March 1981

A young woman sat across from us. She was dressed in an olive green dress with a black shawl wrapped tightly around her face against the night chill. She burst into prayer every time the truck jerked or stumbled into a pothole, her “Bismillah!” peaking with each of the truck’s shudders and jolts. Her husband, a burly man in baggy pants and sky blue turban, cradled an infant in one arm and thumbed prayer beads with his free hand. His lips moved in silent prayer. There were others, in all about a dozen, including Baba and me, sitting with our suitcases between our legs, cramped with these strangers in the tarpaulin-covered cab of an old Russian truck. 

pothole noun： a hole in a road surface thatresults from gradual damagecaused by traffic and/orweather

（路面因行车或天气而形成的）凹坑，坑洼

The car's suspension is so good that when you hit a pothole you hardly notice it.这部车的悬架减震性很好，碰到路面的坑洼几乎察觉不到。

shudder noun： the act of shuddering

发抖，战栗

He gave a slight shudder as he considered how close he had come to death.想到自己曾与死神那么接近，他禁不住微微发抖。

jolt noun： a sudden violent movement

震动，剧烈晃动；颠簸

As the plane touched the ground, there was a massive jolt and we were thrown forwards.飞机着陆时剧烈震动，我们被猛地甩向前方。

burly adjective： A burly man is large and strong.

高大结实的，魁梧的

a burly policeman魁梧的警察

My innards had been roiling since we’d left Kabul just after two in the morning. Baba never said so, but I knew he saw my car sickness as yet another of my array of weakness—I saw it on his embarrassed face the couple of times my stomach had clenched so badly I had moaned. When the burly guy with the beads—the praying woman’s husband—asked if I was going to get sick, I said I might. Baba looked away. The man lifted his corner of the tarpaulin cover and rapped on the driver’s window, asked him to stop. But the driver, Karim, a scrawny dark-skinned man with hawk-boned features and a pencil-thin mustache, shook his head. 

clench verb： to close or hold something very tightly, often in adetermined or angry way

（常指坚决或生气地）捏紧，握紧，咬紧

The old man clenched his fist and waved it angrily at us.那老头紧握着拳头，气哼哼地向我们挥舞着。

tarpaulin noun： (a large piece of) heavywaterproof cloth used as acovering

柏油帆布，（防水）油布；篷帆布

scrawny adjective： unpleasantly thin, often withbones showing

瘦骨嶙峋的，皮包骨头的

He came home after three months at college looking terribly scrawny.他在大学里呆了3个月后回到家里，样子瘦得可怕。

“We are too close to Kabul,” he shot back. “Tell him to have a strong stomach.” 

Baba grumbled something under his breath. I wanted to tell him I was sorry, but suddenly I was salivating, the back of my throat tasting bile. I turned around, lifted the tarpaulin, and threw up over the side of the moving truck. Behind me, Baba was apologizing to the other passengers. As if car sickness was a crime.  As if you weren’t supposed to get sick when you were eighteen. I threw up two more times before Karim agreed to stop, mostly so I wouldn’t stink up his vehicle, the instrument of his livelihood. Karim was a people smuggler—it was a pretty lucrative business then, driving people out of Shorawi-occupied Kabul to the relative safety of Pakistan. He was taking us to Jalalabad, about 170 kilometers southeast of Kabul, where his brother, Toor, who had a bigger truck with a second convoy of refugees, was waiting to drive us across the Khyber Pass and into Peshawar.

grumble verb： to complain about someone or something in an annoyed way

发牢骚；抱怨；嘟囔

She spent the evening grumbling to me about her job.她一晚上都在向我抱怨她的工作。

bile noun： the bitter, yellow liquidproduced by the liver thathelps to digest fat

胆汁

Meat-eaters have to produce extensive bile acids in their intestines to properly digest the meat that they eat.食肉者的肠道内必须分泌大量的胆汁酸来彻底消化所吃的肉。

convoy noun：  a group of vehicles orships that travel together,especially for protection

（尤指护卫）舰队，车队

A convoy of trucks containing supplies was sent to the famine area.一支满载补给品的车队被派往饥荒严重的地区。

We were a few kilometers west of Mahipar Falls when Karim pulled to the side of the road. Mahipar—which means “Flying Fish”—was a high summit with a precipitous drop overlooking the hydro plant the Germans had built for Afghanistan back in 1967. Baba and I had driven over the summit countless times on our way to Jalalabad, the city of cypress trees and sugarcane fields where Afghans vacationed in the winter.

precipitous adjective： If a slope is precipitous, it is very steep.

