殘忍而美麗的情誼:The Kite Runner 追風箏的人(4)

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。

In the eighteen years that I lived in that house, I stepped into Hassan and Ali's quarters only a handful of times. When the sun dropped low behind the hills and we were done playing for the day, Hassan and I parted ways. I went past the rosebushes to Baba's mansion, Hassan to the mud shack where he had been born, where he'd lived his entire life. I remember it was spare, clean, dimly lit by a pair of kerosene lamps. There were two mattresses on opposite sides of the room, a worn Herati rug with frayed edges in between, a three-legged stool, and a wooden table in the corner where Hassan did his drawings. The walls stood bare, save for a single tapestry with sewn-in beads forming the words "Allah-u-akbar". Baba had bought it for Ali on one of his trips to Mashad.

It was in that small shack that Hassan's mother, Sanaubar, gave birth to him one cold winter day in 1964. While my mother hemorrhaged to death during childbirth, Hassan lost his less than a week after he was born. Lost her to a fate most Afghans considered far worse than death: She ran off with a clan of traveling singers and dancers.

Hassan never talked about his mother, as if she'd never existed. I always wondered if he dreamed about her, about what she looked like, where she was. I wondered if he longed to meet her. Did he ache for her, the way I ached for the mother I had never met? One day, we were walking from my father's house to Cinema Zainab for a new Iranian movie, taking the shortcut through the military barracks near Istiqlal Middle School—Baba had forbidden us to take that shortcut, but he was in Pakistan with Rahim Khan at the time. We hopped the fence that surrounded the barracks, skipped over a little creek, and broke into the open dirt field where old, abandoned tanks collected dust. A group of soldiers huddled in the shade of one of those tanks, smoking cigarettes and playing cards. One of them saw us, elbowed the guy next to him, and called Hassan.

"Hey, you!" he said. "I know you."

We had never seen him before. He was a squatly man with a shaved head and black stubble on his face. The way he grinned at us, leered, scared me. "Just keep walking," I muttered to Hassan.

"You! The Hazara! Look at me when I'm talking to you!" the soldier barked. He handed his cigarette to the guy next to him, made a circle with the thumb and index finger of one hand. Poked the middle finger of his other hand through the circle. Poked it in and out. In and out. "I knew your mother, did you know that? I knew her real good. I took her from behind by that creek over there."

The soldiers laughed. One of them made a squealing sound. I told Hassan to keep walking, keep walking.

"What a tight little sugary cunt she had!" the soldier was saying, shaking hands with the others, grinning. Later, in the dark, after the movie had started, I heard Hassan next to me, croaking. Tears were sliding down his cheeks. I reached across my seat, slung my arm around him, pulled him close. He rested his head on my shoulder. "He took you for someone else," I whispered. "He took you for someone else."

重點精講：

part v. 分離，分開
The crowd had parted to let them through.
人羣分散開好讓他們通過。
She tried to part the two fighting dogs.
她設法把兩條打架的狗分開。

shack n. 棚屋，窩棚

fray v. 磨損，磨破
The electric wire is fraying and could be dangerous to handle.
電線快磨破了，使用起來可能有危險。
It is made of a durable high quality nylon that is designed not to fray.
這種帶子是由耐用高質量的尼龍製成，其設計也是防止磨損。

tapestry n. 掛毯

hemorrhage v. 出血，溢血
The electric wire is fraying and could be dangerous to handle.
電線快磨破了，使用起來可能有危險。
It is made of a durable high quality nylon that is designed not to fray.
這種帶子是由耐用高質量的尼龍製成，其設計也是防止磨損。

wonder v. 想知道
I wonder if this picture can be restored.
我很想知道這幅畫能否修復。
I wonder whether you are interested in doing processing business with us.
我想知道你們是否對與我們進行加工貿易感興趣。

long v. 渴望
She longed to be back in China.
她渴望回到中國。
They long for a chance to visit Shanghai.
他們渴望有機會訪問上海。

ache v. 痛，隱痛
There was a little ache in her fancy of all he described.
她想象着他所描繪的一切，心裏不禁有些刺痛。
You'll make your back ache if you carry those heavy buckets.
如果你背那些沉重的桶，你的背會痛的。

shortcut n. 捷徑，近路
There is no shortcut to success.
成功無捷徑。
He was always looking for a shortcut to fame and fortune.
他總是在找成名發財的捷徑。

