第1節(jié)：頭發(fā)
頭發(fā)
我們家里每個人的頭發(fā)都不一樣。爸爸的頭發(fā)像掃把，根根直立往上插。而我，我的頭發(fā)挺懶惰。它從來不聽發(fā)夾和發(fā)帶的話。卡洛斯的頭發(fā)又直又厚。他不用梳頭。蕾妮的頭發(fā)滑滑的——會從你手里溜走。還有奇奇，他最小，茸茸的頭發(fā)像毛皮。
只有媽媽的頭發(fā)，媽媽的頭發(fā)，好像一朵朵小小的玫瑰花結(jié)[ 玫瑰花結(jié)是指玫瑰花狀的圓形花飾。
]，一枚枚小小的糖果圈兒，全都那么拳曲，那么漂亮，因為她成天給它們上發(fā)卷。把鼻子伸進(jìn)去聞一聞吧，當(dāng)她摟著你時。當(dāng)她摟著你時，你覺得那么安全，聞到的氣味又那么香甜。是那種待烤的面包暖暖的香味，是那種她給你讓出一角被窩時，和著體溫散發(fā)的芬芳。你睡在她身旁，外面下著雨，爸爸打著鼾。哦，鼾聲、雨聲，還有媽媽那聞起來像面包的頭發(fā)。
Hairs
Everybody in our family has different hair. My Papa's hair is like a broom, all up in the air. And me, my hair is lazy. It never obeys barrettes or bands. Carlos' hair is thick and straight. He doesn't need to comb it. Nenny's hair is slippery--slides out of your hand. And Kiki, who is the youngest, has hair like fur.
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.
第2節(jié)：大流士和云
大流士和云 你永遠(yuǎn)不能擁有太多的天空。你可以在天空下睡去，醒來又沉醉。在你憂傷的時候，天空會給你安慰?？墒菓n傷太多，天空不夠。蝴蝶也不夠，花兒也不夠。大多數(shù)美的東西都不夠。于是，我們?nèi)∥覀兯苋。煤玫叵碛谩?br> 大流士[ 也是古代波斯帝國國王的名字。一代雄主大流士大帝在位期間（前522—前486），對內(nèi)強(qiáng)化君主專制，對外實(shí)行大規(guī)模軍事擴(kuò)張，使得波斯帝國進(jìn)入全盛期。自命不凡的他曾在貝希斯敦的懸崖上刻下銘文：“我，大流士，偉大的王、萬邦之王、波斯之王……我是國王。”后世因此尊他為“萬王之王”。]，不喜歡上學(xué)的他，有時很傻，幾乎是個笨人，今天卻說了一句聰明的話，雖然大多數(shù)日子他什么都不說。大流士，喜歡用爆竹，用碰過老鼠的小棍子去追逐女孩，還以為自己很了不起的他，今天卻指著天空，因為那里有滿天的云朵，像枕頭樣的云朵。
你們都看到那朵云了，那朵胖乎乎的云了？大流士說，看到了？哪里？那朵看起來像爆米花的旁邊的那朵。那邊那朵?？?，那是上帝。大流士說。上帝？有個小點(diǎn)的問道。上帝。他說。簡潔地說。 Darius the Clouds You can never have too much sky. You can fall asleep and wake up drunk on sky, and sky can keep you safe when you are sad. Here there is too much sadness and not enough sky. Butterflies too are few and so are flowers and most things that are beautiful. Still, we take what we can get and make the best of it. Darius, who doesn't like school, who is sometimes stupid and mostly a fool, said something wise today, though most days he says nothing. Darius, who chases girls with firecrackers or a stick that touched a rat and thinks he's tough, today pointed up because the world was full of clouds, the kind like pillows. You all see that cloud, that fat one there? Darius said, See that? Where? That one next to the one that look like popcorn. That one there. See that. That's God, Darius said.God? somebody little asked. God, he said, and made it simple.
