The House on 1) Mango Street 芒果街上的小屋

⊙By Sandra Cisneros 翻译：潘帕

The House on1)Mango Street 芒果街上的小屋

⊙By Sandra Cisneros 翻译：潘帕

你知道芒果街吗？

这里是美国芝加哥的一个拉美贫民社区；这里是小女孩埃斯佩朗莎一家生活的地方，是她的童话王国，云朵和小树都有自己的故事，处处流淌着诗意的少女情怀；这里的生活后来被写成一本了不起的小书，在1985年获得“美国图书奖”，接着被收入权威的《诺顿美国文学选集》，随后进入美国大中小学课堂，成为美国青少年的课外必读书，在世界各地掀起了现象级的“芒果热”。

让芒果街闻名于世的，正是埃斯佩朗莎的原型——美国当代著名诗人、小说家桑德拉·希斯内罗丝。她出身低微，家境贫寒，靠政府资助上了大学，读书期间下定决心不走前人路，要写一本属于自己、属于女性、属于墨西哥裔美国人的小说，终于在30岁那年出版了短篇故事集《芒果街上的小屋》，一举成名天下知。

本期选段为本书的第一个故事，同时也是点题之作。

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 s i x—M a m a,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 downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise, and there isn’t a2)landlord3)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 milk4)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 house 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, not5)hallway stairs, but stairs inside like the houses 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 up a6)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 are7)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 little8)elms the city planted by the9)curb. Out back is a small10)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, a11)nun from my school passed by and saw me playing out front. The12)laundromat downstairs had been13)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 to 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.14)For the time being, Mama says. Temporary, says Papa. But I know how those things go.

1) mango ['mæŋgəʊ] n. 芒果

2) landlord ['lændlɔːd] n. 房东，地主

3) bang [bæŋ] v. 重击

4) gallon ['gælən] n. 加仑，一加仑的容器

5) hallway ['hɔːlweɪ] n. 门厅

6) lottery ticket 彩票

7) crumble ['krʌmb（ə）l] v. 弄碎，崩毁

8) elm [elm] n. 榆树

9) curb [kзːb] n. 路边，路缘石

10) garage [gə'rɑːʒ] n. 车库

11) nun [nʌn] n. 修女，尼姑

12) laundromat ['lɔːndrə,mæt] n.<美>自动洗衣店

13) board up 用栅木板阻隔

14) for the time being 暂时

身为一名墨西哥裔女性，希斯内罗丝对自己的文化身份有着强烈的自我认知，其作品一般语言难度低，以短句甚至超短句为主，读起来朗朗上口，有些不合标准文法的用语，不时还会插入西班牙语……这本半自传性质的小书创作于希斯内罗丝的青年时代，我们可以从中充分体会到少数族裔英语——尤其是少数族裔年轻人的语言特色。

我们并非一直住在芒果街。先前我们住在鲁米斯的三楼。再先前我们住在吉勒那儿。吉勒往前是波琳娜，再前面我就不记得了。我记得最清楚的是，我们搬了好多次家。似乎每搬一次，家庭成员就会多出一个。搬到芒果街时，我们家有六口人——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，我们不用给任何人交房租，或者和楼下的人合用一个院子，或者小心翼翼别弄出太多声响，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的那种房子。

我们那时得赶紧搬出鲁米斯那儿的公寓。水管破了，因为房子太老，房东不愿意来修理。我们得快快离开。我们还要借用邻居的卫生间，用空的牛奶瓶把水提过去。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，远远地，从城市的那一边搬过来。

他们一直对我们说，终有一天，我们会搬进一所房子，一所真正的、永远属于我们的房子，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种楼梯。我们会有一个地下室和至少三个卫生间，那样洗澡的时候就不用告诉每个人了。我们的房子会刷成白色，四周树木环绕，还有一个很大的院子，草儿生长着，没有篱笆把它们圈起来。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们讲的那样。它很小，是红色的，门前一方窄窄的台阶，窗户小得让你觉得它们像是在屏着呼吸。有几处墙砖都碎裂了。前门发胀得厉害，你要用力推才进得来。这里没有前院，只有市政栽在路边的四棵小榆树。屋后有个小车库，用来停放我们还没买的小汽车，还有个小院子，夹在两边的楼中间，越发显得小了。我们的房子里有楼梯，可那只是普通的门厅台阶，而且房子里只有一个卫生间。每个人都要和别人合用卧房——妈妈和爸爸、卡洛斯和奇奇、我和蕾妮。

我们还住在鲁米斯那儿时，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木板封了起来，因为两天前这儿刚被人洗劫一空。为了不让生意流失，主人在木头上涂抹了几个字：“是的，我们在营业”。

你住在哪里呀？她问。

那里。我说，指了指三楼。

你住在那里？

那里。我不得不朝她指的地方看去——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，以防我们掉出来。你住在那里？她说话的样子让我觉得自己一无是处。那里。我住在那里。我点头。

于是我明白了，我得有一所房子。一所真正的房子。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。可我知道那是怎么回事。

（节选

自译林出版社版本，有改动）