12歲的阿富汗富家少爺阿米爾與仆人哈桑情同手足。然而,在一場風箏比賽后,發(fā)生了一件悲慘不堪的事,阿米爾為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。
成年后的阿米爾始終無法原諒自己當年對哈桑的背叛。為了贖罪,阿米爾再度踏上暌違二十多年的故鄉(xiāng),希望能為不幸的好友盡最后一點心力,卻發(fā)現(xiàn)一個驚天謊言,兒時的噩夢再度重演,阿米爾該如何抉擇?
故事如此殘忍而又美麗,作者以溫暖細膩的筆法勾勒人性的本質與救贖,讀來令人蕩氣回腸。
下面就跟小編一起來欣賞雙語名著·追風箏的人 The Kite Runner(41)的精彩內容吧!
The next morning, as he brewed black tea for breakfast, Hassan told me he'd had a dream. "We were at Ghargha Lake, you, me, Father, Agha sahib, Rahim Khan, and thousands of other people," he said. "It was warm and sunny, and the lake was clear like a mirror. But no one was swimming because they said a monster had come to the lake. It was swimming at the bottom, waiting."
次日早晨,哈桑在泡早餐紅茶,他告訴我他做了一個夢。"我們在喀爾卡湖,你,我,爸爸,老爺,拉辛汗,還有幾千個人。"他說,"天氣暖和,陽光燦爛,湖水像鏡子一樣清澈。但是沒有人游泳,因為他們說湖里有個鬼怪。它在湖底潛伏著,等待著。"
He poured me a cup and added sugar, blew on it a few times. Put it before me. "So everyone is scared to get in the water, and suddenly you kick off your shoes, Amir agha, and take off your shirt. 'There's no monster,' you say. 'I'll show you all.' And before anyone can stop you, you dive into the water, start swimming away. I follow you in and we're both swimming."
他給我倒了一杯茶,加了糖,吹了幾下,把它端給我。"所以大家都很害怕,不敢下水。突然間你踢掉鞋子,阿米爾少爺,脫掉你的衣服。'里面沒有鬼怪,'你說,'我證明給你們看看。'大家還來不及阻止你,你一頭扎進湖里,游開了。我跟著你,我們都游著。"
"But you can't swim."
"可是你不會游泳。"
Hassan laughed. "It's a dream, Amir agha, you can do anything. Anyway, everyone is screaming, 'Get out! Get out!' but we just swim in the cold water. We make it way out to the middle of the lake and we stop swimming. We turn toward the shore and wave to the people. They look small like ants, but we can hear them clapping. They see now. There is no monster, just water. They change the name of the lake after that, and call it the 'Lake of Amir and Hassan, Sultans of Kabul,' and we get to charge people money for swimming in it."
哈桑哈哈大笑:"那是在夢里啊,阿米爾少爺,你能做任何事情。每個人都尖聲叫喚:'快起來!快起來!'但我們只是在冰冷的湖水里面游泳。我們游到湖中央,停下來。我們轉向湖岸,朝人們揮手。他們看起來像小小的螞蟻,但我們能聽到他們的掌聲。現(xiàn)在他們知道了,湖里沒有鬼怪,只有湖水。隨后他們給湖改了名字,管它叫'喀布爾的蘇丹阿米爾和哈桑之湖'。我們向那些到湖里游泳的人收錢。"
"So what does it mean?" I said.
"這夢是什么意思呢?"我說。
He coated my "naan" with marmalade, placed it on a plate. "I don't know. I was hoping you could tell me."
他替我烤好馕餅,涂上甜果醬,放在盤子里。"我不知道,我還指望你告訴我呢。"
"Well, it's a dumb dream. Nothing happens in it."
"好吧,那是個愚蠢的夢而已,沒有什么含義。"
"Father says dreams always mean something."
"爸爸說夢總是意味著某種東西。"
I sipped some tea. "Why don't you ask him, then? He's so smart," I said, more curtly than I had intended. I hadn't slept all night. My neck and back were like coiled springs, and my eyes stung. Still, I had been mean to Hassan. I almost apologized, then didn't. Hassan understood I was just nervous. Hassan always understood about me.
我喝著茶,"那么你為什么不去問他呢?他多聰明呀。"我的不耐煩簡直出乎自己意料。我徹夜未眠,脖子和后背像繃緊的鋼絲,眼睛刺痛。即使這樣,我對哈桑也太刻薄了。我差點向他道歉,但是沒有。哈桑明白我只是精神緊張。哈??偸敲靼孜?。
Upstairs, I could hear the water running in Baba's bathroom.
樓上,我聽見從爸爸的衛(wèi)生間傳來一陣水流的聲音。