书名：Dragon’s Gate 龙门
难度：Lexile蓝思阅读指数730L
作者：Laurence Yep
出版社名称：HarperCollins
出版时间：1995
语种：英文 
ISBN：9780064404891
商品尺寸：13.3 x 1.9 x 17.8 cm
包装：平装
页数：336

Dragon’s Gate《龙门》是美国著名华裔儿童文学作家叶祥添编写的一部小说，讲述了19世纪中叶在美国的中国铁路工人的故事，曾获得纽伯瑞银奖，受到无数读者的喜爱和赞赏。
In 1867, Otter travels from Three Willows Village in China to California—the Land of the Golden Mountain. There he will join his father and uncle.
In spite of the presence of family, Otter is a stranger among the other Chinese in this new land. And where he expected to see a land of goldfields, he sees only vast, cold whiteness. But Otter’s dream is to learn all he can, take the technology back to the Middle Kingdom, and free China from the Manchu invaders.
Otter and the others board a machine that will change his life—a train for which he would open theDragon’s Gate.

Review
“An engaging survival-adventure story, a social history, a heroic quest.”  — LA Booklist

“Combining believable characters with thrilling adventure, Yep convinces readers that the Chineses railroad workers were indeed men to match the towering mountains of the west.”  — School Library Journal 

“Dragon’s Gate is a tribute to the survival and courage of these immigrants.”  — 1994 Chair, Newberry Award Committee

“An engaging survival-adventure story, a social history, a heroic quest.”  — Booklist

叶祥添（Laurence Yep），1948年生于美国三藩市华埠，祖籍中国广东台山，美国华裔作家。他自1975年以来共发表过60余部儿童文学作品，并获得不少儿童文学奖项，是著名的儿童文学作家。
Laurence Yep grew up in San Francisco, where he was born. He attended Marquette University, graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and received his PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He lives in Pacific Grove, California, with his wife, the writer Joanne Ryder.

“They’re coming!” the servant cried from the pass. “They’re coming!” The cry traveled up the valley faster than the stream.
“They’re coming!” the sentry announced from the watchtower.
All over the village of Three Willows, doors and gates slammed as people rumbled into the street. It was a dear day between summer storms, and the sky was a bright blue.
In the schoolroom, I could hear the slap of their feet on the dirt. Though I was only fourteen, I sat in the back of the schoolroom with the older boys because I was ahead of my level. I rose eagerly from the school bench.
At the front, Uncle Blacky, our teacher, was lecturing about some ancient words that might occur in the government exams. The exams would qualify you for office.
He was a slender, middle-aged man in a scholar’s robes. There were small black marks on his lips, for he had an absentminded habit of licking his brushes to a point.
 “Yes, Otter.”
“Master, may I be excused?” I asked. “I think my father and uncle have arrived”
“Of course.” What else was he going to say? Most of the subscription for his new school had come from my own family.
When 1 got ready to run excitedly he looked at me sternly. “With dignity,” he reminded me. That look was enough to intimidate my other classmates, but not me.
“I’m sorry master.” I started to walk away. Behind me, I heard Stumpy laugh. He was the sixteen-year-old son of one of our tenants, and he was always trying to play the bully or to mock me when he thought it was safe.
When he wasn’t playing one of his pranks, I almost felt sorry for him. His father, Stony, often needed Stumpy in the fields. As a result, Stumpy’s schooling was sporadic; but he was sharp enough to make up for the lost time.