《芒果街上的小屋》 一本優(yōu)美純凈的小書(shū)，一本“詩(shī)小說(shuō)”。由幾十個(gè)短篇組成，語(yǔ)言清澈如流水，點(diǎn)綴著零落的韻腳和新奇的譬喻，如一首首長(zhǎng)歌短調(diào)，各自成韻，又彼此鉤連，匯聚出一個(gè)清晰世界，各樣雜沓人生。所有的講述都?xì)w于一個(gè)敘述中心：居住在芝加哥拉美移民社區(qū)芒果街上的女孩埃斯佩朗莎。生就對(duì)弱的同情心和對(duì)美的感覺(jué)力，她用清澈的眼打量周?chē)氖澜纾妹利愔赡鄣恼Z(yǔ)言講述成長(zhǎng)、滄桑、生命的美好與不易和年輕的熱望與夢(mèng)想，夢(mèng)想有一所自己的房子，夢(mèng)想在寫(xiě)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　　　　　　　　　　
　　我不記得什么時(shí)候期，發(fā)覺(jué)他在看我，塞爾。可我知道他在看。每次。我從他家房前走過(guò)時(shí)，他一直在看。他和他的朋友在房子前，坐在自行車(chē)上拋硬 幣。他們沒(méi)嚇我。他們嚇著我了，可我不會(huì)讓他們知道。我不像別的女孩那樣過(guò)街。我走了過(guò)去，筆直向前，筆直的視線(xiàn)。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(dāng)他是塊玻璃。于是我那么做了。我看了一眼，可我看的太久，在他騎過(guò)身邊的時(shí)候，我看是因?yàn)槲蚁胗赂倚恢笨吹剿匆?jiàn)上灰蒙蒙的毛毛里去。自行車(chē)停下來(lái)，撞在一輛停著的小汽車(chē)上，撞到了，我于是飛快的走開(kāi)。有人那樣看你會(huì)讓你的血結(jié)冰。有人看我，有 人看。可是他是那樣的人，他那樣看。他是個(gè)小混混。爸爸說(shuō)。別和他說(shuō)話(huà)，媽媽說(shuō)。