陡峭的，陡峻的

a precipitous mountain path陡峭的山路

cypress noun： a type of conifer (= tree that never loses its leaves)

柏树；柏属植物

I hopped down the back of the truck and lurched to the dusty embankment on the side of the road. My mouth filled with saliva, a sign of the retching that was yet to come. I stumbled to the edge of the cliff overlooking the deep valley that was shrouded in darkness. I stooped, hands on my kneecaps, and waited for the bile. Somewhere, a branch snapped, an owl hooted. The wind, soft and cold, clicked through tree branches and stirred the bushes that sprinkled the slope. And from below, the faint sound of water tumbling through the valley.

lurch verb：  to act or continue in away that is uncontrolled and not regular, often with suddenchanges

蹒跚，踉跄，磕磕绊绊

We seem to lurch from crisis to crisis.我们似乎总是跌跌撞撞，危机不断。

embankment noun： an artificial slope made ofearth and/or stones

堤，堤岸，堤围；（路）堤

a river/road/railway embankment河堤／路堤／铁路路堤

retch verb： to react in a way as if you arevomiting

干呕；恶心

The sight of blood makes him retch.一见到血他就会恶心。

stumble verb：  to step awkwardlywhile walking or running andfall or begin to fall

绊脚；绊倒

Running along the beach, she stumbled on a log and fell on the sand.她沿着海滩跑步时绊到一块木头上摔倒了。

shroud verb： to hide something by coveringor surrounding it

遮蔽；覆盖；隐藏

Visitors have complained about the scaffolding that shrouds half the castle.游客们抱怨脚手架遮蔽了半个城堡。

kneecap noun： the bone at the front of the knee joint

髌，膝盖骨

sprinkle verb： to drop a few pieces or drops of something over asurface

洒；撒

Sprinkle a few herbs on the pizza./Sprinkle the pizza with a few herbs.在比萨饼上撒些香料调味。

Standing on the shoulder of the road, I thought of the way we’d left the house where I’d lived my entire life, as if we were going out for a bite: dishes smeared with kofta piled in the kitchen sink; laundry in the wicker basket in the foyer; beds unmade; Baba’s business suits hanging in the closet. Tapestries still hung on the walls of the living room and my mother’s books still crowded the shelves in Baba’s study. The signs of our elopement were subtle: My parents’ wedding picture was gone, as was the grainy photograph of my grandfather and King Nader Shah standing over the dead deer. A few items of clothing were missing from the closets. The leather-bound notebook Rahim Khan had given me five years earlier was gone.

going out for a bite出去找点吃的

elope verb： to leave home secretly inorder to get married without the permission of yourparents:私奔

grainy adjective： If photographs are grainy, they are not clear because the many black and white or coloured dots that make up the image can be seen.

（照片）有颗粒的，粒状的

In the morning, Jalaluddin—our seventh servant in five years—would probably think we’d gone out for a stroll or a drive. We hadn’t told him. You couldn’t trust anyone in Kabul anymore—for a fee or under threat, people told on each other, neighbor on neighbor, child on parent, brother on brother, servant on master, friend on friend. I thought of the singer Ahmad Zahir, who had played the accordion at my thirteenth birthday. He had gone for a drive with some friends, and someone had later found his body on the side of the road, a bullet in the back of his head. The rafiqs, the comrades, were everywhere and they’d split Kabul into two groups: those who eavesdropped and those who didn’t. The tricky part was that no one knew who belonged to which. A casual remark to the tailor while getting fitted for a suit might land you in the dungeons of Poleh-charkhi. Complain about the curfew to the butcher and next thing you knew, you were behind bars staring at the muzzle end of a Kalashnikov. Even at the dinner table, in the privacy of their home, people had to speak in a calculated manner—the rafiqs were in the classrooms too; they’d taught children to spy on their parents, what to listen for, whom to tell.

