名著欣賞《芒果街上的小屋》第39期:塞爾

《芒果街上的小屋》 一本優美純淨的小書，一本“詩小說”。由幾十個短篇組成，語言清澈如流水，點綴着零落的韻腳和新奇的譬喻，如一首首長歌短調，各自成韻，又彼此鉤連，匯聚出一個清晰世界，各樣雜沓人生。所有的講述都歸於一個敘述中心：居住在芝加哥拉美移民社區芒果街上的女孩埃斯佩朗莎。生就對弱的同情心和對美的感覺力，她用清澈的眼打量周圍的世界，用美麗稚嫩的語言講述成長、滄桑、生命的美好與不易和年輕的熱望與夢想，夢想有一所自己的房子，夢想在寫作中追尋自我，獲得自由和幫助別人的能力。

Sire
　 I don't remember when I first noticed him looking at me-Sire. But I knew he was looking. Every time. All the time I walked past his house. Him and his friends sitting on their bikes in front of the house, pitching pennies. They didn't scare me. They did, but I wouldn't let them know. I don't cross the street like other girls. Straight ahead, straight eyes. I walked past. I knew he was looking. I had to prove to me I wasn't scared of nobody's eyes, not even his. I had to look back hard, just once, like he was glass. And I did. I did once. But I looked too long when he rode his bike past me. I looked because I wanted to be brave, straight into he dusty cat fur of his eyes and the bike stopped and he bumped into a parked car, bumped, and I walked fast. It made your blood freeze to have somebody look at you like that. Somebody looked at me. Somebody looked. But his kind, his ways. He is a punk, Papa says, and Mama says not to talk to him.

　　塞爾　　　　　　　　　　
　　我不記得什麼時候期，發覺他在看我，塞爾。可我知道他在看。每次。我從他家房前走過時，他一直在看。他和他的朋友在房子前，坐在自行車上拋硬 幣。他們沒嚇我。他們嚇着我了，可我不會讓他們知道。我不像別的女孩那樣過街。我走了過去，筆直向前，筆直的視線。我知道他在看。我要想自己證明，我不害 怕任何人的眼睛，即便是他的。我要回頭用力看，就一眼，當他是塊玻璃。於是我那麼做了。我看了一眼，可我看的太久，在他騎過身邊的時候，我看是因爲我想勇敢些，一直看到他看見上灰濛濛的毛毛裏去。自行車停下來，撞在一輛停着的小汽車上，撞到了，我於是飛快的走開。有人那樣看你會讓你的血結冰。有人看我，有 人看。可是他是那樣的人，他那樣看。他是個小混混。爸爸說。別和他說話，媽媽說。