《芒果街上的小屋》 一本优美纯净的小书，一本“诗小说”。由几十个短篇组成，语言清澈如流水，点缀着零落的韵脚和新奇的譬喻，如一首首长歌短调，各自成韵，又彼此钩连，汇聚出一个清晰世界，各样杂沓人生。所有的讲述都归于一个叙述中心：居住在芝加哥拉美移民社区芒果街上的女孩埃斯佩朗莎。生就对弱的同情心和对美的感觉力，她用清澈的眼打量周围的世界，用美丽稚嫩的语言讲述成长、沧桑、生命的美好与不易和年轻的热望与梦想，梦想有一所自己的房子，梦想在写作中追寻自我，获得自由和帮助别人的能力。

　　The First Job
　　In my job I had to wear white gloves.I was supposed to match negatives with their prints,just look at the picture and look for the same one on the negative strip, put it in the envelope, and do the next one.That`s all. I didn`t know where these envelopes were coming from or where they were going.I just did what I was told.

　　It was real easy, and Iguess I wouldn`t have minded it except that you got tired after a while and I didn`t know if I could sit down or not,and then I started sitting down only when the two ladies next to me did. After a while they started to laugh and came up to me and said I could sit when I wanted to ,and I said I knew.

　　第一份工作　　　　　　　
　　我做事时要戴上白手套。他们让我做的是把底片和相片配好，就是对着相片在底片的条上找到那张的底片，把它放进信封里，然后再配下一张。就这些。我不知道那些信封从哪里来，要到哪里去。我只是按吩咐的去做。

　　真的好容易。我想我本来不会介意的，可干了一会我有点累，不知道是否可以坐，于是就看着旁边的两位女士，她们坐下来的时候我才坐。过了一会她们笑起来，走过来跟我说可以想坐就坐的，我说我知道。