At the age of 12, most girls are battling with their parents to get their ears pierced, learning the ropes at senior school and preparing for life as a teenager.
12歲的年紀，大多數的小女孩都還在向父母爭取打耳洞的機會，努力適應高中生活，從青少年時代開始為將來做準備。

For Maddie Ziegler, from Pennsylvania, life couldn't be more different.
但來自賓夕法尼亞州(Pennsylvania)的瑪蒂?齊格勒(Maddie Ziegler)，她的人生完全不是這么一回事。

The tween is a huge star with three million Instagram followers, whose music videos with the popstar Sia have been viewed more than a billion times on YouTube.
這個12歲的女孩已經成為了在Instagram擁有300萬粉絲的超級巨星，她和流行歌手希雅(Sia)合作的MV在YouTube上點擊量超過10億。

Until four years ago, Maddie was an unknown eight year old who enjoyed dancing and went to a local primary school.
四年前，瑪蒂還是一個默默無聞的8歲小女孩，她喜歡跳舞，就讀于當地一所小學。

Then in 2011, her mother Melissa was signed up to appeared as part of the Lifetime reality series Dance Moms.
2011年，她的媽媽梅麗莎(Melissa)報名參加Lifetime頻道的真人秀節目《Dance Moms》。

The programme focuses on the early careers of the children that are enrolled in the Abby Lee Dance Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
這個節目圍繞賓夕法尼亞州匹茲堡(Pittsburgh)的Abby Lee舞蹈學校里面的小孩子展開。

As the title suggests, the show also features the mothers of the pupils and the way that they often pit their children against each other.
顧名思義，這個真人秀節目還專門拍攝學生們的母親，展現母親如何教育孩子與他人競爭。

The Australian pop star Sia noticed Maddie on the programme and last year she tweeted her to ask if she would appear in one of her videos... the rest is history.
澳大利亞流行歌手希雅注意到了節目里的瑪蒂，去年她在推特上聯系瑪蒂，邀請瑪蒂參演她的MV。接下來的故事大家都知道了。

Maddie has now appeared in three of Sia's videos - Chandelier, Elastic Heart and Big Girls Cry.
在希雅的《Chandelier》、《Elastic Heart》、《Big Girls Cry》3個MV中，都能見到瑪蒂的身影。

Chandelier is the 17th most viewed music video on TouTube of all time and has racked up more than 712 million hits.
《Chandelier》的視頻點擊量已突破7.12億，是YouTube點擊量最高的MV排行榜上的第17名。

In February, Maddie joined Sia and Kristen Wiig in a performance of the track for the 2015 Grammy Awards as Kim Kardashian and Kanye West looked on from the front row.
今年2月的時候，瑪蒂與希雅和克里斯汀?韋格(Kristen Wiig)一起擔任2015格萊美音樂頒獎典禮(Grammy Awards)的表演嘉賓。當時金?卡戴珊(Kim Kardashian)和坎耶?韋斯特(Kanye West)坐在前排觀看了這個表演。

She has also performed on Jimmy Kimmel and The Ellen Show - not bad for someone who hasn't even hit adolescence.
她也曾應邀參加《吉米秀》(Jimmy Kimmel)和《艾倫秀》(The Ellen Show)。對于一個青春期未到的人來說，有機會上這兩個節目還算不錯。

Maddie is so well recognised these days that a trip to Topshop results in her being mobbed by screaming tween fans who all want a selfie with their idol - something that has been tough to adjust to.
瑪蒂的知名度如此之高，以致于她在Topshop（服飾店）被尖叫的青少年粉絲們圍堵了，小粉絲們激動地要求和偶像自拍合影，這對于瑪蒂來說有點難以適應。

She is now so successful that her mother has hired a security team who monitor the star 24/7.
她聲名在外，母親不得不為她雇了專人保鏢團隊，全天24小時保護她的安全。

