英文名著精講:The Kite Runner 追風箏的人(2)

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。

CHAPTER TWO

When we were children, Hassan and I used to climb the poplar trees in the driveway of my father's house and annoy our neighbors by reflecting sunlight into their Homes with a shard of mirror. We would sit across from each other on a pair of high branches, our naked feet dangling, our trouser pockets filled with dried mulberries and walnuts. We took turns with the mirror as we ate mulberries, pelted each other with them, giggling, laughing; I can still see Hassan up on that tree, sunlight flickering through the leaves on his almost perfectly round face, a face like a Chinese doll chiseled from hardwood: his flat, broad nose and slanting, narrow eyes like bamboo leaves, eyes that looked, depending on the light, gold, green, even sapphire. I can still see his tiny low-set ears and that pointed stub of a chin, a meaty appendage that looked like it was added as a mere afterthought. And the cleft lip, just left of midline, where the Chinese doll maker's instrument may have slipped; or perhaps he had simply grown tired and careless.

Sometimes, up in those trees, I talked Hassan into firing walnuts with his slingshot at the neighbor's one-eyed German shepherd. Hassan never wanted to, but if I asked, "really"asked, he wouldn't deny me. Hassan never denied me anything. And he was deadly with his slingshot. Hassan's father, Ali, used to catch us and get mad, or as mad as someone as gentle as Ali could ever get. He would wag his finger and wave us down from the tree. He would take the mirror and tell us what his mother had told him, that the devil shone mirrors too, shone them to distract Muslims during prayer. "And he laughs while he does it,?he always added, scowling at his son.

"Yes, Father,"Hassan would mumble, looking down at his feet. But he never told on me. Never told that the mirror, like shooting walnuts at the neighbor's dog, was always my idea.

The poplar trees lined the redbrick driveway, which led to a pair of wrought-iron gates. They in turn opened into an extension of the driveway into my father's estate. The house sat on the left side of the brick path, the backyard at the end of it.

Everyone agreed that my father, my Baba, had built the most beautiful house in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, a new and affluent neighborhood in the northern part of Kabul. Some thought it was the prettiest house in all of Kabul. A broad entryway flanked by rosebushes led to the sprawling house of marble floors and wide windows. Intricate mosaic tiles, handpicked by Baba in Isfahan, covered the floors of the four bathrooms. Gold-stitched tapestries, which Baba had bought in Calcutta, lined the walls; a crystal chandelier hung from the vaulted ceiling.

重點精講：

driveway n. 車道
annoyvt. 攪擾，騷擾，干擾，使生氣
These flies are annoying me.
這些蒼蠅一直在打攪我。
reflect vt. 反射（光線）
shardn. 陶瓷的碎片
naked adj. 光着的，裸着的
danglevi. 懸垂，懸蕩
His keys dangled from a chain.
他的鑰匙掛在一條鏈子上。
mulberriy n. 桑葚
peltvt. （連續地）投射，投擲，發射
We pelted our friends with snowballs.
我們朝朋友扔雪球。
giggle vi. 咯咯笑
flicker vi. 搖曳，閃爍
chisel vt. 鑿，雕刻
slant vi. 傾斜，歪斜
sapphire n. /adj. 藍寶石；天藍色的
meaty adj. 肉的，多肉的
appendage n. 附屬物，附加物
cleft n. 裂縫，裂口
instrument n. 工具，設備
I talked Hassan into firing walnuts talk sb. into doing 勸說（說服）某人做某事
slingshot n. 彈弓
deny vt. 否定，否認；拒絕，拒絕……的要求
deadly adj. 致命的
mumblevi./vt. 含糊地說，咕噥着說
When the old lady speaks she often mumbles her words.
這位老婦人說起話來常常含糊不清。
wrought-iron n. 熟鐵，鍛鐵
extensionn. 延伸，延展
estate n. 地產，莊園
district n. 區，地區，地帶，街區
affluent adj. 富裕的，豐富的；流暢的
flank vt. 位於……的側面
sprawl vi. 蔓生，蔓延，擴展
intricate adj. 錯綜複雜的，複雜精細的
The intricate machine requires a skilled operator.
這種複雜精細的機器須由技能熟練的人操作。
mosaicn. 馬賽克
crystal n. 水晶
chandelier n. 枝形吊燈
vaulted adj. 圓頂的，拱形的

第二章

小時候，爸爸的房子有條車道，邊上種着白楊樹，哈桑和我經常爬上去，用一塊鏡子的碎片把陽光反照進鄰居家裏，惹得他們很惱火。在那高高的枝椏上，我們相對而坐，沒穿鞋子的腳丫晃來蕩去，褲兜裏滿是桑椹乾和胡桃。我們換着玩那破鏡子，邊吃桑椹幹，邊用它們扔對方，忽而吃吃逗樂，忽而開懷大笑。我依然能記得哈桑坐在樹上的樣子，陽光穿過葉子，照着他那渾圓的臉龐。他的臉很像木頭刻成的中國娃娃，鼻子大而扁平，雙眼眯斜如同竹葉，在不同光線下會顯現出金色、綠色，甚至是寶石藍。我依然能看到他長得較低的小耳朵，還有突出的下巴，肉乎乎的，看起來像是一團後來才加上去的附屬物。他的嘴脣從中間裂開，這興許是那個製作中國娃娃的工匠手中的工具不慎滑落，又或者只是由於他的疲倦和心不在焉。

有時在樹上我還會慫恿哈桑，讓他用彈弓將胡桃射向鄰家那獨眼的德國牧羊犬。哈桑從無此想法，但若是我要求他，真的要求他，他不會拒絕。哈桑從未拒絕我任何事情。彈弓在他手中可是致命的武器。哈桑的父親阿里常常逮到我們，像他那樣和藹的人，也被我們氣得要瘋了。他會張開手指，將我們從樹上搖下來。他會將鏡子拿走，並告訴我們，他的媽媽說魔鬼也用鏡子，用它們照那些穆斯林信徒，讓他們分心。“他這麼做的時候會哈哈大笑。”他總是加上這麼一句，並對他的兒子怒目相向。

“是的，爸爸。”哈桑會咕噥着，低頭看自己的雙腳。但他從不告發我，從來不提鏡子、用胡桃射狗其實都是我的鬼主意。

那條通向兩扇鍛鐵大門的紅磚車道兩旁植滿白楊。車道延伸進敞開的雙扉，再進去就是我父親的地盤了。磚路的左邊是房子，盡頭則是後院。

人人都說我父親的房子是瓦茲爾·阿克巴·汗區最華麗的屋宇，甚至有人認爲它是全喀布爾最美觀的建築。它坐落於喀布爾北部繁華的新興城區，入口通道甚爲寬廣，兩旁種着薔薇；房子開間不少，鋪着大理石地板，還有很大的窗戶。爸爸親手在伊斯法罕（Isfaham，伊朗中部城市）選購了精美的馬賽克瓷磚，鋪滿四個浴室的地面，還從加爾各答（Calcutta，印度城市）買來金絲織成的掛毯，用於裝飾牆壁，拱形的天花板上掛着水晶吊燈。