Maya Murthy 景一
I remember her hair, bushy and brown, framing her face, high-lighting her bright eyes. I gazed at her, brow furrowed1 as I struggled to understand why my dad was lying to me.
我記得她的頭發(fā),是濃密的棕色,籠著她的臉,突顯出她明亮的眼睛。我凝視著她,皺著眉頭,使勁地想為什么我的父親對我撒謊。
He said it again that the girl on the screen, Hermione, reminded him of me. But with my black hair, black eyes, and brown skin, how could I look like that girl on the screen?
他又說了一遍,屏幕上的女孩赫敏讓他想到了我。但是我是黑頭發(fā),黑眼睛,棕色的皮膚,我怎么會像屏幕上的那個女孩呢?
“Shes just like you, Maya!” Does he never tire of the deception2? I was about to call him a liar when I heard her speak. Her words were as miraculously large as the books she dragged3 through the hallways, and she seemed to be so much wiser than the two boys she befriended4. After all, she was the one who could make the feather float easily; she was the one who found out about the Sorcerers Stone.
“她跟你一樣,瑪雅!”他不覺得總是欺騙很令人厭煩嗎?當(dāng)我聽到她說話時,我正要說父親是個騙子。她的話的效果像她穿過走廊時吃力地拿著的書堆一樣出乎意料地大,并且她似乎比她當(dāng)做朋友的兩個男孩聰明得多。畢竟,她是那個能輕而易舉地使羽毛飄浮起來的人;她是那個調(diào)查出魔法石的人。
No, Hermione Granger wasnt me at all; she was everything I wanted to be as a four-year-old watching “Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone”.
不,赫敏·格蘭杰根本不是我,她是我四歲時看《哈利·波特與魔法石》時想成為的人。
“I love her,” I whispered, my full attention was on the girl on the screen. Hermione Granger gave me the inspiration5. At age six, I was more forceful, more headstrong—more like my forgotten hero Hermione. Two years was one-third of my life span, and the girl with the bushy brown hair who could do anything had become a wisp6 of a memory. Summer had arrived, and I found myself in a house I hated on principle; no house could replace our home of the last five years. I had no friends after a year at my new elementary school, and I was lonely.
“我喜歡她,”我低聲說,我全神貫注地注視著屏幕上的女孩。格蘭杰給了我鼓舞。六歲的時候,我變得更加堅強(qiáng),更勇往直前——更像我遺忘了的英雄赫敏。兩年是我生命長度的三分之一,那個有著濃密的棕色頭發(fā),什么都難不倒的女孩已經(jīng)成為我記憶中的一小部分。夏天到了,我搬到了一個原則上我很討厭的房子里;沒有一所房子可以取代我們過去五年的家。我在轉(zhuǎn)到新的小學(xué)后的一年里沒有朋友,我很孤獨(dú)。
I can remember stacks7 of green books, half missing, though it had been just hours since they were placed on the shelves. My grandfather bought the first five in the series for me, saying, “I know how much you like to read.”
我還記得成堆的綠色的書,雖然它們放在書架上才幾個小時,但有一半不見了。我祖父給我買了系列的前五本,說:“我知道你有多喜歡讀書?!?/p>
I pursed8 my lips. Reading was what got me into this mess. Maybe if I read less I would actually be hanging out with friends. But I decided to try the series anyway.
我噘起嘴唇。正是讀書讓我陷入了困境。也許如果我少看點書,我就會和朋友出去逛逛。但我還是決定試試這個系列。
As I read, I found myself again. Here was a girl who, despite being bookish9, made friends, a girl who knew so much, who read as much as I did, a girl who spoke her mind and could do anything! As I devoured the series, I felt the burning of something that I hadnt felt in a while, not since I had left my old life and my friends a year ago.
當(dāng)我讀書的時候,我又發(fā)現(xiàn)了自己。這是一個盡管很書呆子氣、但還是交到了朋友的女孩;是一個無所不知的、書讀得和我一樣多的女孩;是一個能說出她的想法并能做到任何事情的女孩!當(dāng)我狼吞虎咽地讀完那個系列時,我內(nèi)心感到了自一年前告別舊生活和朋友以來從未有過的灼熱的感覺。
Hermione Granger gave me hope.
赫敏·格蘭杰給了我希望。
I have friends now, people I would die for, people who are the reason I get out of bed when its still dark outside. I go to school and try to learn everything. I want to be able to do anything, and it is my firm belief that a working knowledge of all subjects is an essential part of life. My heroes arent actors or politicians. My hero is a girl whom I modeled my life after. She is a girl who tried to learn everything but never had many friends, a girl who would do anything for the few friends she had, a girl who became a hero without wanting to, without trying to.
我現(xiàn)在有了朋友,有了我會為之付出生命的人,有了成為我起早貪黑的理由的人。我去上學(xué)并努力學(xué)習(xí)。我希望能做到任何事情,并且我堅信,所有學(xué)科的實用知識是生活的重要組成部分。我的英雄不是演員或政治家。我的英雄是一個女孩,我想像她那樣生活。她是一個試圖學(xué)會一切、但從來朋友不多的女孩,一個會為她僅有的幾個朋友做任何事情的女孩,一個并不想要也并未去嘗試成為英雄,但卻成為了英雄的女孩。
Hermione Granger was my hero.
赫敏·格蘭杰是我的英雄。