolutely loved it for that moment forward.”

Years later, she had the opportunity to wear a tiger costume for her high school in Mesa, Arizona. She saved up $1,000 to buy the suit herself; doing jobs around the house and babysitting netted[净赚]her the cash. She’s become a crowd favorite and plans on working for a professional[职业性的]sports team one day. “Don’t give up, never give up,” Navey advises. “No matter what people say, just be you and you only.”

有些女生梦想成为奥运会选手，有些则希望当上有竞争力的拉拉队队长—但纳薇·贝克一直以来关注的是体育运动的另一个地方。“读六年级的时候，我当上了小学的吉祥物。”她说。“我之后就一直很喜欢当吉祥物。”

几年后，她有机会穿上老虎服为位于（美国）亚利桑那州梅萨市自己所读的高中当吉祥物。她自己存了一千美元买服装；这些钱是她在家里干活和当临时保姆赚来的。渐渐地，大家都喜欢上了她。纳薇打算有朝一日可以为专业运动队工作。“不要放弃，永远不要放弃。”纳薇建议道。“不管别人怎么说，做自己，只要做自己就可以了。”

Like most 16-year-olds, Rosalee Ramer likes to drive, but unlike pretty much every other teen you know, Rosalee is a professional monster truck driver. “My family has been involved[使参与]with monster trucks for a long time—we’ve had our own since I was seven,” she says. “I really love anything on four wheels.”

Though the actual driving is tons of fun, Rosalee particularly values the people she’s met through her job. “It’s given me the opportunity to spend time with people with special needs and kids who love monster trucks as much as I do.” She wants to study mechatronics[机械电子学]engineering in college, which will allow her to “combine computer science and mechanical automotive[汽车的]technology.” Impressive, right? And in case you were wondering, when she’s off-duty she drives a much smaller Jeep Wrangler.

罗莎莉·拉默和大部分16岁的年轻人一样喜欢开车，但又和你身边的青少年很不同—她是一名职业怪兽卡车车手。“我的家人长期以来一直从事和怪兽卡车有关的事—我7岁时，家里就有了自己的怪兽卡车。”她说。“我真的很喜欢任何有四个轮子的东西。”

虽然驾车的过程乐趣无穷，但罗莎莉尤其珍惜工作中遇到的各种人。“它让我有机会与那些有特别需要的人，以及和我一样热爱怪兽卡车的孩子相处。”她希望到大学修读机械电子工程，因为这个专业可以让她“把电脑科学和机械汽车技术糅合到一起”。真令人敬佩，对吧？以防你有什么疑惑，告诉你，当她不工作的时候，她开的是一辆体积小得多的吉普牧马人。

注1：一种巨轮卡车。

“Everyone else was scared of them,” shark diver Madison Stewart says about why she was first drawn to the scary sea creatures. Madison has dedicated[致力]herself to protecting the Great Barrier Reef—home to many endangered[濒临灭绝的]sharks—and hopes to continue her work as long as she can. “There’s so much information that people just don’t know,” she says. “Like the fact they’re only responsible[负有责任的]for the deaths of 12 people a year, while humans kill more than 100 million sharks in the same time.”

She’s so committed[坚定的]to her cause that she chose to become homeschooled at age 14 to devote more time to diving. “I want to see the end of certain practices in my lifetime, like shark fisheries[渔场]in the Great Barrier Reef, over-fishing, and factory farming[工厂化养殖],” she says. Yes, her future is certainly in the sea: “It would be a dream to be an underwater cinematographer[电影摄影技师]or a safety diver.”

“其他人都怕它们。”鲨鱼潜水员麦迪逊·斯图尔特在谈到她最初被这种吓人的海洋生物吸引时这样说道。大堡礁生活着很多濒危灭绝的鲨鱼—麦迪逊一直致力于大堡礁的保护工作，并希望可以一直工作到自己无法继续为止。“人们不知道的事情太多了。“她说。“比如说，每年只有12宗死亡事件和它们有关；但与此同时，人类每年捕杀鲨鱼的数量超过一亿条。”

她对自己的事业非常热诚，甚至在14岁时选择在家接受教育，因为她想把更多时间放在潜水上。“我希望在有生之年看到一些行为可以消失，比如大堡礁的鲨鱼场、过度捕鱼和工厂化养殖等等。”她说。是的，她的未来一定会在海里度过；“如果能当一名水下摄影师或者安全潜水员，那就真是太好了。”

Starting Jiu-Jitsu[柔术]training when she was just five years old, McKenna Hutchinson’s love of martial arts has been obvious for nearly a decade. She graduated to Judo and kickboxing[跆拳道]before finally discovering Pankration注2, which is “like MMA注3, except it has far more extensive[广泛的]rules to ensure the safety of its participants[参与者]—for example, there are no head strikes[攻击].”

