绘◎马豆子

倘若美国常春藤的8所顶级学府全都给你“yes”，这将是怎样一种体验？近日，17岁的美国华裔女孩萧靖彤（Cassandra Hsiao）收到了所有藤校的录取通知书。除此之外，斯坦福大学、约翰·霍普金斯大学、西北大学等名校也向她伸出了橄榄枝。

在申请大学的作文中，萧靖彤讲述了自己的家庭，一个第一代华人移民家庭，在学习英语的过程中遇到的各种酸甜苦辣。文章描绘了新移民的特性，细节真实、情节感人，打动了八所藤校以及众多其他名校的录取官。

In our house, English is not English. Not in the phonetic①sense, like short a is for apple, but rather in the pronunciation②-in our house, snake is snack. Words do not roll off our tongues correctly -yet I, who was pulled out of class to meet with language specialists③, and my mother from Malaysia, who pronounces film as flim,understand each other perfectly.

In our house, there is no difference between cast and cash, people made fun of me for "cashing out demons".I did not realize the glaring④difference between the two Englishes until my teacher corrected my pronunciations of hammock⑤, ladle⑥, and siphon⑦. Classmates laughed because I pronounce accept as except, success as sussess. I was in the Creative Writing conservatory⑧,and yet words failed me when I needed them most.

Suddenly, understanding flower is flour wasn't enough. I rejected the English that had raised me and taught me everything I knew. Everybody else's parents spoke with smart accents of Ph.D.s and university teaching positions. So why couldn't mine?

在我们家，英语不是英语，这不是从语音学意义上来说的（比如a代表apple），而是指发音上的。在我们家，“snake”（蛇）会被读成“snack”（小吃）。我们无法让英语单词正确地脱口而出。我在班里常被揪出来让语言专家纠正发音。我那来自马来西亚的妈妈，总是把“film”说成“flim”。但是我们完全能听得懂对方。

在我们家，“cast”（抛掷）和“cash”（现金）没有分别，人们常常取笑我说的“cashing out demons”（本应为“casting out demons”，赶鬼）。我一直没有意识到这两个英语单词之间的差异，直到老师纠正了我的hammock、ladle和siphon的发音，才恍然大悟。同学们笑我，因为我将accept（接受）读成except（除外），将success读成sussess。尽管我参加了创意写作，但常常词不达意。

突然，我明白了，只懂得“flower”和“flour”发音相同是不够的。我开始逐渐摆脱那些伴随着我长大的、教会了我一切的英语，既然其他人的父母都能说一口博士、大学教授般的流利英语，为什么我的父母不能呢？

My mother spread her sunbaked hands and said,"This is where I came from," spinning a tale with the English she had taught herself.

When my mother moved from her village to a town in Malaysia, she had to learn a brand new language in middle school: English. In a time when humiliation was encouraged, my mother was defenseless against the cruel words spewing from the teacher, who criticized her paper in front of the class.When she began to cry, the class president stood up and said, "That's enough."

我的母亲摊开她那双饱经日晒的双手说：“我就是从这儿来的。”接着她用自学的英语讲了一个故事。

当我母亲还在马来西亚的时候，她从一个小村庄搬到了城镇，在读初中的她不得不学一门全新的语言：英语。当时很多人以羞辱别人为乐，她只能无力地忍受着老师当着全班的面，用残酷的语言批评她的作文。当她开始哭泣时，班长站起来说“够了”。

妈妈含着泪说：“要像那个班长一样。”班长处处护着她，还耐心纠正她的语言。“她为弱者挺身而出，用自己的语言反抗。”

"Be like that class president," my mother said with tears in her eyes. The class president took her under her wing and patiently mended my mother's strands of language. "She stood up for the weak and used her words to fight back."

We were both crying now. My mother asked me to teach her proper English so old white ladies at Target wouldn't laugh at her pronunciation. It has not been easy. There is a measure of guilt when I sew her letters together. Long vowels, double consonants -I am still learning myself. Sometimes I let the brokenness slide to spare her pride but perhaps I have hurt her more to spare mine.

我们母女俩都哭了。母亲要我教她正确的英语，这样Target商场的白人老太太就不会嘲笑她的发音了。这并不容易。当我把她的话拼缀在一起时，会有一种歉疚感。长元音、双辅音，其实这些我自己也仍在学习。有时，她说得不好，我也装作不知道，以免挫败她的自尊心，但这样反而让她受到了更多伤害。

随着妈妈英语词汇量不断增加，我的英语也在不断进步。我在学校期末活动中在3000多人面前朗诵诗歌，还采访了各界人士、写舞台剧，我以此挺身对抗无知，为无家可归者、难民和弱势群体发声。

As my mother's vocabulary began to grow, I mended my own English. Through performing poetry in front of 3000 at my school’s Season Finale event, interviewing people from all walks of life, and writing stories for the stage, I stand against ignorance and become a voice for the homeless, the refugees, the ignored.

With my words I fight against jeers pelted at an old Asian street performer on a New York subway. My mother's eyes are reflected in underprivileged ESL children who have so many stories to tell but do not know how. I fill them with words as they take needle and thread to make a tapestry.

In our house, there is beauty in the way we speak to each other. In our house, language is not broken but rather bursting with emotion. We have built a house out of words. There are friendly snakes in the cupboard and snacks in the tank. It is a crooked house. It is a little messy. But this is where we have made our home.

我用自己的语言回击那些嘲笑纽约地铁里卖艺的亚裔老人的声音。从那些弱势的、母语非英语的孩子们身上，我仿佛看见了自己的母亲。他们有很多故事要讲，却不知道如何去讲。我教他们说英语，同时，他们能够自己穿针引线把故事编织出来。

在我的家里，家人之间说话的方式自有其美好之处。在我的家里，我们的语言与其说是“破碎的”，不如说是满溢着感情。我们用自己的语言搭建起一座房子。在这座房子里，壁橱里有不伤人的“snake”，水池里却有“snack”。这个家有些另类，有些乱，但正因如此，这才是我们的家。

① phonetic 英 [fə'netɪk] 美 [fə'nɛtɪk]

adj. 语音的，语音学的；音形一致的；发音有细微区别的② pronunciation 英 [prə,nʌnsɪ'eɪʃ(ə)n]

美 [prə,nʌnsɪ'eʃən] n. 发音；读法

③ specialist 英 ['speʃ(ə)lɪst] 美 ['spɛʃəlɪst]

n. 专家；专门医师adj. 专家的；专业的

④ glaring 英 ['gleərɪŋ] 美 ['ɡlɛrɪŋ]

adj. 耀眼的；瞪视的；炯炯的

⑤ hammock 英 ['hæmək] 美 ['hæmək]

n. 吊床；吊铺；吊带vt. 睡吊床

⑥ ladle 英 ['leɪd(ə)l] 美 ['ledl]

vt. 不分对象予以赠送；以勺舀取n. 钢水包；勺子；长柄勺⑦ siphon 英 ['saɪf(ə)n] 美 ['saɪfn]

n. 虹吸管vi. 通过虹吸管vt. 用虹吸管吸出；抽取

⑧ conservatory 英 [kən'sɜːvət(ə)rɪ] 美 [kən'sɝvətɔri]n. 温室；音乐学校adj. 有保存力的；保存性的