好书 · 推荐︱《布鲁克林有棵树》——爱那卑贱生活馈赠的美好(内含音频)

布鲁克林有种树，人们称之为“天堂树”。不管它的种子落到什么地方，都会长出一棵树来，向着天空，努力生长，即使是水泥地也阻挡不了它向上的势头。这种树总是生长在布鲁克林的居民区里，郁郁葱葱。小说主人公弗兰西居住的院子里就有这样一棵树。 [转载出处：www.11jj.com]

弗兰西仓促降生，而她过于年轻的父母显然都还没有准备好。父亲约翰尼英俊、浪漫却意志羸弱，无法承受家庭的重担，常常酗酒来逃避现实。第二年，弟弟尼雷降生，把母亲凯蒂的爱夺走了一大半。弗兰西从小就不得不面对生活的艰辛，体味成长过程中的无奈百味，孤独地开始了自己的奋斗生涯。童年，她与弟弟一起捡垃圾帮妈妈分担生计，被同龄的小女孩排斥在外，却独自执着而贪婪地嗅着图书馆每一本书的芬芳；8岁时，她与小自己一岁的弟弟一起入学，，在当时以粗暴为指导方针的学校里饱受老师与同学的欺侮，但她想方设法转到了自己向往的学校，每天快乐地走过漫长的路途去上学；13岁时，唯一真正欣赏并深爱她的父亲猝然离世，留下遗腹子劳瑞，把整个家庭抛入哀伤的沼泽；14岁时，妈妈把上高中的机会给了弟弟，热爱读书的弗兰西不得不冒充17岁的孩子外出打工，为妈妈分担生活压力；15岁时，这个少女的美好初恋变成一场骗局，痛哭过后，她把脆弱掩藏于心底；在16岁花季来临之时，弗兰西靠自学获得了密歇根大学的录取通知书。小说最后，院子里那棵被砍伐和焚烧的天堂树奇迹般地活了下来，长出新枝，而弗兰西这棵代表布鲁克林精神的小树也在苦难的磨炼下成长起来，向着另一片更广阔的天空生长。

弗兰西之所以能够冲破命运的束缚，与其家族谱系的特点无不有着千丝万缕的联系。弗兰西家族的女人身上集中体现了处于社会底层的人民那“劳动创造财富”和“知识改变命运”的朴实信念。弗兰西的外婆玛丽不识字，却有着丰富的人生智慧。正是玛丽在凯蒂分娩之际教会了她如何改变命运：每天给孩子们读一页《圣经》和莎士比亚的作品，讲那些凡间没有却进驻心灵的小仙女、小精灵们的故事，让他们拥有忠贞的信仰和美丽的幻想；与孩子们每天积攒5分钱，攒到50元的时候买一块地，从而真正成为自己命运的主人。秉持着这样的生活准则，凯蒂用自己的坚忍与勤劳独自撑起整个家庭。在凯蒂的教育下，弗兰西和尼雷深深不耻于嗟来之食，坚信生活要靠自己的双手来创造。在鱼龙混杂的布鲁克林，弗兰西没有因贫困而变得粗鄙，没有因饥饿而变得贪婪，也没有因别人的轻视而变得卑微。透过那个捡垃圾的快乐女孩以及她在楼梯上静静读书的恬淡身影，我们看到的是一个坚强而高贵的灵魂。

然而，如果人生中只有克勤克俭的奋斗，生活就会变成一段奴役心灵的无期徒刑。好在弗兰西的父亲约翰尼身上保留了浪漫的基因，为他们贫穷的物质生活注入了想象和欢乐。约翰尼虽然常常酗酒、性格懦弱，但仍不乏温和、快乐以及没有随岁月与困窘而流失的俊俏和体面。他随时随地的歌唱与舞蹈是弗兰西姐弟最早的美的启蒙；他不惜编造谎话帮弗兰西转学，为她打开了一片新的天地；他对孩子们的丁点努力总是报以最热忱的赞美；他带孩子们去看大海，期待他们如同诗歌里所写，对大海充满热爱和向往；他去世前预先准备了弗兰西毕业典礼上的玫瑰花，让她在人生的重要时刻没有缺失父爱的陪伴……或许在基本的物质保障上，约翰尼不是称职的爸爸，但他与生俱来的浪漫和慷慨施与的鼓励却塑造了弗兰西自信、独立、乐观以及热爱幻想的天性。正是约翰尼对孩子体察细微的爱与柔情才使得弗兰西尽管饱尝命运的不公平，却仍然坚守梦想，执着于生活中的美和善。

从节选的片段中可以看出，在贫穷、饥饿、父亲酗酒的环境下长大的弗兰西明显比家境优越、受过高等教育的佳恩达老师更懂得美的真谛。在那些所谓丑陋的环境中，弗兰西仍然保有善良、勇敢、坚强、勤奋以及所有对美的想象。弗兰西热爱生活，所以生活的苦楚磨不灭她活着的信念；弗兰西相信自己，所以命运的煎熬挡不住她奋斗的脚步；弗兰西懂得美的真谛，所以她在后来自身处境得以改善后仍能不忘自己的出身，善意地对待那些仍在苦苦挣扎寻找出路的人们。

