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Vocabulary
atone v. 彌補;賠罪;補償；
It was my past of unatoned sins
afterthought n. [C] 事后的想法;追加的事物；
I thought about something Rahim Khan said just before he hung up, almost as an afterthought. ‘There is a way to be good again’.
tell on sb. 告發;檢舉;告…的狀；
But he never told on me. Never told that the mirror, like shooting walnuts at the neighbor’s dog, was always my idea.
be deadly with 致命的，準確無誤的，極富技巧性的
And he was deadly with his slingshot.
ache v. 持續并較強烈地疼痛；
I wondered if he longed to meet her. Did he ache for her, the way I ached for the mother I had never met?
rumour has it 據傳聞
While Sanaubar’s brilliant green eyes and impish face had, rumor has it, tempted countless men into sin, Ali had a congenital paralysis of his lower facial muscles, a condition that rendered him unable to smile and left him perpetually grimfaced.
retaliate v. 報復;反擊；
They may retaliate with sanctions on other products if the bans are disregarded.
Excerpt
動作描寫
I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek.
1、remember the precise moment替換 remember the moment precisely；
2、crouch behind 替換 hide；
3、peek v. 偷看，搭配介詞into表示向著某地偷看。
4、near the frozen creek，以地點狀語修飾同為地點的alley，狀語作定語。
景色描寫
The early-afternoon sun sparkled on the water where dozens of miniature boats sailed, propelled by a crisp breeze.
1、sun也可以加形容詞修飾，這里用了early-afternoon，一方面描述了太陽的狀態，另一方面指出了當前時間；
2、從sparkle on我們可以看出，這里的sun強調的是陽光。陽光在水上閃爍，實際上是水面波光粼粼。
3、miniature是微型的。這里說到微型的小船，我認為也可以理解為是從側面描寫小船距離遠，湖面廣。
4、雖然只用到了一句話，但這句話有靜有動。剛講完寧靜的湖面和小船，就講到crisp breeze，更顯得舒適宜人。
Then I glanced up and saw a pair of kites, red with long blue tails, soaring in the sky. They danced high above the trees on the west end of the park, over the windmills, floating side by side like a pair of eyes looking down on San Francisco, the city I now call home.
1、風箏在天上飛，你會想到用dance這個單詞嗎？
2、a pair of kites，像天空的a pair of eyes，俯視著。
外貌描寫
I can still see Hassan up on that tree, sunlight flickering through the leaves on his almost perfectly round face, a face like a Chinese doll chiseled from hardwood: his flat, broad nose and slanting, narrow eyes like bamboo leaves, eyes that looked, depending on the light, gold, green, even sapphire I can still see his tiny low-set ears and that pointed stub of a chin, a meaty appendage that looked like it was added as a mere afterthought. And the cleft lip, just left of midline, where the Chinese doll maker’s instrument may have slipped; or perhaps he had simply grown tired and careless.
詞匯：sapphire 藍寶石 ?appendage 附屬物
作者這里說到Hassan的圓臉，像Chinese doll，讓人生出好感。實際上Hassan也的確是讓人感到安心的孩子，對此后文也有呼應。
Hassan唯一的不足就是兔唇，作者將這一缺點比喻為——也許是制作中國娃娃的工匠手中的工具不慎滑落，或者只是因為他倦了、心不在焉。
從某種角度上來說，這也是Amir對Hassan除兔唇外的外貌的褒獎。
動作描寫
I'd sit by the door, knees drawn to my chest. Sometimes I sat there for an hour, sometimes two, listening to their laughter, their chatter.
我很喜歡作者提到的這個動作，knees drawn to my chest。這是一個孤獨的、希望得到守護和愛的動作。小小的Amir坐在門前，聽著屋內的歡笑和暢聊，不被父親待見，該是多么孤單。
It had been a simple enough affair. No obstetricians, no anesthesiologists, no fancy monitoring devices. Just Sanaubar lying on a stained, naked mattress with Ali and a midwife helping her. She hadn't needed much help at all, because, even in birth, Hassan was true to his nature: He was incapable of hurting anyone. A few grunts, a couple of pushes, and out came Hassan. Out he came smiling.
這一段描述了Hassan出生時的場景，重看這段“He was incapable of hurting anyone”和“Out he came smiling.”，想著后文，aching for him。
Notes
第一章篇幅不長，簡短卻生動，以平實而又活潑的語言將讀者帶入到1975年的冬天的童年回憶。去年，老友Rahim Khan的一通電話讓Amir想起了塵封已久的往事，二十多年前的那個冬天，是故事的開端卻也冥冥之中指向結局，暗中預示著Amir的成長軌跡。
第二章開始講述童年回憶，借助一個個故事的片段，描繪出了故事中的幾個人物給讀者的第一印象。印象比較深的有這樣幾個故事，一是Amir和Hassan玩耍，一邊吃桑葚（mulberries）和核桃（walnuts），一邊用鏡子反射太陽光找到鄰居家里或其他調皮搗蛋的事。Hassan的爸爸過來訓斥孩子，Hassan從不說這是Amir的主意而默默忍受呵斥。二是Hassan出生時的場景，沒有先進的醫療設施和藥物，沒有醫護人員，只有一張破床墊和一個接生婆，卻有Ali炙熱而又期待的目光，而Hassan也正如他不會傷害任何人的性情一般，無比順利的降臨。
Character
I/Amir：富人的孩子，調皮搗蛋，卻個性懦弱。母親因生子去世，與父親相依為命。
Hassan：忠厚老實，為人正直，出身貧窮，是Amir家仆人的孩子，地位很低。他的母親在他幼年時拋棄了家庭。Hassan是Amir的好朋友，愿意為好朋友承擔過錯與責任。
Baba：Amir的父親，非常富有。年輕時小有成就，常在書房和朋友抽煙閑聊，對Amir不是很重視也并不是很寵愛。
Rahim Khan：Amir父親的好朋友和生意伙伴。他善解人意、通情達理，和Amir關系不錯。
Ali：Hassan的父親，年少時是孤兒，身體有殘疾，而且臉有疾病，無法微笑或發怒，表情都只由眼睛表現出來。一貧如洗，由于出身貧寒且宗教地位低，經常被人看不起。
Sanaubar：Hassan的母親，美麗漂亮，卻不守婦道，比Ali小19歲，不是真心愛Ali和Hassan。Hassan出生后不久就獨自離開了。
