今天阅读到皮诺丘影片段落时，内心猛揪了一下。这故事是这样的。当年，Mariam 还是个孩子时，她曾天真的以为自己就像其他正室孩子一样，也可以得到父亲平等的关爱，没想到并不是的，父亲 Jalil 不仅不让 Mariam 和其他孩子去看皮诺丘影片，这件事还间接导致 Mariam 丧母以及她的草率被嫁。
然而十几年后，历经战火 Jalil 反思自己，将这支皮诺丘影片留给 Mariam，作为道歉，只是 Mariam 已经无缘看见。而实质接收到 Mariam 遗产的 Laila，也不明白这段曲折，只是草草播放过这部影片，而让这段故事就这样消散在风中。
阅读至此，令人唏嘘无限。让我担忧，人死了，是不是就像这样，不存在了，而且了无意义了？
不过随后我又看到了希望。随着故事的开展，作者透过 Laila 告诉我们，人是会死，他的很多故事都不可避免的被忽视和遗忘，但作为生者，我们还是可以尽可能记住死者带给我们的启示，并发扬光大。
故事终章的最后一句，作者说 Laila 怀上了孩子，还决定将这个孩子以 Mariam 命名。看到这，我泛起一丝微笑。不要因为悲伤、因为缺憾，就压倒了善念。世界缺憾累累，即便 Laila 不能真的理解 Mariam 的一生，那又怎样？ Laila 还不是带着她所认识的 Mariam，用力的活着呢！
以下来看看《灿烂千阳》第47章至全书完摘要。
摘要
Chapter 47 begins with Mariam’s life in a decaying cell. In the low place, she finds her glory. She is honored by her inmates for her brave deed of defending against brutal husband. And when she steps on the execution place, and goes down on her knees before a crowd of people at the stadium, she maintains her composure. Reassuring herself that she fulfills her mothering duties, Mariam finds death is the last step of being free from the world.
After Mariam’s death, the chapter 48 shifts to past tense and begins the fourth part of the novel. Happy life seems to come at the end: Laila marries Tariq and Aziza loves her biological father. The past still shadows. Tariq has headache and Zalmai mourns for his father while Aziza has nightmares. Laila has her problem as well. She dreams often of Mariam and wakes up feeling devastated.
The terror attacks happened at September 2001 plots the background of chapter 49. Laila understands the States announcements of war may bring changes to her homeland, but she had suffered too much in war so she can hardly bring herself to say a war, no matter how justified, is a good thing.
In chapter 50, Laila persuades the family to move back Kabul after Taliban forces have been driven out of the city. The trip is meant to face the past. Laila decides to visit Mariam’s kolba in Herat before Kabul. There, Laila feels Mariam's presence. And she is also given a box Jalil left to Mairam. Inside it are Pinocchio tape, an apology letter and some money. Too late though. Laila is overwhelmed by the decades of history between the father and the daughter.
Chapter 51 concludes the novel with hope. People are playing music and planting trees. The orphanage Aziza once has been becomes a school and Laila is one of the teachers. She had been overcame by her missing for Mariam but now she feels her everywhere. Moreover, Laila is pregnant again and she decides to name her baby after Mariam if it is a girl.
学点英文
1
When she steps on the execution place, and goes down on her knees before a crowd of people at the stadium, she maintains her composure.
我本来以为「跪下」有knee down这个说法的 (中文直翻有没有?)，但一查才知道 knee down 是机车甩尾压地的专门说法，例如：
How to Get Your Knee Down: Motorcycle Body Position Guide
正确的「跪下」说法，应该是 get/go down on sb knees
2
The past still shadows.
写这句时，我几经犹豫。我首先考虑用 overshadow 这个字。这个字可以表示「蒙上阴影」，如：
Karen has always felt overshadowed by her famous elder sister.
但我想要表达更正面的意思，我想要表达 Laila 现在的幸福生活，还需要克服许多过去遗留的问题。这实我发现，shadow 可能是更好的用法。
shadow 可以表示「尾随；跟踪」，如：
The police think that the robbers shadowed their victims for days before the crime.
或是在经济报导里，如果想表示「欧元紧跟在美元之后」，也可以说：
The euro has closely shadowed the dollar.
此外，我也在纽约时报以及 ESPN 的新闻标题里看到这个用法，所以我决定采用：
THE PAST STILL SHADOWS MARRIAGES IN INDIA
Fleury's past still shadows him closely
不过，将 shadow 作名词使用也十分常见，如经济学人就写过这标题：
Shadows from the past
3
She dreams often of Mariam and wakes up feeling devastated.
devastated 是个很好的字，可以形容极度震惊、极为烦乱，例如丧夫这样的事情：
She was utterly devastated when her husband died. 丈夫死时她整个人都垮掉了。
4
she had suffered too much in war so she can hardly bring herself to say a war, no matter how justified, is a good thing.
justified 意为「有正当理由的」，例如：
Is war justified for any reasons?
我想，也可以换成 justifiable，意为「无可非议的，有充分理由的」，例如：
When is War Justifiable?
但无论如何，用到 justify 这个词，就是要表示一种「正当、合理」的感觉，所以要描写争议性话题，这是个好用的词。此外，如果我们要说某事「不无道理」，也可以用这个字，例如：
It can be said, with some justification, that she is one of the greatest actresses on the English stage today. 说她是当今英语戏剧界最杰出的女演员之一实在不无道理。
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