Breaking Night|最贫穷的哈佛女孩──莉姿‧茉芮

by Owain Mckimm

From homeless to Harvard, Liz Murray has seen it all.

Liz Murray's bestselling rags-to-riches autobiography, Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard, has been described as a thinking woman's misery memoir. Murray's book details her journey from being homeless at 15 to graduating from America's most reputable institution of higher learningarvard University. While misery memoirs are a popular genre in the US, they are often criticized as being largely dependent on the public's morbid fascination with childhood sob stories to sell copies. However, critics have praised Murray's style as being absorbing, fast-paced, and poignant, which reads more like an adventure story than a memoir filled with self-pity.

Murray grew up in the Bronx in New York City in the 1980s and 1990s. Her parents were both drug addicts, and her mother was diagnosed with AIDS when Murray was just 11. Soon after, her parents split up, and she stayed with her father. However, after her mother died five years later and her father moved into a homeless shelter, she began living on the streets. Occasionally, she would stay with friends or sleep in archways, and at one point, she even got involved with a cocaine dealer. However, at 17, Murray decided to go back to high school, and after showing incredible zeal for study, she won a New York Times scholarship to Harvard University. After a year there, she took a break in order to care for her father, who had also been diagnosed with AIDS and finally passed away in 2006. After her father's death, she resumed her studies at Harvard and graduated in 2009. Murray now runs her own company, which works to enable others to change their lives.

1.  According to the article, how does Breaking Night differ from other misery memoirs?

(A) It is set in a fictional world.

(B) It reads like an adventure story.

(C) It has more than one main character.

(D) The author depends heavily on self-pity.

2.  Why did Liz Murray leave Harvard after a year?

(A) She had had enough of studying.

(B) Her grades were not good enough.

(C) So she could take care of her father.

(D) In order to look after her dying mother.

3.  Which of the following can be inferred from the article?

(A) AIDS is a disease that is specific to drug addicts.

(B) The New York Times scholarship is easy to obtain.

(C) The public dislikes reading books about other people's misfortunes.

(D) Returning to high school was the turning point in Murray's life.

最贫穷的哈佛女孩──莉姿‧茉芮

从无家少女到哈佛大学毕业生，莉姿‧茉芮一路上历经艰辛困顿，看尽人生百态。

　　《最贫穷的哈佛女孩：那一段饥饿、无眠与被世界遗忘的幸存岁月》是莉姿‧茉芮的畅销自传，书中介绍她白手起家的过程，而本书也被描述成一位有思想的女性的悲惨回忆录。茉芮 15 岁时流落街头，后来却从美国最负盛名学府哈佛大学毕业，这段历程都详细记录在她的书里。虽然悲惨回忆录在美国是个畅销文类，但常被批评成仰赖大众对于童年伤感故事的病态迷恋来销售书籍。然而，书评家却赞扬茉芮的写作风格不但引人入胜、步调紧凑，而且能诱发读者的怜悯心，不同于一般充满自怜的回忆录，本书读来更像一则冒险故事。

1980到 1990 年代，莉姿．茉芮在纽约市的布朗克斯区生长。她的双亲都嗑药成瘾，在她年仅 11 岁时，母亲被诊断罹患艾滋病。不久，她的父母离异后，她和父亲同住。5年后母亲去世，父亲住进游民收容所，她开始过着流落街头的生活。有时她会借住朋友家或是睡在拱道，甚至曾经和一位贩卖古柯碱的毒虫有过牵扯。然而，茉芮 17 岁时决定重返高中，在她展现对学习的热忱后，赢得了《纽约时报》的奖学金，进入哈佛大学就读。在该校念了 1 年书之后，她为了照顾同样罹患艾滋病的父亲而休学，她父亲最后在 2006 年辞世。父亲死后，她继续哈佛的学业，并于 2009 年毕业。茉芮现在经营自己的公司，帮助他人有能力改变自己的人生。

答案：1. (B)2. (C)3. (D)

莉姿．茉芮荣获白宫计划组织（White House Project）的『楷模典范奖』，以及脱口秀节目名主持人欧普拉．温弗蕾（Oprah Winfrey）所颁赠的『无所畏惧奖』，另外，生涯电视台（Lifetime Television）在 2003 年为她制播了一部影片：《从无家少女到哈佛毕业生：莉姿．茉芮的故事》。

茉芮在纽约创立一家『活出生命』（Manifest Living）的公司，希望藉由种种方法鼓舞人们获得创造的力量，让每个人可以朝着自己所希冀的人生目标前进。如今，茉芮周游世界各地进行演讲，宣扬『有志者事竟成』的理念，并主持心灵工作坊，协助人们唤醒自身的潜能。（数据源：博客来书籍馆）