《The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida》

This is a work with strong magical realism elements.

這是一部帶有濃厚魔幻主義色彩的作品。

The protagonist Maali is a war photographer, gambler, and a gay with a dark past. The story begins with his depiction of arriving at the reincarnation place in heaven after his death in 1990.?

主人公Maali是位戰(zhàn)地攝影師，賭徒，深柜蕩男。故事開篇，便是描寫他于1990年死后來到天上的轉世投胎處的情形。

At this point, he has only 7 days to find out the cause of his death. And this process of exploration also exposes the bloody, terrifying, and complex civil war situation in Sri Lanka since 1983 to the world.

此時，他只剩下七天時間來找出自己的死因。而這一探尋的過程，也將自1983年起，斯里蘭卡血腥，可怖，錯綜復雜的內戰(zhàn)情形揭露于世人眼前。

In the face of the many real characters, times, places, and parties mentioned in the book, I searched for their related information online again and again due to the limitation of my knowledge, but it is not a difficult work at all.?

面對書中提及的許多真實人物，時間，地點與黨派，我一次次在電腦上搜尋其相關資料。知識上的局限性雖給閱讀造成了不小的難度，但這完全不是一本艱澀的作品。

The story is full of the protagonist's humorous self-ridicule and satire; the plot is designed with various whimsical ideas; the deep exploration of the meaning of life, death, and the afterlife is contained in the text.?

故事滿含主人公幽默的自嘲與嘲諷；情節(jié)設定上是各種奇思妙想；文內有對生命的意義，死亡及來世的深刻探討。

The author portrays both the ugliest and dirtiest side of Sri Lanka and its serene and beautiful appearance, which may be hidden in the nature unaffected by the war, or manifested in the companionship of the protagonist and his loved ones.

作者筆下既有斯里蘭卡最丑陋骯臟的一面，也有其恬靜美好的模樣。而后者或是藏在未被戰(zhàn)亂影響的大自然里，或是顯現(xiàn)于主人公與知己，摯愛相伴之時。?

The ending of the story is unexpected but seems reasonable: after experiencing a series of storms, Maali's soul is still an ordinary person, and Sri Lanka has not undergone earth-shattering changes due to his photographic works.?

故事結局出人意料，又似乎在情理之中：Maali的靈魂經歷了一系列風波之后，他依然只是個普通人，斯里蘭卡并沒有因他的攝影作品發(fā)生翻天覆地的變化。

Small Things Like These portrays a hero who is an ordinary person but determined to do something great.?

Small Things Like These塑造了一位【雖千萬人，吾往矣】的小人物大英雄。

Similarly, in this work, the real ending is the same as that of an ordinary person.?

那么在這部作品里，寫得便是這樣一位小人物的現(xiàn)實結局。

But like Maali, I feel not powerless and despair, but the effort I have made.

但我的內心和Maali一樣，感受到的不是無力與絕望，而是那付出的一切努力。