或许因为是自传体小说，作者写尽了生活的琐碎，细腻地描写了弗兰西的成长感受，那些细细碎碎的悲欢中流淌着的温暖，足以捂热我们日渐冷漠的心。正是因为这样的精细，我们才能看到，原来困窘的生活也能过得精彩，原来生活中苦难常在，快乐与充实也常在。而要实现这样的快乐与充实，你需要有一颗热爱生活和努力奋斗的心。正如作者所说：“活着，奋斗着，爱着我们的生活，爱着生活馈赠的一切悲欢，那就是一种实现。生活的充实常在，人人皆可获得。”

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All the children had gone home. Miss Garnder and Francie were alone in the room with the big dictionary in it. Francie"s last four compositions lay on Miss Garnder"s desk. "What"s happened to your writing, Francie?" asked Miss Garnder.

"I don"t know."

"You were one of my best pupils. You wrote so prettily. I enjoyed your compositions. But these last ones ..." she flicked (轻拍) at them contemptuously (轻蔑地).

"I looked up the spelling and took pains (尽力) with my penmanship (书法) and ..."

"I"m referring to your subject matter."

"You said we could choose our own subjects."

"But poverty, starvation and drunkenness are ugly subjects to choose. We all admit these things exist. But one doesn"t write about them."

"What does one write about?" Unconsciously, Francie picked up the teacher"s phraseology (说法).

"One delves (钻研) into the imagination and finds beauty there. The writer, like the artist, must strive for beauty always."

"What is beauty?" asked the child.

"I can think of no better definition than Keats": "Beauty is truth, truth beauty.""

Francie took her courage into her two hands (鼓起勇气) and said, "Those stories are the truth."

"Nonsense!" exploded Miss Garnder. Then, softening her tone, she continued: "By truth, we mean things like the stars always being there and the sun always rising and the true nobility of man and mother-love and love for one"s country," She ended anti-climatically (虎头蛇尾的).

"I see," said Francie.

As Miss Garnder continued talking, Francie answered her bitterly in her mind.

"Drunkenness is neither truth nor beauty. It"s a vice. Drunkards belong in jail, not in stories. And poverty. There is no excuse for that. There"s work enough for all who want it. People are poor because they"re too lazy to work. There"s nothing beautiful about laziness. (Imagine mama lazy!)

"Hunger is not beautiful. It is also unnecessary. We have well-organized charities. No one need go hungry."

"Now I"m not a snob (势利的人)," stated Miss Garnder. " I do not come from a wealthy family. My father was a minister with a very small salary." (But it was a salary, Miss Garnder.)

"And the only help my mother had was a succession of untrained maids, mostly girls from the country." (I see. You were poor, Miss Garnder, poor with a maid.)

"Many times we were without a maid and my mother had to do all the housework herself." (And my mother, Miss Garnder, has to do all her own housework, and yes, ten times more cleaning than that.)

"I wanted to go to the state university but we couldn"t afford it. My father had to send me to a small denominational (教派的) college." (But admit you had no trouble going to college.)

"And believe me, you"re poor when you go to such a college. I know what hunger is, too. Time and time again my father"s salary was held up (延迟) and there was no money for food. Once we had to live on tea and toast for three days." (So you know what it is to be hungry, too.)

"But I"d be a dull person if I wrote about nothing but being poor and hungry, wouldn"t I?" Francie didn"t answer. "Wouldn"t I?" repeated Miss Garnder emphatically.

"Yes ma"am."

She stood up. "I"ve taken all this time with you because I honestly believe that you have promise. Now that we"ve talked things out, I"m sure you"ll stop writing those sordid (污秽的) little stories."

Sordid. Francie turned the word over. It was not in her vocabulary.

"What does that mean—sordid?"

"What did I tell you when you don"t know a word," sing-songed Miss Garnder drolly (滑稽地).

"Oh! I forgot." Francie went to the big dictionary and looked up the word. Sordid: Filthy. Filthy? She thought of her father wearing a fresh dicky (假衬衫) and collar every day of his life and shining his worn shoes as often as twice a day. Dirty. Papa had his own mug at the barber shop. Base. Francie passed that up not knowing exactly what it meant. Gross (粗俗的). Never! Papa was a dancer. He was slender and quick. His body wasn"t gross. Also mean and low. She remembered a hundred and one little tendernesses and acts of thoughtfulness on the part of her father. She remembered how everyone had loved him so. Her face got hot. She couldn"t see the next words because the page turned red under her eyes. She turned on Miss Garnder, her face twisted with fury.

...

Walking home from school, Francie tried to figure the whole thing out. She knew Miss Garnder wasn"t mean. She had spoken for Francie"s good. Only it didn"t seem good to Francie. She began to understand that her life might seem revolting (使人反感的) to some educated people. She wondered, when she got educated, whether she"d be ashamed of her background. Would she be ashamed of her people; ashamed of handsome papa who had been so lighthearted, kind and understanding; ashamed of brave and truthful mama who was so proud of her own mother, even though grandma couldn"t read or write; ashamed of Neeley who was such a good honest boy? No! No! If being educated would make her ashamed of what she was, then she wanted none of it. "But I"ll show that Miss Garnder," she vowed. "I"ll show her I"ve got an imagination. I certainly will show her."

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