She told The Telegraph: 'I don't feel that normal any more because I get recognised, even when I'm just trying to have fun or going to get ice cream with my friends.
在接受《每日電訊報》采訪時，瑪蒂說：“我再也無法過上平凡人的生活了。因為大家很容易認出我來，甚至當我出去玩或是和朋友吃冰淇淋都能被路人認出來。”

'People go crazy and it gets overwhelming.'
“人們很瘋狂，我感到不知所措。”

Like many child stars, Maddie speaks of being old before her time.
像很多童星一樣，瑪蒂也顯得很早熟。

Having earned a living for the last four years while her contemporaries go to school every day, she has been forced to mature quickly.
當其他同齡人每天乖乖去上學的時候，她已經出來養家糊口四年了，她不得不快速成熟起來。

Unlike many young girls who are starstruck by celebrities, Maddie claims that she keeps a cool head at events like the Grammys because she sees herself as a star, so needs to act accordingly.
不像那些狂熱追星的小女孩，瑪蒂認為她一直都能保持著冷靜的頭腦，即使在格萊美頒獎典禮這種場合。因為她將自己視為一個明星，所以她需要表現得體。

She said: 'Mom is like, "Oh my God, let's go and meet Ariana Grande." I'm like, "Mom, for real?"
她說：“媽媽會說，‘噢，天吶，我們去看一下愛莉安娜?格蘭德(Ariana Grande)吧。’我的反應是，‘媽，真要這樣嗎’”

'I just want to stay professional. I don't want them to think I'm a fangirl. I'm one of the performers and I'm not just a background dancer, I'm the dancer.'
“我只是想保持專業的一面。我不想讓別人認為我是腦殘粉。我是表演嘉賓之一，不僅僅是伴舞者，我是一名舞者演員。”

Because of her success, she no longer lives anything resembling a normal life.
鑒于她的成功，她再也無法過上平凡人的生活。

She has modelled for numerous clothing companies including Glitzy Girl, Sally Miller and Purple Pixies and featured in magazines including Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elle and Seventeen.
她曾為Glitzy Girl、Sally Miller和Purple Pixies等服裝公司擔任模特，也為《Teen Vogue》《Cosmopolitan》《Elle》和《Seventeen》等雜志拍攝照片。

She is home-tutored alongside her younger sister Mackenzie, who also stars in the Dance Moms series and with whom Maddie released a fashion line called The Maddie & Mackenzie Collection last year.
她和妹妹都是通過家庭輔導接受教育的。她的妹妹也出演了《Dance Moms》。去年，以兩姐妹的名字創建的時尚品牌The Maddie & Mackenzie Collection問世。

While many young children try and avoid school work at all costs, the star professes to be a keen student because she wants to avoid the trap of becoming 'a stupid dancer.'
在其他小孩想方設法逃課、不做作業的時候，瑪蒂卻對學業熱情飽滿，因為她不想自己成為又一個“愚蠢的舞者”。

As well as dancing, she has her eye on singing and acting - she has already acted in the TV shows Drop Dead Diva and Austin & Ally.
除了跳舞，瑪蒂還唱歌和表演，她已經出演了電視劇《美女上錯身》(Drop Dead Diva)和《奧斯汀與艾麗》(Austin & Ally)。

Although she has already reached astonishing levels of success for her age, Maddie only gives herself a nine out of ten in terms of her career achievements.
盡管小小年紀她的事業就取得了如此驚人的成就，但如果給自己的成就打分，且10分滿分的話，瑪蒂只給自己打9分。

She said: 'On a scale of one to 10, I feel I'm at a nine because there's definitely room for improvement. I know I could go further.'
她說：“1到10，我覺得自己只能拿9分，因為我一定還有提升的空間。我知道我可以走更遠。”

Vocabulary：
rack up 獲得；累積
adolescence 青春期
pit against 使……競爭
starstruck 崇拜明星的
fangirl 狂熱粉絲

（譯者：歐靜波SCNU 編輯：彭娜）