雙語名著·追風(fēng)箏的人 The Kite Runner(85)

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(fēng)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(zé)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(dāng)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(diǎn)心力，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)一個(gè)驚天謊言，兒時(shí)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(xì)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(fēng)箏的人 The Kite Runner(85)的精彩內(nèi)容吧！

I shifted on my feet, cleared my throat. “I’ll go now. Sorry to have disturbed you.”
“Nay, you didn’t,” she said.
“Oh. Good.” I tipped my head and gave her a half smile. “I’ll go now.” Hadn’t I already said that? “Khoda h?fez.”
“Khoda h?fez.”
I began to walk. Stopped and turned. I said it before I had a chance to lose my nerve: “Can I ask what you’re reading?”
She blinked.
I held my breath. Suddenly, I felt the collective eyes of the flea market Afghans shift to us. I imagined a hush falling. Lips stop ping in midsentence. Heads turning. Eyes narrowing with keen interest.
What was this?
Up to that point, our encounter could have been interpreted as a respectful inquiry, one man asking for the whereabouts of another man. But I’d asked her a question and if she answered, we’d be... well, we’d be chatting. Me a mojarad, a single young man, and she an unwed young woman. One with a history, no less. This was teetering dangerously on the verge of gossip material, and the best kind of it. Poison tongues would flap. And she would bear the brunt of that poison, not me--I was fully aware of the Afghan double standard that favored my gender. Not Did you see him chatting with her? but Wooooy! Did you see how she wouldn’t let him go? What a lochak!
By Afghan standards, my question had been bold. With it, I had bared myself, and left little doubt as to my interest in her. But I was a man, and all I had risked was a bruised ego. Bruises healed. Reputations did not. Would she take my dare?
She turned the book so the cover faced me. Wuthering Heights. “Have you read it?” she said.
I nodded. I could feel the pulsating beat of my heart behind my eyes. “It’s a sad story.”
“Sad stories make good books,” she said.
“They do.”
“I heard you write.”
How did she know? I wondered if her father had told her, maybe she had asked him. I immediately dismissed both scenarios as absurd. Fathers and sons could talk freely about women. But no Afghan girl--no decent and mohtaram Afghan girl, at least--queried her father about a young man. And no father, especially a Pashtun with nang and namoos, would discuss a mojarad with his daughter, not unless the fellow in question was a khastegar, a suitor, who had done the honorable thing and sent his father to knock on the door.
Incredibly, I heard myself say, “Would you like to read one of my stories?”
“I would like that,” she said. I sensed an unease in her now, saw it in the way her eyes began to flick side to side. Maybe checking for the general. I wondered what he would say if he found me speaking for such an inappropriate length of time with his daughter.
“Maybe I’ll bring you one someday,” I said. I was about to say more when the woman I’d seen on occasion with Soraya came walking up the aisle. She was carrying a plastic bag full of fruit. When she saw us, her eyes bounced from Soraya to me and back. She smiled.
“Amir jan, good to see you,” she said, unloading the bag on the tablecloth. Her brow glistened with a sheen of sweat. Her red hair, coiffed like a helmet, glittered in the sunlight--I could see bits of her scalp where the hair had thinned. She had small green eyes buried in a cabbage-round face, capped teeth, and little fingers like sausages. A golden Allah rested on her chest, the chain burrowed under the skin tags and folds of her neck. “I am Jamila, Soraya jan’s mother.”
“Salaam, Khala jan,” I said, embarrassed, as I often was around Afghans, that she knew me and I had no idea who she was.
“How is your father?” she said.
“He’s well, thank you.”

