【英语干货】The House on Mango Street 芒果街上的小屋

书中插图

她是这样描述妈妈的头发的。像极了小孩子刚学说话时不断重复的感觉，在她眼中，妈妈的头发的味道就像是尚未出炉的面包的香气。

But my mother’s hair, my mother’s hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty because she pinned it in pincurls all day, sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before you bake it, is the smell when she makes room for you on her side of the bed still warm with her skin, and you sleep near her, the rain outside falling and Papa snoring. The snoring, the rain, and Mama’s hair that smells like bread.

关于生活

这本书虽然是以孩子的视角来描写的，但终究不是一本孩子看的书，看似童趣的语言之下却是深层的悲伤与社会的残酷。

爷爷去世的时候，她是这样描述自己的父亲。

My papa, his thick hands and thick shoes, who wakes up tired in the dark, who combs his hair with water, drinks his coffee, and is gone before we wake, today is sitting on my bed.

And I think if my own Papa died what would I do. I hold my Papa in my arms. I hold and hold and hold him.

作者的语法有可能不是正确的，但是却真实地表现出了她的情感。例如里面的I hold and hold and hold him. 好像能看到一个小姑娘温柔地长久地抱着自己的爸爸，想给爸爸安慰的样子。

书中插图

讲她家的房子如何简陋，与梦想相差甚远。

Down at the base of the tree, the dog with two names barks into the empty air, and there at the end of the block, looking small still, our house with its feet tucked under like a cat.

关于梦想

拥有一栋自己的房子是埃斯佩朗莎的终极梦想。女孩子有一个梦想的时候，总会将自己的梦想无限地细节化，小到房间里的装饰，小到自己的枕头是什么样的，都会去很细致地描绘。作者也正是这样去描绘的。

A house of my own

Not a flat. Not an apartment in back. Not a man’s house. Not a daddy’s house. A house all my own. With my porch and my pillow, my pretty purple petunias. My books and my stories. My two shoes waiting beside the bed. Nobody to shake a stick at. Nobody’s garbage to pick after.

Only a house quiet as snow, a space for myself to go, clean as paper before poem.

不是小公寓，也不是背阴的大公寓。也不是哪一个男人的房子，也不是爸爸的。完完全全是我自己的。那里有我的前廊，我的枕头，有漂亮的紫色矮牵牛。有我的书和我的故事。还有两只等在床边的鞋。不需要和谁去作对，也不用去捡起别人扔下的垃圾。

只是一所寂静如雪的房子，一个自己的空间，洁净如同诗笔未落的纸。

《芒果街上的小屋》百度云链接

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