Vocabulary

belt out 大聲唱；大聲演奏；

That whole winter, Hassan and I took turns wearing the hat, and belted out the film's famous music as we climbed mounds of snow and shot each other dead.

Excerpt

槍戰場景

Something roared like thunder. The earth shook a little and we heard the 'rat-a-tat-tat' of gunfire.“Father!” Hassan cried. We sprung to our feet and raced out of the living room. We found Ali hobbling frantically across the foyer.

對于槍戰場景描寫，我們可以參考的是：

1、比喻修辭手法的使用（roar like thunder）；

2、擬聲（rat-a-tat-tat）的加入；

3、周遭環境的描寫（the earth shook）；

4、人物對此的反應（Amir和Hassan：race-爭先恐后的跑，Ali：hobble frantically）。

幾個小詞和修辭手法的妙用讓畫面更具連續性、更完整。

父親的愛

Just before sunrise, Baba's car peeled into the driveway. His door slammed shut and his running footsteps pounded the stairs. Then he appeared in the doorway and I saw something on his face. Something I didn't recognize right away because I'd never seen it before: fear. “Amir! Hassan!” he exclaimed as he ran to us, opening his arms wide.

雖然Amir對父親不滿，但其實父親還是非常愛他的，就算再不符合他的期望，也是親生的兒子，怎能不疼愛。以上幾個句子一氣呵成。

car peel into - door slammed - footsteps pound the stairs - apear in the doorway -fear - exclaim - open his arm wide.

中國人在寫作時常會忘記原來物也可以作主語，前面car，door和footsteps就是可以借鑒的例子。作者用了大量的側面描寫，讓父親的焦慮躍然紙上，十分到位。

故事背景

FOR THE NEXT COUPLE of years, the words ‘economic development’ and ‘reform’ danced on a lot of lips in Kabul. The constitutional monarchy had been abolished, replaced by a republic, led by a president of the republic. For a while, a sense of rejuvenation and purpose swept across the land. People spoke of women's rights and modern technology.

danced on a lot of lips 直譯：“在很多人唇上跳舞”，也就是指：“被……放在嘴邊”；

A sense of…swept across the land. 直譯：“一種……感席卷這片土地”，指：……人盡皆知。

生日禮物

Hassan and I traded blank looks. There was no gift-wrapped box in sight. No bag. No toy. Just Ali standing behind us, and Baba with this slight Indian fellow who looked a little like a mathematics teacher.

traded blank looks 茫然對望

in sight在視線中，可替換see

who looked a little like a mathematics teacher. 看起來像是數學老師（的印度人）。

（中國人和印度人的數學好看來是毋庸置疑）

Thoughts

除了日常的嬉戲玩耍之外，Amir把Hassan看做是他的朋友嗎？雖然Amir口頭不承認，但他對Hassan的感情從字里行間中卻透露著誠實的好感與愧疚。

在給不識字的Hassan讀書時：

My favorite part of reading to Hassan was when we came cross a big word that he didn't know. I'd tease him, expose his ignorance.

但是在這之后：

I would always feel guilty about it later.

當他們遇到強調種族的Assef時，Amir為了脫身說：

But he's not friend, he's my servant.

而他也在心里責問自己：

Had I really thought that? Of course I hadn't. I hadn't. I treated Hassan well, just like a friend, better even, more like a brother. But if so, then why, when Baba's friends came to visit with their kids, didn't I ever include Hassan in our games? Why did I play with Hassan only when no one else was around?

當他們了解國王政權被推翻后，Hassan問Amir自己會不會被送走，

Amir smiled, "Bas, you donkey. No one's sending you away"。

那時候的感情都是真的。

Notes

戰爭打破了安逸的生活，宗教矛盾越發激烈，敏感的Hassan隱約知道這意味著什么。文章通過描述Amir，Hassan和Assef三個小孩的緊張激烈的矛盾沖突，映射了當時阿富汗地區一觸即發的緊張局勢。在被納粹思想浸染的Assef的威逼之下，兩個孩子的舉動反差極大，一邊是Amir顫抖恐懼地希望爸爸出現，與Hassan撇清關系，一邊是Hassan沉著冷靜地拉開彈弓瞄準Assef的眼睛，讓Assef放兩人走。Hassan的勇敢與忠誠值得敬佩，在根深蒂固的等級觀念下的忍耐與屈服也讓人心疼。雖然一時的反抗頗有成效，但自此埋下的仇恨的種子卻在地下蠢蠢欲動。

政變發生后，人們把經濟發展和改革放在嘴邊，君主立憲制被廢棄，國家開始實行共和制，但其實人們的生活還是一如既往。轉眼Hassan的生日到了，從未忘記Hassan生日的Baba這次的生日禮物是為Hassan做兔唇修復手術.手術很成功，Hassan的兔唇變成了淺淺的一道疤痕，可也是從這個冬天開始，Hassan那溫暖的笑容再也沒有出現過。