⊙By Sandra Cisneros 翻譯：潘帕

The House on1)Mango Street 芒果街上的小屋

⊙By Sandra Cisneros 翻譯：潘帕

你知道芒果街嗎？

這里是美國芝加哥的一個拉美貧民社區(qū)；這里是小女孩埃斯佩朗莎一家生活的地方，是她的童話王國，云朵和小樹都有自己的故事，處處流淌著詩意的少女情懷；這里的生活后來被寫成一本了不起的小書，在1985年獲得“美國圖書獎”，接著被收入權威的《諾頓美國文學選集》，隨后進入美國大中小學課堂，成為美國青少年的課外必讀書，在世界各地掀起了現象級的“芒果熱”。

讓芒果街聞名于世的，正是埃斯佩朗莎的原型——美國當代著名詩人、小說家桑德拉·希斯內羅絲。她出身低微，家境貧寒，靠政府資助上了大學，讀書期間下定決心不走前人路，要寫一本屬于自己、屬于女性、屬于墨西哥裔美國人的小說，終于在30歲那年出版了短篇故事集《芒果街上的小屋》，一舉成名天下知。

本期選段為本書的第一個故事，同時也是點題之作。

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 ['m??g??] n. 芒果

2) landlord ['l?ndl??d] n. 房東，地主

3) bang [b??] v. 重擊

4) gallon ['g?l?n] n. 加侖，一加侖的容器

5) hallway ['h??lwe?] n. 門廳

6) lottery ticket 彩票

7) crumble ['kr?mb（?）l] v. 弄碎，崩毀

8) elm [elm] n. 榆樹

9) curb [kз?b] n. 路邊，路緣石

10) garage [g?'rɑ??] n. 車庫

11) nun [n?n] n. 修女，尼姑

12) laundromat ['l??ndr?,m?t] n.<美>自動洗衣店

13) board up 用柵木板阻隔

14) for the time being 暫時

身為一名墨西哥裔女性，希斯內羅絲對自己的文化身份有著強烈的自我認知，其作品一般語言難度低，以短句甚至超短句為主，讀起來朗朗上口，有些不合標準文法的用語，不時還會插入西班牙語……這本半自傳性質的小書創(chuàng)作于希斯內羅絲的青年時代，我們可以從中充分體會到少數族裔英語——尤其是少數族裔年輕人的語言特色。

我們并非一直住在芒果街。先前我們住在魯米斯的三樓。再先前我們住在吉勒那兒。吉勒往前是波琳娜，再前面我就不記得了。我記得最清楚的是，我們搬了好多次家。似乎每搬一次，家庭成員就會多出一個。搬到芒果街時，我們家有六口人——媽媽、爸爸、卡洛斯、奇奇，妹妹蕾妮和我。

芒果街上的小屋是我們的，我們不用給任何人交房租，或者和樓下的人合用一個院子，或者小心翼翼別弄出太多聲響，這里也沒有拿掃帚猛敲天花板的房東。可就算這樣，它也不是我們原來以為的那種房子。

我們那時得趕緊搬出魯米斯那兒的公寓。水管破了，因為房子太老，房東不愿意來修理。我們得快快離開。我們還要借用鄰居的衛(wèi)生間，用空的牛奶瓶把水提過去。這就是為什么爸媽要找房子，這就是為什么我們搬進了芒果街上的小屋，遠遠地，從城市的那一邊搬過來。

他們一直對我們說，終有一天，我們會搬進一所房子，一所真正的、永遠屬于我們的房子，那樣我們就不用每年搬家了。我們的房子會有自來水和好用的水管。里面還有真正的樓梯，不是門廳臺階，而是像電視上的房子里那種樓梯。我們會有一個地下室和至少三個衛(wèi)生間，那樣洗澡的時候就不用告訴每個人了。我們的房子會刷成白色，四周樹木環(huán)繞，還有一個很大的院子，草兒生長著，沒有籬笆把它們圈起來。這是爸爸手握彩票時提到的房子，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，門前一方窄窄的臺階，窗戶小得讓你覺得它們像是在屏著呼吸。有幾處墻磚都碎裂了。前門發(fā)脹得厲害，你要用力推才進得來。這里沒有前院，只有市政栽在路邊的四棵小榆樹。屋后有個小車庫，用來停放我們還沒買的小汽車，還有個小院子，夾在兩邊的樓中間，越發(fā)顯得小了。我們的房子里有樓梯，可那只是普通的門廳臺階，而且房子里只有一個衛(wèi)生間。每個人都要和別人合用臥房——媽媽和爸爸、卡洛斯和奇奇、我和蕾妮。

我們還住在魯米斯那兒時，有一回學校的嬤嬤經過那里，看到我在房前玩。樓下的自助洗衣店被木板封了起來，因為兩天前這兒剛被人洗劫一空。為了不讓生意流失，主人在木頭上涂抹了幾個字：“是的，我們在營業(yè)”。

你住在哪里呀？她問。

那里。我說，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，那里墻皮斑駁，窗上橫著幾根木條，是爸爸釘上去的，以防我們掉出來。你住在那里？她說話的樣子讓我覺得自己一無是處。那里。我住在那里。我點頭。

于是我明白了，我得有一所房子。一所真正的房子。一所可以指給別人看的房子?？蛇@里不是。芒果街上的小屋不是。目前就這樣，媽媽說。這是暫時的，爸爸說。可我知道那是怎么回事。

（節(jié)選

自譯林出版社版本，有改動）