And just how tough is this sport? “Pankration is the ultimate[终极的]test of skill,” she says. “Also, it shows how well I would be able to defend[防守]myself in a real self-defense[自我防护]situation.”She hopes to eventually[最后]compete professionally in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, get her black belts in Jiu-Jitsu and Judo, and open her own martial arts school. As for anyone who questions if girls should participate in combat sports[搏击运动]? “Not to be cliché[陈腐的],” she says, “but girls can do anything that guys can, and most of the time we’re better at it.”

麦克纳·哈奇森从5岁起就开始接受柔术训练，她对武术的热爱已经持续了近十年。在完成了柔术和跆拳道的学习后，她又发现了古希腊式搏击。古希腊式搏击“类似于综合格斗（MMA），只是有更多广泛的规则保证参加者的安全—例如，它没有击打头部的动作。”

这项体育究竟有多艰难？“古希腊式搏击是对技术的终极检验。”她说。“另外，它也可以显示出在真正的自卫情况下，我能够如何保卫自己。”她希望最终能在终极格斗锦标赛以职业选手的身份参加比赛，拿到柔术和柔道黑带，并开一家属于自己的武术学校。如果有人问起女生应不应该参加搏击运动，她会怎样回答？“我不是要老调重弹，”她说，“但男生可以做的事情女生也可以做，很多时候我们做得更好呢。”

How do you spend your weekends? A little homework, a movie, and a whole lot of hanging out? Well, Jess Dawson is busy creating complex desserts at Grace, a Michelin注4-starred restaurant in Chicago. Jess was first hired as a pastry[油酥糕点]chef at age 16 (at Spiaggia, another restaurant in her hometown), and at the very end of her first summer there, she finally picked up her paychecks—she had never had a job before and couldn’t figure out[想出]where to find them.

“That night I skipped down Michigan Avenue, waving my checks in the air, telling everyone who would listen that I, Jessica Dawson, was getting paid to bake,” she says. She plans to keep working for chefs who inspire her and to focus on making delicious food. Her favorite things to make right now are French pastries: “It’s not a complete Saturday morning until the smell of croissants[牛角面包]fills the kitchen.”

你的周末是怎样过的呢？做点功课、看一部电影，花上大量时间和朋友外出？杰斯·道森则在“格蕾丝”（一家位于芝加哥的米其林星级餐厅）忙碌地制作复杂的甜点。16岁时，杰斯第一次以糕点师的身份受雇（于“海滩”，她家乡的另一家餐厅）。在那里工作的第一个夏天结束之时，她终于拿到了薪水（支票）—她之前没有任何工作经历，也不知道怎样找到工作。

“那天晚上，我在密歇根大道上蹦蹦跳跳的，手里挥动着我的支票，我告诉所有人；我，杰斯·道森，我烤面包会有人给钱。”她说。她打算继续为那些给予她灵感的师傅工作，专注制作美味的食物。我现在最喜欢做的是法国糕点：“只有当厨房里充满了牛角面包的香气，才算是一个完整的周六早晨。”

注2：古希腊式搏击是古代奥林匹亚竞技大会的一项技击性项目，是一种可以同时使用拳击与角力、其他技巧等全面性技术的一种搏斗比赛。

注3：MMA（mixed martial arts）是一种规则极为开放的竞技格斗运动，比赛允许选手使用拳击、巴西柔术、泰拳、摔跤、空手道、截拳道等多种技术。

注4：米其林指南是法国知名轮胎制造商、米其林公司所出版的美食及旅游指南书籍的总称，其中以评鉴餐厅及旅馆、书皮为红色的“红色指南”最具代表性。