第3節(jié)：貓皇后凱茜
貓皇后凱茜[在劉易斯·卡洛爾的《愛麗絲鏡中奇遇記》中，有這樣一節(jié)：愛麗絲一夢醒來，發(fā)現(xiàn)紙牌皇后變成了她的小貓?？鍫柺菍ψ髡哂绊戭H深的作家。此篇或許是個例證。在這里，小姑娘凱茜的綽號，以及她自稱和法蘭西皇后的親緣，都暗合了卡洛爾童話中的情節(jié)。因此，凱茜、貓和皇后的關(guān)聯(lián)指向一個暗嵌的典故。這既是對自己喜愛的大師的致禮，也延伸了作品的內(nèi)涵。] 她說，我是法蘭西皇后的遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)房表親。她住在樓上，那邊，那個“捉小孩的人”喬的隔壁。離他遠(yuǎn)點(diǎn)，她告訴我說，他很危險。街角那家小店是賓尼和布蘭卡的。他們還蠻好，可只是靠在糖果柜臺上時才對你好。兩個像老鼠一樣邋遢的女孩住在街對面。你不會想去認(rèn)識她們的。埃德娜是你家隔壁房子的主人。她過去有幢大得像鯨魚的房子，可她弟弟把它賣了。他們的媽媽說，別，別呀，千萬別賣。我不會的。可后來她一閉眼，他就賣了它。阿莉西婭自從上了大學(xué)就傲氣起來了。她過去挺喜歡我，可現(xiàn)在不了。 貓皇后凱茜養(yǎng)了好多好多好多貓。貓寶寶、大個貓、瘦貓、病貓。睡姿像個面包圈的貓。爬到冰箱頂上的貓。在餐桌上散步的貓。她的房子就像個貓?zhí)焯谩?br>
你想要個朋友。她說，好的，我會做你的朋友，可只能做到下星期二，那時我們就得搬走了，不得不搬了。然后，她似乎忘了我才搬進(jìn)來，說，這個社區(qū)的人越來越雜了。
凱茜的父親有一天會要飛到法國去，找到遠(yuǎn)方的、她父親那邊的遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)房表親，去繼承家宅。我是怎么知道這些的呢？是她告訴我的。同時，他們要從芒果街向北面搬遷，離開這里一點(diǎn)路，在每次像我們這樣的人家不斷搬進(jìn)來的時候。[ 要明白這段話，須了解上世紀(jì)六十年代的社會背景：在芝加哥，因為文化、經(jīng)濟(jì)和種族等方面的差異，相對貧困的拉丁裔移民大量涌入某個社區(qū)，原來居住在這里的白人就會選擇搬遷，到以白人為主的社區(qū)里去。 ]
Cathy Queen of Cats
She says, I am the great great grand cousin of the queen of France. She lives upstairs, over there, next door to Joe the baby-grabber. Keep away from him, she says. He is full of danger. Benny and Blanca own the corner store. They're okay except don't lean on the candy counter. Two girls raggedy as rats live across the street. You don't want to know them. Edna is the lady who owns the building next to you. She used to own a building big as a whale, but her brother sold it. Their mother said no, no, don't ever sell it. I won't. And then she closed her eyes and he sold it. Alicia is stuck-up ever since she went to college. She used to like me but now she doesn't.
Cathy who is queen of cats has cats and cats and cats. Baby cats, big cats, skinny cats, sick cats. Cats asleep like little donuts. Cats on top of the refrigerator. Cats taking a walk on the dinner table. Her house is like cat heaven.
You want a friend, she says. Okay, I'll be your friend. But only till next Tuesday. That's when we move away. Got to. Then as if she forgot I just moved in, she says the neighborhood is getting bad.
Cathy's father will have to fly to France one day and find her great great distant grand cousin on her father's side and inherit the family house. How do I know this is so? She told me so. In the meantime they'll just have to move a little farther north from Mango Street, a little farther away every time people like us keep moving in.
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