Vocabulary

will v. 想要（某事发生）；

But all I heard--all I willed myself to hear--was the thudding of blood in my head.

sink v. 缓慢下降，下陷，沉降；

By the time I reached the market place, the sun had almost sunk behind the hills and dusk had painted the sky pink and purple.

eye v. 打量，端详；

He eyed me up and down.

nausea n. 恶心，呕吐感；

I panted, my stomach roiling with nausea.

Excerpt

风筝大赛

At least two dozen kites already hung in the sky, like paper sharks roaming for prey. Within an hour, the number doubled, and red, blue, and yellow kites glided and spun in the sky. A cold breeze wafted through my hair. The wind was perfect for kite flying, blowing just hard enough to give some lift, make the sweeps easier. Next to me, Hassan held the spool, his hands already bloodied by the string.

hung这个单词用得精妙。前几章也说到，作者说到风筝在天上飞“舞”用到了dance这个单词，而这一次，风筝在天上稳稳“挂”着，作者用了hang。

两个风筝挂在天空，像是paper sharks roaming for prey。又是一个精彩的比喻！这一次，作者没有说两个风筝是天空的眼睛，而是像寻找猎物的鲨鱼，可见局势紧张，大家都摩拳擦掌。

glide v. 滑行 spin v. 旋转 waft v. 使飘荡，吹拂

The wind was perfect for kite flying, blowing just hard enough to give some lift, make the sweeps easier. 天气适宜，又有哈桑作助手。对于Amir来说，此时天时地利人和。

Soon, the cutting started and the first of the defeated kites whirled out of control. They fell from the sky like shooting stars with brilliant, rippling tails, showering the neighborhoods below with prizes for the kite runners. I could hear the runners now, hollering as they ran the streets. Someone shouted reports of a fight breaking out two streets down.

这一段的生动不用多说，大家细细感受。

I kept stealing glances at Baba sitting with Rahim Khan on the roof, wondered what he was thinking. Was he cheering for me? Or did a part of him enjoy watching me fail? That was the thing about kite flying: Your mind drifted with the kite.

虽然追风筝场景激烈，但此时的Amir心中只想着父亲。一个steal说尽了Amir的小心思。正如作者的比喻所说，他的心随风筝而动。

The tension in the air was as taut as the glass string I was tugging with my bloody hands. People were stomping their feet, clapping, whistling, chanting, “Boboresh! Boboresh!” Cut him! Cut him! I wondered if Baba’s voice was one of them. Music blasted. The smell of steamed mantu and fried pakora drifted from rooftops and open doors.

stomping their feet, clapping, whistling, chanting，作者又用到了排比。他的排比实在是精妙，一系列动作是先后发生？还是同时发生？还是陆续发生？无论如何，都很容易让读者联想到人潮的澎湃。

It turned out to be sooner than later. A gust of wind lifted my kite and I took advantage. Fed the string, pulled up. Looped my kite on top of the blue one. I held position. The blue kite knew it was in trouble. It was trying desperately to maneuver out of the jam, but I didn’t let go. I held position. The crowd sensed the end was at hand. The chorus of “Cut him! Cut him!” grew louder, like Romans chanting for the gladiators to kill, kill!

说时迟，那时快（看到第一句英文突然脑海里蹦出来这么一句），一阵风吹起了阿米尔的风筝，他抢占了先机。...胜利近在眼前（at hand），人群沸腾，欢呼的“切断它”“切断它”听上去像是罗马人对着斗士喊“杀啊”“杀啊”！

I opened my eyes, saw the blue kite spinning wildly like a tire come loose from a speeding car. I blinked, tried to say something. Nothing came out. Suddenly I was hovering, looking down on myself from above. Black leather coat, red scarf, faded jeans. A thin boy, a little sallow, and a tad short for his twelve years. He had narrow shoulders and a hint of dark circles around his pale hazel eyes. The breeze rustled his light brown hair. He looked up to me and we smiled at each other.

spinning wildly like a tire 看到这句话我的第一反应是漏气的气球，哈哈，但作者想表达的意思是像快速转动的轮胎，刚脱离一辆高速行驶的轿车。Amir看到自己的胜利，闭眼-睁眼-眨眼，依然不敢相信。接下来，奇幻的事情发生了，他感到自己腾空而起，从空中俯视下面被微风轻轻拂过的自己，相视而笑。Amir觉得终于成了爸爸所喜爱的男孩子，他释然了。

Thoughts

哈桑是多么聪明而又敏感的孩子。

晦涩难懂的诗他能听懂，而Amir听不懂：

I read him poems and stories, sometime sriddles--though I stopped reading those when I saw he was far better at solving them than I was. So I read him unchallenging things, like the misadventures of the bumbling Mullah Nasruddin and his donkey.

