英文名著精講:The Kite Runner 追風箏的人(6)

12歲的阿富汗富家少爺阿米爾與僕人哈桑情同手足。然而，在一場風箏比賽後，發生了一件悲慘不堪的事，阿米爾爲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。

成年後的阿米爾始終無法原諒自己當年對哈桑的背叛。爲了贖罪，阿米爾再度踏上暌違二十多年的故鄉，希望能爲不幸的好友盡最後一點心力，卻發現一個驚天謊言，兒時的噩夢再度重演，阿米爾該如何抉擇？小說如此殘忍而又美麗，作者以溫暖細膩的筆法勾勒人性的本質與救贖，讀來令人蕩氣迴腸。

They called him "flat-nosed" because of Ali and Hassan's characteristic Hazara Mongoloid features. For years, that was all I knew about the Hazaras, that they were Mogul descendants, and that they looked a little like Chinese people. School text books barely mentioned them and referred to their ancestry only in passing. Then one day, I was in Baba's study, looking through his stuff, when I found one of my mother's old history books. It was written by an Iranian named Khorami. I blew the dust off it, sneaked it into bed with me that night, and was stunned to find an entire chapter on Hazara history. An entire chapter dedicated to Hassan's people! In it, I read that my people, the Pashtuns, had persecuted and oppressed the Hazaras. It said the Hazaras had tried to rise against the Pashtuns in the nineteenth century, but the Pashtuns had "quelled them with unspeakable violence." The book said that my people had killed the Hazaras, driven them from their lands, burned their Homes, and sold their women. The book said part of the reason Pashtuns had oppressed the Hazaras was that Pashtuns were Sunni Muslims, while Hazaras were Shi'a. The book said a lot of things I didn't know, things my teachers hadn't mentioned. Things Baba hadn't mentioned either. It also said some things I did know, like that people called Hazaras "mice-eating, flat-nosed, load-carrying donkeys". I had heard some of the kids in the neighborhood yell those names to Hassan.

The following week, after class, I showed the book to my teacher and pointed to the chapter on the Hazaras. He skimmed through a couple of pages, snickered, handed the book back. "That's the one thing Shi'a people do well," he said, picking up his papers, "passing themselves as martyrs." He wrinkled his nose when he said the word Shi'a, like it was some kind of disease.

But despite sharing ethnic heritage and family blood, Sanaubar joined the neighborhood kids in taunting Ali. I have heard that she made no secret of her disdain for his appearance.

"This is a husband?" she would sneer. "I have seen old donkeys better suited to be a husband."

In the end, most people suspected the marriage had been an arrangement of sorts between Ali and his uncle, Sanaubar's father. They said Ali had married his cousin to help restore some honor to his uncle's blemished name, even though Ali, who had been orphaned at the age of five, had no worldly possessions or inheritance to speak of.
Ali never retaliated against any of his tormentors, I suppose partly because he could never catch them with that twisted leg dragging behind him. But mostly because Ali was immune to the insults of his assailants; he had found his joy, his antidote, the moment Sanaubar had given birth to Hassan. 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.

重點精講：

descendants n. 後代，後裔
They are the descendants of Queen Victoria.
他們是維多利亞女王的後裔。
Etiquette has been passed down from him to his descendants.
他的後裔，一向以禮儀傳家。

barely adv. 幾乎不；剛剛；勉強
He is so weak that he can barely stand up.
他身體虛弱幾乎站不起來。
I had barely started speaking when he interrupted me.
我剛剛開始講話，他便打斷了我。
We had barely enough money to last through the weekend.
我們的錢只能勉強維持到週末。

ancestry n. 祖先
Many of the early settlers in America had English ancestry.
許多早期美國移民的祖先都是英國人。

sneak v. 偷偷摸摸地做，偷偷地拿、帶
He sneaked a chocolate from the box.
他從盒子裏偷拿了一塊巧克力。
I'll see if I can sneak him in after dark.
我看天黑後能否讓他偷偷地溜進去。
I can sneak you out without being noticed.
我能把你偷偷地帶出去，別人了現不了。

stunned adj. 震驚的，驚訝的
One woman was stunned as, ironically, the ladybirds seemed to be attracted to her canary yellow VW Beetle.
一名婦女被震驚的，諷刺的是，瓢蟲似乎是吸引她的淡黃色大衆甲殼蟲。
Stunned by the market response, lawmakers regrouped and added new items to the bill to win votes.
被市場反應所震驚的議員們隨後再次集結，向救助計劃加入新內容以期獲得支持。

persecute v. 迫害
They persecute those who do not conform to their idea.
他們迫害那些不信奉他們思想的人。
They came to America after being persecuted for their religious beliefs.
他們是在他們因宗教信仰而受到迫害之後來到美洲的。

rise v. 反抗
The king's cruelty excited the people to rise against him.
那個國王的殘酷激起了人民起來反對他。

quell v. 壓制，平息
Soldiers were sent in to quell the riots.
已派士兵去鎮壓動亂。
The armed force had to be called out to quell violence.
不得不出動軍隊來鎮壓暴力行動。

snicker v. 切竊笑
The shuffle and snicker become the comedian's trademark.
攪和與竊笑成爲那個戲劇演員的標誌。

