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(zhì)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(126)的精彩內(nèi)容吧!
“That letter was written six months ago, a few days before I left for Peshawar,” Rahim Khan said. “I took the Polaroid the day before I left. A month after I arrived in Peshawar, I received a telephone call from one of my neighbors in Kabul. He told me this story: Soon after I took my leave, a rumor spread that a Hazara family was living alone in the big house in Wazir Akbar Khan, or so the Taliban claim. A pair of Talib officials came to investigate and interrogated Hassan. They accused him of lying when Hassan told them he was living with me even though many of the neighbors, including the one who called me, supported Hassan’s story. The Talibs said he was a liar and a thief like all Hazaras and ordered him to get his family out of the house by sundown. Hassan protested. But my neighbor said the Talibs were looking at the big house like--how did he say it?--yes, like ‘wolves looking at a flock of sheep.’ They told Hassan they would be moving in to supposedly keep it safe until I return. Hassan protested again. So they took him to the street--”
“No,” I breathed.
“--and order him to kneel--”
“No. God, no.”
“--and shot him in the back of the head.”
“--Farzana came screaming and attacked them--”
“No.”
“--shot her too. Self-defense, they claimed later--”But all I could manage was to whisper “No. No. No” over and over again.
“信是半年前寫的,我到白沙瓦去之前幾天?!崩梁拐f,“離開之前我用寶麗萊拍了這張照片。到達白沙瓦一個月后,我接到一個喀布爾鄰居的電話。他告訴我這么一件事:我離開之后不久,有個謠言迅速傳開,說一個哈扎拉家庭獨自住在瓦茲爾?阿克巴?汗區(qū)的豪宅里面,大約是塔利班放出的風聲。兩個塔利班官員前來調(diào)查,逮捕了哈桑。哈桑告訴他們,他跟我住在一起,雖然有很多鄰居作證,包括打電話給我那個,但他們指控他說謊。塔利班說他像所有哈扎拉人那樣,是騙子,是小偷,勒令他全家在天黑之前搬離那座房子。哈??棺h。但我的鄰居說那些塔利班的黨羽覬覦那座大房子,就像——他怎么說來著?——是了,就像‘餓狼看見羊群’。他們告訴哈桑,為了保障它的安全,他們會搬進來,直到我回去。哈桑又抗議。所以他們將他拉到街上……”
“不?!蔽掖瓪庹f。
“……下令他跪下……”
“不!天啦,不?!?br />“……朝他后腦開槍?!?
“……法莎娜尖叫著跑出來,撲打他們……”
“不?!?br />“……也殺了她。自我防衛(wèi),他們后來宣稱……”但我所能做的,只是一次又一次地低聲說著:“不。不。不?!?