我挪了挪腳，清清喉嚨，“我要走了，很抱歉打擾到你。”
“沒有，你沒有?！彼f。
“哦，那就好?！蔽尹c(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭，給她一個(gè)勉強(qiáng)的微笑?！拔乙吡恕！焙孟裎乙呀?jīng)說過了吧?“再見?！?br />“再見?！?br />我舉步離開。停下，轉(zhuǎn)身。趁著勇氣還沒有消失，我趕忙說:“我可以知道你在看什么書嗎?”
她眨眨眼。
我屏住呼吸。剎那間，我覺得跳蚤市場里面所有的眼睛都朝我們看來。我猜想四周似乎突然寂靜下來，話說到一半戛然而止。人們轉(zhuǎn)過頭，饒有興致地瞇起眼睛。
這是怎么回事?
直到那時(shí)，我們的邂逅可以解釋成禮節(jié)性的問候，一個(gè)男人問起另外一個(gè)男人。但我問了她問題，如果她回答，我們將會(huì)……這么說吧，我們將會(huì)聊天。我，一個(gè)單身的青年男子，而她是個(gè)未婚的少女。她有過一段歷史，這就夠了。我們正徘徊在風(fēng)言風(fēng)語的危險(xiǎn)邊緣，毒舌會(huì)說長道短，而承受流言毒害的將會(huì)是她，不是我——我十分清楚阿富汗人的雙重標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，身為男性，我占盡便宜。不是“你沒見到他找她聊天嗎?”而是“哇，你沒看到她舍不得他離開嗎?多么不知道廉恥啊!”
按照阿富汗人的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，我的問題很唐突。問出這句話，意味著我無所遮掩，對她的興趣再也毋庸置疑。但我是個(gè)男人，我所冒的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，頂多是尊嚴(yán)受傷罷了，受傷了會(huì)痊愈，可是名譽(yù)毀了不再有清白。她會(huì)接受我的挑戰(zhàn)嗎?
她翻過書，讓封面對著我?！逗魢[山莊》?！澳憧催^嗎?”她說。
我點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭。我感到自己的心怦怦跳。“那是個(gè)悲傷的故事?！?br />“好書總是跟悲傷的故事有關(guān)。”她說。
“確實(shí)這樣?！?br />“聽說你寫作?”
她怎么知道?我尋思是不是她父親說的，也許她曾問過他。我立即打消了這兩個(gè)荒謬的念頭。父親跟兒子可以隨心所欲地談?wù)搵D女。但不會(huì)有阿富汗女子——至少是有教養(yǎng)的阿富汗淑女——向她父親問起青年男子。而且，沒有父親，特別是一個(gè)有名譽(yù)和尊嚴(yán)的普什圖男人，會(huì)跟自己的女兒談?wù)撐椿樯倌?，除非這個(gè)家伙是求愛者，已經(jīng)做足體面的禮節(jié)，請他父親前來提親。
難以置信的是，我聽見自己說:“你愿意看看我寫的故事嗎?”
“我愿意?！彼f?，F(xiàn)在我從她的神情感覺她有些不安，她的眼睛開始東瞟西看，也許是看看將軍來了沒有。我懷疑，要是讓他看到我跟她女兒交談了這么久，他會(huì)有什么反應(yīng)呢?
“也許改天我會(huì)帶給你，”我說。我還想說些什么，那個(gè)我曾見到跟索拉雅在一起的女人走進(jìn)過道。她提著塑料袋，里面裝滿水果。她看到我們，滴溜溜的眼珠看著我和索拉雅，微笑起來。
“親愛的阿米爾，見到你真高興。”她說，把袋子放在桌布上。她的額頭泛出絲絲汗珠，一頭紅發(fā)看上去像頭盔，在陽光下閃閃發(fā)亮——在她頭發(fā)稀疏的地方露出點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭皮。她有雙綠色的小眼睛，埋藏在那圓得像卷心菜的臉蛋上，牙齒鑲金，短短的手指活像香腸。她胸前掛著一尊金色的安拉，鏈子在她皮膚的褶皺和脖子的肥肉間忽隱忽現(xiàn)?！拔医醒琶桌?，親愛的索拉雅的媽媽?！?br />“你好，親愛的阿姨。”我說，有些尷尬，我經(jīng)常身處阿富汗人之間，他們認(rèn)得我是什么人，我卻不知道對方姓甚名誰。
“你爸爸還好嗎?”她說。
“他很好，謝謝?！?