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The House on Mango Street
芒果街上的小屋
作者：(美国)桑德拉•希斯内罗丝|译者:潘帕
出版社：译林出版社
《芒果街上的小屋》是一本优美纯净的小书，一本“诗小说”，一个关于成长，关于在写作中追求现实和精神家园的故事。
它由几十个短篇组成，一个短篇讲述一个人、一件事、一个梦、几朵云，几棵树、几种感觉，语言清澈如流水，点缀着零落的韵脚和新奇的譬喻，如一首首长歌短调，各自成韵，又彼此钩连，汇聚出一个清晰世界，各样杂沓人生。
全美大中小学课堂读本，托福雅思试题题源
适于记诵和仿习的最新双语文艺经典
在美销量已达500万册，另以十余种文字世间流传
诗歌与小说的混血文字，质朴而优美，平易而启人心扉
十二幅原创插图，清新灵动，梦幻颜彩点缀精灵之书
译文文字清通，读来亲切。
读完原文，很受感染。是诗化的“成长的烦恼”？是“户外”的“喜福会”？是在怀旧中“等待戈多”？是不露声色的寓言化的女权宣言？……好像是something of everything.
——陆谷孙，《英汉大词典》主编
“不管喜欢与否，你都是芒果街的”，你迟早要打开这本书。
——毛尖，作家
这本书所记录的，是从女孩蜕变为女人的过程，是少女时代的最后的一段光阴。它像熟透的芒果一般，饱满多汁，任何轻微的碰撞都会留下印记。据说译者是个隐世的才子，偶有兴致，翻译些自己喜欢的文字，谢谢他。
——张悦然，作家
汪曾祺、南星对阿索林的两句评语，对希斯内罗丝也是适用的：作品，“像是覆盖着阴影的小溪”；其人，有“正视着不可挽救的悲哀的人世间而充满了爱心的目光”。
——沈胜衣，作家
希斯内罗丝的文体的简单纯净之美构成对每个人的诱惑。她不仅是作家群众的天才，而且是绝对重要的一个。
——《纽约时报书评》
一部令人深深感动的小说……轻灵但深刻……像最美的诗，没有一个赘词，开启了一扇心窗。
——《迈阿密先驱报》
The House on Mango Street
We didn’t always live on Mango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that we lived on Keeler. Before Keeler it was Paulina, and before that I can’t remember. But what I remember most is moving a lot. Each time it seemed there’d be one more of us. By the time we got to Mango Street we were six --- Mama, Papa, Carlos, Kiki, my sister Nenny and me.
The house on Mango Street is ours, and we don’t have to pay rent to anybody, or share the yard with the people down stairs, or be careful not to make too much noise, and there isn’t a landlord banging on the ceiling with a broom. But even so, it's not the house we’d thought we’d get.
We had to leave the flat on Loomis quick. The water pipes broke and the landlord wouldn’t fix them because the house was too old. We had to leave fast. We were using the washroom next door and carrying water over in empty milk gallons. That’s why Mama and Papa looked for a house, and that’s why we moved into the house on Mango Street, far away, on the other side of town.
They always told us that one day we would move into a house, a real that would be ours for always so we wouldn’t have to move each year. And our house would have running water and pipes that worked. And inside it would have real stairs, not hallway stairs, but stairs inside like the house on T.V.And we’d have a basement and at least three washrooms so when we took a bath we wouldn’t have to tell everybody. Our house would be white with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing without a fence. This was the house Papa talked about when he held a lottery ticket and this was the house mama dreamed up in the stories she told us before we went to bed.
But the house on Mango Street is not the way they told it at all. It’s small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath. Bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in. There is no front yard, only four little elms the city planted by the curb. Our back is a small garage for the car we don't own yet and a small yard that looks smaller between the two buildings on either side. There are stairs in our house, but they’re ordinary hallway stairs, and the house has only one washroom. Everybody has to share a bedroom—Mama and Papa, Carlos and Kiki, me and Nenny.