comrade noun：a member of the samepolitical group, especially acommunist or socialist groupor a trade union

（尤指共产主义、社会主义组织或工会的）同志，同人

I know my opinion is shared by many of my comrades in the Labour movement.我知道许多参加劳工运动的同志都和我有相同的观点。

dungeon noun： an underground prison,especially in a castle

（尤指城堡中的）地牢

curfew noun： a rule that everyone must stayat home between particulartimes, usually at night,especially during a war or aperiod of political trouble

（尤指战争或政治动荡时期实行的）宵禁，戒严

to impose/lift a curfew实行／取消戒严

muzzle noun： the end of a gun barrel, where the bullets come out

枪口；炮口

What was I doing on this road in the middle of the night? I should have been in bed, under my blanket, a book with dog-eared pages at my side. This had to be a dream. Had to be. Tomorrow morning, I’d wake up, peek out the window: No grim-faced Russian soldiers patrolling the sidewalks, no tanks rolling up and down the streets of my city, their turrets swiveling like accusing fingers, no rubble, no curfews, no Russian Army Personnel Carriers weaving through the bazaars. Then, behind me, I heard Baba and Karim discussing the arrangement in Jalalabad over a smoke. Karim was reassuring Baba that his brother had a big truck of “excellent and first-class quality,” and that the trek to Peshawar would be very routine. “He could take you there with his eyes closed,” Karim said. I overheard him telling Baba how he and his brother knew the Russian and Afghan soldiers who worked the checkpoints, how they had set up a “mutually profitable” arrangement. This was no dream. As if on cue, a MiG suddenly screamed past overhead. Karim tossed his cigarette and produced a handgun from his waist. Pointing it to the sky and making shooting gestures, he spat and cursed at the MiG.

swivel verb： to (cause to) turn around acentral point in order to face in another direction

（使）转动，使）旋转

She swivelled round to look out of the window.她转过身看着窗外。

routine adjective： done as part of what usuallyhappens, and not for anyspecial reason

常规的

a routine inspection/medical check-up常规任务／检查／体检

handgun noun： a gun that can be held in onehand and does not need to besupported against theshoulder when you shoot with it

手枪

I wondered where Hassan was. Then the inevitable. I vomited on a tangle of weeds, my retching and groaning drowned in the deafening roar of the MiG.

groan verb：  to make a deep, longsound showing great pain or unhappiness

（表示痛苦的）呻吟声；（表示不高兴的）哼哼声，叹息声

He collapsed, groaning with pain.他痛苦地呻吟着倒了下去

. . .

We pulled up to the checkpoint at Mahipar twenty minutes later. Our driver let the truck idle and hopped down to greet the approaching voices. Feet crushed gravel. Words were exchanged, brief and hushed. A flick of a lighter. “Spasseba.”

Another flick of the lighter. Someone laughed, a shrill cackling sound that made me jump. Baba’s hand clamped down on my thigh. The laughing man broke into song, a slurring, off-key rendition of an old Afghan wedding song, delivered with a thick Russian accent: Ahesta boro, Mah-e-man, ahesta boro. Go slowly, my lovely moon, go slowly.