barrack n. 兵舍，軍營

abandoned adj. 被拋棄的，被遺棄的
Would there be abandoned children?
會有被拋棄的小孩嗎？

huddle v. 擠作一團，聚在一起（+together）
The children huddled together like a flock of sheep.
那些孩子像一羣羊一樣擠在一起。

squat adj. 矮胖的
Now they were stopping at a squat red frame station.
他們在一座又矮又小的紅色木頭房子裏停住了。
A squat pot-bellied figure bustled forward through the gloom.
一位矮矮胖胖、大腹便便的人影從陰暗處奔了出來。

stubble n. 短鬚，麥茬
A dark stubble was shrouding his strong jaw and dimpled chin.
他碩大有凹陷的下巴上滿是深色的短鬚。
The farmers are burning off the stubble from the fields.
農民們正在把田裏的莊稼殘茬燒掉。

to scare sb. 嚇到某人，使某人害怕

bark v. 咆哮
When you speak to people, don't bark at them.
當你和人說話時不要咆哮。
Some officers bark out their orders.
有些軍官以粗暴的聲音發佈命令。

index finger n. 食指

squealing adj. 刺耳的，尖叫聲的

croak v. 呱呱叫，嘎嘎叫

我在家裏住了十八年，但進入阿里和哈桑房間的次數寥寥無幾。每當日落西山，玩了一天的哈桑和我就分開了。我穿過那片薔薇，回到爸爸的廣廈去；哈桑則回到他的寒廬，他在那兒出世，在那兒度過一生。我記得它狹小而乾淨，點着兩盞煤油燈，光線昏暗。屋裏兩端各擺着一牀褥子，一張破舊的赫拉特（Herati，阿富汗西部城市）出產的地毯四邊磨損，擺在中間。屋角還有一把三腳凳，一張木頭桌子，哈桑就在那上面畫畫。此外四壁蕭然，僅有一幅掛毯，用珠子綴着"Allah u akbar"（真主偉大）的字樣。那是爸爸某次去麥什德（Mashad，伊朗城市）旅行時給阿里買的。

1964年某個寒冷的冬日，正是在這間小屋，哈桑的母親莎娜芭生下了哈桑。我的媽媽因爲生產時失血過多而謝世，哈桑則在降臨人世尚未滿七日就失去了母親。而這種失去她的宿命，在多數阿富汗人看來，簡直比死了老孃還要糟糕：她跟着一羣江湖藝人跑了。

哈桑從未提及他的母親，彷彿她從未存在過。我總是尋思他會不會在夢裏見到她，會不會夢見她長什麼樣子，去了哪裏。我還尋思他會不會渴望見到她。他會爲她心痛嗎，好比我爲自己素昧平生的媽媽難過一樣?有一天，爲了看一部新的伊朗電影，我們從爸爸家裏朝扎拉博電影院走去。我們抄了近路，穿過獨立中學旁邊的軍營區——爸爸向來不許我們走那條捷徑，但當時他跟拉辛汗在巴基斯坦。我們跨過圍繞着軍營的藩籬，跳過一條小溪，闖進那片開闊的泥地，那兒停放着積滿塵灰的廢舊坦克。數個士兵聚集在一輛坦克的影子下抽菸玩牌。有個士兵發現了我們，用手肘碰碰身邊的傢伙，衝哈桑嚷嚷。

“喂，你！”他說，“我認識你。”

我們跟他素不相識。他又矮又胖，頭髮剃得很短，臉上還有黑乎乎的胡茬。他臉帶淫褻，朝我們咧嘴而笑，我心下慌亂。“繼續走！”我低聲對哈桑說。

“你！那個哈扎拉小子！看着我，我跟你說話吶！”那士兵咆哮着。他把香菸遞給身邊那個傢伙，用一隻手的拇指和食指圍成圓圈，另外一隻手的中指戳進那個圈圈，不斷戳進戳出。“我認識你媽媽，你知道嗎？我和她交情不淺呢。我在那邊的小溪從後面幹過她。”

衆士兵轟然大笑，有個還發出一聲尖叫。我告訴哈桑繼續走，繼續走。

“她的蜜穴又小又緊！”那士兵邊說邊跟其他人握手，哈哈大笑。稍後，電影開始了，我在黑暗中聽到坐在身邊的哈桑低聲啜泣，看到眼淚從他臉頰掉下來。我從座位上探過身去，用手臂環住他，把他拉近。他把臉埋在我的肩膀上。“他認錯人了，”我低語，“他認錯人了。”