Once when we were living on Loomis, a nun from my school passed by and saw me playing out front. The Laundromat downstairs had been boarded up because it had been robbed two days before and the owner had painted on the wood YES WE’RE OPEN so as not lose business.
Where do you live? She asked.
There, I said pointing up to the third floor.
You live there?
There. I had to look to where she pointed –-- the third floor, the paint peeling, wooden bars Papa had nailed on the windows so we wouldn’t fall out. You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing. There. I lived there. I nodded.
I knew then I had to have to house. A real house. One I could point to .but this isn’t it. The house on Mango Street isn’t it. For the time being, Mama says. Temporary, says Papa. But I know how those things go.
芒果街上的小屋
我们先前不住芒果街。先前我们住Loomis的三楼。再先前我们住Keeler。Keeler 再往前是Paulina，再前面，我就不记得了。我记得最清楚的是，搬了好多次家。似乎每搬一次，我们就多出一个人。搬到芒果街是，我们有了六个——妈妈、爸爸、卡洛斯、奇奇，妹妹蕾妮和我。
芒果街上的小屋是我们的，我们不用交房租给任何人，或者和楼下的人合用一个院子，或者小心翼翼别弄出太多的声响，这里也没有拿扫帚猛敲天花板的房东。可就算这样，它也不是我们原来以为自己可以得到的那样的房子。
我们得赶紧搬出Loomis的公寓。水管破了，房东不愿意修理，因为房子太老。我们得快快离开。我们借用着邻居的卫生间，用空的牛奶壶把水装过来。这就是为什么爸妈要找房子，这就是为什么我们搬进了芒果街上的小屋，远远的，从城市的那一边。
他们一直对我们说，有一天，我们会搬进一所房子，一所真正的大屋，永远属于我们，那样我们就不用每年搬家了。我们的房子会有自来水和好用的水管。里面还有真正的楼梯，不是门厅台阶，而是像电视上的房子里那样的楼梯。我们会有一个地下室和至少三个卫生间，那样洗澡的时间就不用告诉每个人。我们的房子会是白色的，四周是树木，还有一个很大的原子，草儿生长着，没有篱笆吧他们圈起来。这是爸爸手握彩票时提到的房子，这是妈妈在给我们讲睡前故事里幻想着的房子。
可是芒果街上的小屋全然不是他們講的那樣。它很小，是紅色的，門前一方窄臺階，窗戶小得讓你覺得它們像是在屏著呼吸。幾處墻磚蝕成了粉。前門那么鼓，你要用力推才進得來。這里沒有前院，只有四棵市政栽在路邊的小榆樹。屋后有個小車庫，是用來裝我們還沒買的小汽車的，還有個小院子，夾在兩邊的樓中間，越發顯得小了。我們的房子里有樓梯，可那只是普通的門廳臺階，而且房子里只有一個衛生間。每個人都要和別人合用一間臥室——媽媽和爸爸、卡洛斯和奇奇、我和蕾妮。
我们住在Loomis时，有一回学校的嬷嬷经过那里，看到我在房前玩。楼下的自助洗衣店被用木板封了起来，因为两天前刚被洗劫过。为了不走掉生意，主人在木头上涂抹了几个字：“是的，我们在营业。”
“你住哪里呀？”她问。
那里。我说，指了指三楼。
你住在那里？
那里。我不得不朝他指的地方看去——三层楼上，那里墙皮斑驳，窗上横着几根木条，是爸爸钉上去的，那样我们就不会掉出来。你住在那里？她说话的样子让我觉得自己什么都不是。那里，我住在那里。我点头。
于是，我明白，我得有一所房子。一所真正的大屋。一所可以指给别人看的房子。可这里不是。芒果街上的小屋不是。目前就这样，妈妈说。这是暂时的，爸爸说。可我知道事情是怎样的。
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发表于 2009-5-4 16:05:46
发表于 2009-5-4 19:31:31
