殘忍而美麗的情誼:The Kite Runner 追風箏的人(11)
12歲的阿富汗富家少爺阿米爾與僕人哈桑情同手足。然而，在一場風箏比賽後，發生了一件悲慘不堪的事，阿米爾爲自己的懦弱感到自責和痛苦，逼走了哈桑，不久，自己也跟隨父親逃往美國。
成年後的阿米爾始終無法原諒自己當年對哈桑的背叛。爲了贖罪，阿米爾再度踏上暌違二十多年的故鄉，希望能爲不幸的好友盡最後一點心力，卻發現一個驚天謊言，兒時的噩夢再度重演，阿米爾該如何抉擇？小說如此殘忍而又美麗，作者以溫暖細膩的筆法勾勒人性的本質與救贖，讀來令人蕩氣迴腸。
"I see you've confused what you're learning in school with actual education," he said in his thick voice.“我知道，你被學校教的功課和在生活中學到的東西搞糊塗了。”他那渾厚的聲音說。
"But if what he said is true then does it make you a sinner, Baba?"“可是，如果他說的是真的，那你豈不是罪人了嗎，爸爸?”
"Hmm."Baba crushed an ice cube between his teeth. "Do you want to know what your father thinks about sin?"“嗯。”爸爸咬碎嘴裏的冰塊，“你想知道自己的父親怎麼看待罪行嗎?”
"Yes."“想。”
"Then I'll tell you,"Baba said, "but first understand this and understand it now, Amir: You'll never learn anything of value from those bearded idiots."“那我會告訴你，”爸爸說，“不過首先，你得知道一件事情，阿米爾，那些白癡大鬍子不會教給你任何有價值的東西。”
"You mean Mullah Fatiullah Khan?"“你是說法修拉毛拉嗎?”
Baba gestured with his glass. The ice clinked. "I mean all of them. Piss on the beards of all those self-righteous monkeys."爸爸拿起酒杯，冰塊叮咚作響。“我是說他們全部，那些自以爲是的猴子，應該在他們的鬍子上撒尿。”
I began to giggle. The image of Baba pissing on the beard of any monkey, self-righteous or otherwise, was too much.我咯咯笑起來。想到爸爸在猴子的鬍子上撒尿，不管那猴子是否自以爲是，那場面太搞笑了。
"They do nothing but thumb their prayer beads and recite a book written in a tongue they don't even understand."He took a sip. "God help us all if Afghanistan ever falls into their hands."“除了用拇指數念珠，背誦那本根本就看不懂的經書，他們什麼也不會。"他喝了一口，"要是阿富汗落在他們手裏，所有人都得求真主保佑了。”
"But Mullah Fatiullah Khan seems nice,"I managed between bursts of tittering.“可是法修拉毛拉人很好。”我忍住發笑。
"So did Genghis Khan,"Baba said. "But enough about that. You asked about sin and I want to tell you. Are you listening?" “成吉思汗也很好。”爸爸說，“夠了，不說這個了。你問我對罪行的看法，我會告訴你。你在聽嗎?”
"Yes,"I said, pressing my lips together. But a chortle escaped through my nose and made a snorting sound. That got me giggling again.“是的。”我說，試着抿緊嘴脣，但笑聲從鼻孔冒出來，發出一陣鼻息的聲響，惹得我又咯咯笑起來。
Baba's stony eyes bore into mine and, just like that, I wasn't laughing anymore. "I mean to speak to you man to man. Do you think you can handle that for once?"爸爸雙眼堅定地看着我的眼睛，僅僅這樣，我就止住了笑聲。“我的意思是，像男人跟男人說話那樣跟你談談。你覺得你做得到嗎?”
"Yes, Baba jan," I muttered, marveling, not for the first time, at how badly Baba could sting me with so few words. We'd had a fleeting good moment--it wasn't often Baba talked to me, let alone on his lap--and I'd been a fool to waste it. “是的，親愛的爸爸。”我低聲說，不止一次，爸爸只用幾個字就能刺痛我，這真是叫人驚奇。我們有過一段短暫的美好時光--爸爸平時很少跟我說話，更別提把我抱在膝蓋上--而我這個笨蛋，竟然白白將其浪費了。
"Good,"Baba said, but his eyes wondered. "Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Do you understand that?"“很好，”爸爸說，但眼睛仍透露出懷疑的神色,“現在，不管那個毛拉怎麼說，罪行只有一種，只有一種。那就是盜竊，其他罪行都是盜竊的變種。你明白嗎?”
"No, Baba jan,"I said, desperately wishing I did. I didn't want to disappoint him again.“不，親愛的爸爸。”我說，我多希望自己能懂，我不想再讓他失望。
Baba heaved a sigh of impatience. That stung too, because he was not an impatient man. I remembered all the times he didn't come home until after dark, all the times I ate dinner alone. I'd ask Ali where Baba was, when he was coming Home, though I knew full well he was at the construction site, overlooking this, supervising that. Didn't that take patience? I already hated all the kids he was building the orphanage for; sometimes I wished they'd all died along with their parents.爸爸不耐煩地嘆了一口氣，那又刺痛我了，因爲他不是沒耐心的人。他總是直到夜幕降臨纔回家，留我獨自吃飯，每一次我都記得清清楚楚。我問阿里“爸爸在哪兒，什麼時候回來”，雖然我知道他在建築工地，看看這兒，檢查那兒。難道那不需要耐心嗎?我一度恨上他建造的那所恤孤院裏面的孩子，有時甚至希望他們統統隨着父母一起死掉。
"When you kill a man, you steal a life,"Baba said. "You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Do you see?"“當你殺害一個人，你偷走一條性命，"爸爸說，"你偷走他妻子身爲人婦的權利，奪走他子女的父親。當你說謊，你偷走別人知道真相的權利。當你詐騙，你偷走公平的權利。你懂嗎?”
I did. When Baba was six, a thief walked into my grandfather's house in the middle of the night. My grandfather, a respected judge, confronted him, but the thief stabbed him in the throat, killing him instantly--and robbing Baba of a father. The townspeople caught the killer just before noon the next day; he turned out to be a wanderer from the Kunduz region. They hanged him from the branch of an oak tree with still two hours to go before afternoon prayer. It was Rahim Khan, not Baba, who had told me that story. I was always learning things about Baba from other people.我懂。爸爸六歲那年，有個竊賊在深夜溜進爺爺的房子。我的爺爺，一個萬衆景仰的法官，發現了他，但那個賊割開他的喉嚨，立刻要了他的命--奪走了爸爸的父親。翌日午前，當地居民抓住了那個兇手，人們發現他是來自昆都士Kunduz，阿富汗北部省份。地區的流浪漢。在午後祈禱儀式開始之前兩個小時，兇手被吊死在橡樹上。告訴我這件往事的，不是爸爸，而是拉辛汗。我總是從他人口裏得知爸爸的事情。
