☆ Words: about 380; Time: 4.5 minutes

   DALIAN, Liaoning Province: When you stand 2.36 metres tall, you are going to stand out. (出名了)
    For a shy person like Bao Xishun, the world’s tallest man, this can be a problem.
“Wherever I appear, I immediately become the centre of attention. But back in my hometown, I still live a normal life,” 55-year-old Bao said, wearing his 2005 Guinness  World Record badge (徽章) on his chest. Bao was born in 1951. Until the age of 15 he was of normal height, but then he went through a massive (可观的，巨大的) growth spurt,(突然的爆发) reaching 2.1 metres by the time he was 20.
    His father took him to Shenyang, where an army basketball coach recruited(招募) him.
    “Yao Ming would be the second Bao Xishun if Bao were a successful player,” said former coach Leng Wanju.
    “If it weren’t for the disease(Bao developed rheumatism (关节炎) when he was young), I might have become a basketball superstar just like Yao,” Bao said with a shrug.
    After three years in the army, he returned to his grassland home. He struggled to settle down and find a wife, and gradually he became more and more withdrawn.(孤僻)
    His mother’s death when he was 40 came as a big blow.(打击) He shut himself off from the world until 2004, when a restaurant owner invited him to serve as a greeter for 10 days, and his extraordinary presence at the door quickly attracted attention from the press.