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(fēng)箏的人 The Kite Runner(186)的精彩內(nèi)容吧!
“You can hardly walk.”
“I can walk to the end of the hall and back,” I said.
“I’ll b fine.” The plan was this: Leave the hospital. Get the money fror the safe-deposit box and pay my medical bills. Drive to the orphanage and drop Sohrab off with John and Betty Caldwell Then get a ride to Islamabad and change travel plans. Give mysel a few more days to get better. Fly home.That was the plan, anyway. Until Farid and Sohrab arrived tha morning. “Your friends, this John and Betty Caldwell, they aren’ in Peshawar,” Farid said.It had taken me ten minutes Just to slip into my pirhan tumban. My chest, where they’d cut me to insert the chest tube hurt when I raised my arm, and my stomach throbbed every time I leaned over. I was drawing ragged breaths just from the effort of packing a few of my belongings into a brown paper bag. But I’d managed to get ready and was sitting on the edge of the bed when Farid came in with the news. Sohrab sat on the bed next to me.
“Where did they go?” I asked.Farid shook his head. “You don’t understand--”
“Because Rahim Khan said--”
“I went to the U.S. consulate,” Farid said, picking up my bag. “There never was a John and Betty Caldwell in Peshawar. According to the people at the consulate, they never existed. Not here in Peshawar, anyhow.”Next to me, Sohrab was flipping through the pages of the old National Geographic.WE GOT THE MONEY from the bank. The manager, a paunchy man with sweat patches under his arms, kept flashing smiles and telling me that no one in the bank had touched the money.“Absolutely nobody,” he said gravely, swinging his index finger the same way Armand had.Driving through Peshawar with so much money in a paper bag was a slightly frightening experience. Plus, I suspected every bearded man who stared at me to be a Talib killer, sent by Assef. Two things compounded my fears: There are a lot of bearded men in Peshawar, and everybody stares.“What do we do with him?” Farid said, walking me slowly from the hospital accounting office back to the car. Sohrab was in the backseat of the Land Cruiser, looking at trafficthrough the rolled-down window, chin resting on his palms.
“He can’t stay in Peshawar,” I said, panting.
“你幾乎寸步難行。”
“我能走到走廊那邊,再走回來?!蔽艺f,
“我會沒事的?!庇媱澥沁@樣的:離開醫(yī)院,從保險箱里面把錢取出來,付清醫(yī)藥費,開車到那家恤孤院,把索拉博交給約翰和貝蒂?卡爾德威。然后前往伊斯蘭堡,調(diào)整旅行計劃,給我自己幾天時間,等身子好一些就飛回家。無論如何,計劃就是這樣,直到那天早晨法里德和索拉博來臨。“你的朋友,約翰和貝蒂?卡爾德威,他們不在白沙瓦?!狈ɡ锏抡f。我花了十分鐘才將棉袍穿上。他們在我胸膛開過插胸管的口子,我抬手的時候那兒痛得厲害;而且每次傾斜身體,總是臟腑翻動。我將一些隨身物品收進一個棕色的紙袋,累得氣喘吁吁。但法里德帶著那個消息到來之前,我已經(jīng)設(shè)法準備妥當,坐在床沿。索拉博挨著我,坐在床上。
“他們?nèi)ツ牧??”我問。法里德?lián)u搖頭:“你還不明白……”
“因為拉辛汗說……”
“我去過美國領(lǐng)事館,”法里德提起我的袋子說,“白沙瓦從來沒有叫約翰和貝蒂?卡爾德威的人。領(lǐng)事館的人說,沒有這兩個人。無論如何,自沙瓦這里沒有?!彼骼┰谖疑砼苑喼潜九f《國家地理》。我們到銀行取錢。經(jīng)理是個大腹便便的男人,腋窩下有汗?jié)n;他不斷露出笑臉,告訴我銀行的人從未碰過那筆錢。“絕對沒有?!彼嵵氐卣f,搖著他的食指。阿曼德也那樣做過。帶著這么一大袋錢開車駛過白沙瓦,真有點膽戰(zhàn)心驚。另外,我懷疑每個看著我的大胡子都是阿塞夫派來的塔利班殺手。而令我恐懼的是:白沙瓦有很多大胡子,他們都盯著我?!拔覀冊撛趺窗仓盟??”法里德說,陪著我慢慢從醫(yī)院的付賬辦公室走回汽車。索拉博在陸地巡洋艦的后座上,搖下車窗,掌心托著下巴,望著街上過往車輛。
“他不能留在白沙瓦?!蔽掖鴼庹f。