故意输牌给Amir让Amir开心（如果一个人是真正的输牌，另一方不太会察觉出来对方可能是在让牌，但年纪轻轻的Amir却有所怀疑，说明Hassan牌技高超，很有可能是故意输）。

I killed his king and played him my final card, the ace of spades. He had to pick it up. I’d won, but as I shuffled for a new game,I had the distinct suspicion that Hassan had let me win.

Amir的想法和念头他了如指掌，而Amir对他一无所知。

“You know...I ‘like’ where I live.”He was always doing that, reading my mind.“It’s my home.”
How could I be such an open book to him when, half the time, I had no idea what was milling around in his head?

风筝掉在哪个方位清清楚楚，像是有“神之指南针”。

Over the years, I had seen a lot of guys run kites. But Hassan was by far the greatest kite runner I’d ever seen. It was downright eerie the way he always got to the spot the kite would land before the kite did, as if he had some sort of inner compass.

（eerie a.怪异的，可怕的）

讲述梦境为Amir解忧：

“We were at Ghargha Lake, you, me, Father, Agha sahib, Rahim Khan, and thousands of other people,” he said. “It was warm and sunny, and the lake was clear like a mirror. But no one was swimming because they said a monster had come to the lake. It was swimming at the bottom, waiting.”

…

“So everyone is scared to get in the water, and suddenly you kick off your shoes, Amir agha, and take off your shirt. 'There's no monster,' you say. 'I'll show you all.' And before anyone can stop you, you dive into the water, start swimming away. I follow you in and we’re both swimming.”

…

Everyone is screaming, 'Get out! Get out!' but we just swim in the cold water. We make it way out to the middle of the lake and we stop swimming. We turn toward the shore and wave to the people. They look small like ants, but we can hear them clapping. They see now. There is no monster, just water.

…

在比赛前，Amir非常紧张，Hassan谈定地走向他：

Then he stepped toward me and, in a low voice, said something that scared me a little. “Remember, Amir agha. There's no monster, just a beautiful day.”

可能这次梦是Hassan的梦，但他想必添油加醋整理了一番，一是很少有人会把梦境记得清清楚楚，二是巧合太明显。退一万步讲，梦境并非Hassan创造，他总结归纳、举一反三的能力也让人吃惊。

最明显的一点，从未受过良好教育的Hassan，让享受优质教育资源和财富的Amir无时无刻感到受伤和嫉妒，况且被Baba如此欣赏和喜爱，可见Hassan是多么乖巧伶俐的孩子。

聪明敏感的Hassan还有其他数不尽的优点：勤劳——每日起早贪黑地劳作，勇敢——敢于和恶势力抗争，一诺千金——为自己说出的话负责，忠厚诚实——曾真诚许诺不会欺骗Amir，乐观积极——贫穷卑微却爱自己的家庭，总是给予他人微笑和鼓励。

优秀，敏感，聪慧，Hassan集万千优点于一身，却是卑微血统的仆人之子。

Notes

斗风筝大赛开始了，但此时的Amir感受到的更多的是压力而不是乐趣，他太希望得第一了，害怕自己不能胜利而有了放弃的念头。但Hassan的鼓励让Amir重燃斗志。战场上的Amir以一敌十，在坚强的意志引导下，Amir获胜了，这一胜利来之不易，Amir稚嫩的手上被风筝线多次划破遍是伤痕。当一切结束，兴高采烈的Hassan马上跑去追风筝，他要追到那最后一个掉落的风筝，他要为小主人Amir追得最后的荣誉。

But he was doing something now, motioning with his hands in an urgent way. Then I understood. “Hassan, we--”

“I know,” he said, breaking our embrace. “'Inshallah', we'll celebrate later. Right now, I'm going to run that blue kite for you,” he said. He dropped the spool and took off running, the hem of his green chapan dragging in the snow behind him.

“Hassan!”I called. “Come back with it!”

He was already turning the street corner, his rubber boots kicking up snow. He stopped, turned. He cupped his hands around his mouth.“For you a thousand times over!”he said. Then he smiled his Hassan smile and disappeared around the corner.

Hassan追到了风筝，却也因为这个风筝受尽了折磨，之前被他用弹弓威胁过的Assef将他围追堵截，实施了难以言状的暴力和虐待。Amir在不远方，恐惧地看着这一切，却在Hassan宁可接受一切暴行也要为他守护风筝的情形下，没能为伙伴挺身而出，懦弱自私地转身离去。