martyr n. 烈士，殉道者
He is a martyr of his country.
他爲國捐軀。
He was posthumously accepted as a martyr.
他被追認爲烈士。

heritage n. 遺產，繼承物
It is the heritage of all human beings.
這都是整個人類繼承的東西。

taunt v. 辱罵，嘲弄
But in England if the palm faces inward it's a taunt, especially if executed with an up-ward jerk of the fingers.
可在英國，做該手勢時如果掌心向內，特別是還同時把手指往上伸的話，則表示對人的辱罵。

suspect v. 懷疑，猜想
They suspected an ambush.
他們懷疑有埋伏。
I suspect he was lying by the boy's abnormal behaviour.
從那個男孩的反常舉動中,我懷疑他在撒謊。

restore v. 回覆，還原，復原
The new manager's job is to restore the company to profitability.
新經理的工作是讓這家公司能恢復盈利狀況。
I feel quite restored to health after my holiday.
假期過後，我覺得健康恢復得相當不錯。

blemish v. 玷污，損害
His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he had taken bribes.
報紙上一篇文章說他受賄，他的聲譽因此受到玷污。

retaliate v. 報復，回敬
He was waiting for an opportunity to retaliate.
他在伺機報復。
He slapped his sister, who retaliated by kicking him.
他打了妹妹一巴掌，他妹妹回敬他一腳。

tormentor n. 使人痛苦的人或物
Vowing revenge, he got hold of a gun and tracked down his tormentor.
他發誓要報仇，弄了一把槍，跟蹤着毆打他的人而去。

immune adj. 免疫的
I'm immune to smallpox as a result of vaccination.
我接種過疫苗了,所以對天花有免疫力。

anesthesiologist n. 麻醉學家，麻醉師
The anesthesiologist told me I was the calmest person he'd ever seen.
麻醉師告訴我說，我是他所見到的最鎮定的人。

第 1 頁：英文原文第 2 頁：重點精講第 3 頁：中文譯文
他們管他叫“塌鼻子”，因爲阿里和哈桑是哈扎拉人，有典型的蒙古人種外貌。很長一段時間內，我對哈扎拉人的瞭解就這麼多：他們是蒙古人的後裔，跟中國人稍微有些相似。學校的教材對他們語焉不詳，僅僅提到過他們的祖先。有一天，我在爸爸的書房翻閱他的東西，發現有本媽媽留下的舊歷史書，作者是伊朗人，叫寇拉米。我吹去蒙在書上的塵灰，那天晚上偷偷將它帶上牀，吃驚地發現裏面關於哈扎拉人的故事竟然寫了滿滿一章。整整一章都是關於哈扎拉人的！我從中讀到自己的族人——普什圖人（Pashtuns，阿富汗人口最多的民族，其語言普什圖語爲阿富汗國語）曾經迫害和剝削哈扎拉人。它提到19世紀時，哈扎拉人曾試圖反抗普什圖人，但普什圖人“以罄竹難書的暴行鎮壓了他們”。書中說我的族人對哈扎拉人妄加殺戮，迫使他們離鄉背井，燒焚他們的家園，販售他們的女人。書中認爲，普什圖人壓迫哈扎拉人的原因，部分是由於前者是遜尼派穆斯林，而後者是什葉派。那本書記載着很多我不知道的事情，那些事情我的老師從未提及，爸爸也緘口不談。它還訴說着一些我已經知道的事情，比如人們管哈扎拉人叫“吃老鼠的人”、“塌鼻子”、“載貨蠢驢”等。我曾聽到有些鄰居的小孩這麼辱罵哈桑。

隨後那個星期，有天下課，我把那本書給老師看，指着關於哈扎拉人那一章。他翻了幾頁，嗤之以鼻地把書還給我。“這件事什葉派最拿手了，”他邊收拾自己的教案邊說，“把他們自己送上西天，還當是殉道呢。”提到什葉派這個詞的時候，他皺了皺鼻子，彷彿那是某種疾病。

雖說同屬一族，甚至同根所生，但莎娜芭也加入到鄰居小孩取笑阿里的行列裏去了。據說她憎惡他的相貌，已經到了盡人皆知的地步。

“這是個丈夫嗎？”她會冷笑着說，“我看嫁頭老驢子都比嫁給他好。”

最終，人們都猜測這樁婚事是阿里和他叔叔——也就是莎娜芭的父親之間的某種協定。他們說阿里娶他的堂妹，是爲了給聲名受辱的叔叔恢復一點榮譽，儘管阿里五歲痛失牯持，也並無值得一提的財物或遺產。

阿里對這些侮辱總是默默以待，我認爲這跟他畸形的腿有關：他不可能逮到他們。但更主要的是，這些欺辱對他來說毫不見效，在莎娜芭生下哈桑那一刻，他已經找到他的快樂、他的靈丹妙藥。那真是足夠簡單的事情，沒有產科醫生，也沒有麻醉師，更沒有那些稀奇古怪的儀器設備。只有莎娜芭躺在一張髒兮兮的褥子上，身下什麼也沒墊着，阿里和接生婆在旁邊幫手。她根本就不需要任何幫助，因爲，即使在降臨人世的時候，哈桑也是不改本色——他無法傷害任何人。幾聲呻吟，數下推動，哈桑就出來了。臉帶微笑地出來了。