名著精選:芒果街上的小屋—
來(lái)源:滬江聽(tīng)寫(xiě)酷
2011-02-20 18:17
居住在拉美貧民社區(qū)芒果街上的女孩埃斯佩朗莎。生就對(duì)他人痛苦的同情心和對(duì)美的感覺(jué)力,她用清澈的眼打量周?chē)氖澜?,用美麗稚嫩的語(yǔ)言講述成長(zhǎng),講述滄桑,講述生命的美好與不易,講述年輕的熱望和夢(mèng)想,夢(mèng)想著有一所自己的房子,夢(mèng)想著在寫(xiě)作中追尋自我,獲得自由和幫助別人的能力。
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 TV. 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 a 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.
搬到芒果街時(shí),我們有六個(gè)——媽媽?zhuān)职郑逅?,奇奇,妹妹蕾妮和我?
芒果街上的小屋是我們的,我們不用交房租給任何人,或者和樓下的人合用一個(gè)院子,或者小心翼翼別弄出太多聲響,這里也沒(méi)有拿掃帚猛敲天花板的房東??删退氵@樣,它也不是我們以為自己可以得到的那樣的房子。
我們得趕緊搬出魯米斯的公寓。水管破了,房東不愿來(lái)修理,因?yàn)榉孔犹稀N覀兊每炜祀x開(kāi)。我們借用著鄰居的衛(wèi)生間,用空的牛奶壺把水裝過(guò)來(lái)。這就是為什么爸媽要找房子,這就是為什么我們搬進(jìn)了芒果街上的小屋,遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)地,從城市的那一邊。
他們一直對(duì)我們說(shuō),有一天,我們會(huì)搬進(jìn)一所房子,一所真正的大屋,永遠(yuǎn)屬于我們,那樣我們就不用每年搬家了。我們的房子會(huì)有自來(lái)水和好的水管。里面還有真正的樓梯,不是門(mén)廳臺(tái)階,而是像電視上的房子里那樣的樓梯。我們會(huì)有一個(gè)地下室和至少三個(gè)衛(wèi)生間,那樣洗澡的時(shí)候就不用告訴每個(gè)人。我們的房子會(huì)是白色的,四周有樹(shù)木,還有一個(gè)很大的院子,草兒生長(zhǎng)著,沒(méi)有籬笆把它們?nèi)ζ饋?lái)。這是爸爸手握彩票時(shí)提到的房子,這是媽媽在給我們講的睡前故事里幻想的房子。
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(mén)前一方窄臺(tái)階,窗戶小得讓你覺(jué)得它們像是在屏著呼吸。幾處墻磚蝕成了粉。前門(mén)那么鼓,你要是用力推才進(jìn)的來(lái)。這里沒(méi)有前院,只有四棵市政栽在路邊的小榆樹(shù)。屋后有個(gè)小車(chē)庫(kù),是用來(lái)裝我們還沒(méi)有賣(mài)的小汽車(chē)的,還有個(gè)小院子,夾在兩邊的樓梯中間,越發(fā)顯得小了。我們的房子里有樓梯,可那只是普通的門(mén)廳臺(tái)階,而且房子里只有一個(gè)衛(wèi)生間。每個(gè)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。
我們住在魯米斯時(shí),有一回學(xué)校的嬤嬤經(jīng)過(guò)那里,看到我在房前玩。樓下的自助洗衣店被用木板封了起來(lái),因?yàn)閮商烨氨幌唇龠^(guò)。為了不走掉生意,主人在木頭上涂抹了幾個(gè)字:“是的,我們?cè)跔I(yíng)業(yè)?!?
“你住在哪里呀?”她問(wèn)。
那里。我說(shuō),指了指三樓。
你住在那里?
那里。我不得不朝她指的地方看去——三層樓上,哪里墻皮斑駁,窗上橫著幾根木條,是爸爸釘上去的,那樣我們就不會(huì)掉出來(lái)。你住在那里?她說(shuō)話的樣子讓我覺(jué)得自己什么都不是。那里。我住在那里。我點(diǎn)頭。
于是我明白,我得有一所房子。一所真正的大屋。一所可以指給別人看的房子??蛇@里不是。芒果街上的小屋不是。目前就是這樣,媽媽說(shuō)。這是暫時(shí)的,爸爸說(shuō)。可我知道事情是怎樣的。
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