cackle verb：  to laugh in a loud, high voice

嘎嘎大笑

A group of women were cackling in a corner.一群妇女在角落里嘎嘎地笑。

clamp verb： to fasten two things together, using a clamp

（用夹具）夹紧，夹住

Clamp the two pieces of wood(together) for 15 minutes.把两块木片夹紧，夹15分钟。

slur verb： to pronounce the sounds of a word in a way that is wrong or not clear

含糊地说，口齿不清地说

Her speech was slurred but she still denied she was drunk.她口齿都不清楚了，但还不承认自己喝醉了。

Boot heels clicked on asphalt. Someone flung open the tarpaulin hanging over the back of the truck, and three faces peered in. One was Karim, the other two were soldiers, one Afghan, the other a grinning Russian, face like a bulldog’s, cigarette dangling from the side of his mouth. Behind them, a bone-colored moon hung in the sky. Karim and the Afghan soldier had a brief exchange in Pashtu. I caught a little of it—something about Toor and his bad luck. The Russian soldier thrust his face into the rear of the truck. He was humming the wedding song and drumming his finger on the edge of the tailgate. Even in the dim light of the moon, I saw the glazed look in his eyes as they skipped from passenger to passenger. Despite the cold, sweat streamed from his brow. His eyes settled on the young woman wearing the black shawl. He spoke in Russian to Karim without taking his eyes off her. Karim gave a curt reply in Russian, which the soldier returned with an even curter retort. The Afghan soldier said something too, in a low, reasoning voice. But the Russian soldier shouted something that made the other two flinch. I could feel Baba tightening up next to me. Karim cleared his throat, dropped his head. Said the soldier wanted a half hour with the lady in the back of the truck.

bulldog noun： a small dog that can befrightening and has a strongbody, short legs, and a large, square-shaped face

斗牛犬，牛头犬

thrust verb： to push suddenly and strongly

推挤；刺；戳；插入

She thrust the money into his hand.她把钱塞进他手中。

tailgate noun：  the door or boardat the back of a vehicle that can be brought down to put ingoods

（卡车等的）后拦板，后挡板

glaze verb：If your eyes glaze or glaze over, they stay still and stop showing any emotion because you are bored or tired or have stopped listening.

（眼神）变呆滞，发呆

Among the audience, eyes glazed over and a few heads started to nod.听众目光变得呆滞无神，少数人则开始打盹。

brow noun： the forehead (= part of the face above the eyes)

额头

She wrinkled her brow as she thought.她思考时皱起眉头。

retort noun： a quick answer that is angry orfunny

（愤怒或风趣的）反驳，回嘴

"I'm going to tell him," said Max. "Just you try!" came the retort.“我要去告诉他，”马克斯说。“你倒试试！”有人回嘴道。

The young woman pulled the shawl down over her face. Burst into tears. The toddler sitting in her husband’s lap started crying too. The husband’s face had become as pale as the moon hovering above. He told Karim to ask “Mister Soldier Sahib” to show a little mercy, maybe he had a sister or a mother, maybe he had a wife too. The Russian listened to Karim and barked a series of words.

hover verb：  to stay in oneplace in the air, usually bymoving the wings quickly

盘旋；翱翔；悬停

A hawk hovered in the sky, waiting to swoop down on its prey.一只老鹰在天空中盘旋，要伺机俯冲捕捉猎物。

“It’s his price for letting us pass,” Karim said. He couldn’t bring himself to look the husband in the eye.

“But we’ve paid a fair price already. He’s getting paid good money,” the husband said.

Karim and the Russian soldier spoke. “He says . . . he says every price has a tax.”

That was when Baba stood up. It was my turn to clamp a hand on his thigh, but Baba pried it loose, snatched his leg away. When he stood, he eclipsed the moonlight. “I want you to ask this man something,” Baba said. He said it to Karim, but looked directly at the Russian officer. “Ask him where his shame is.”

pry verb：  to move or liftsomething by pressing a toolagainst a fixed point

撬开，撬起[ + adj ] 

The car trunk had been pried open and all her equipment was gone.汽车的行李箱被撬开了，她所有的装备都不见了。

snatch verb： to take hold of somethingsuddenly and roughly

夺走，抢走

He snatched the photos out of my hand before I had a chance to look at them.我还没来得及看，他就一把抢走了我手里的照片。

They spoke. “He says this is war. There is no shame in war.”

“Tell him he’s wrong. War doesn’t negate decency. It demands it, even more than in times of peace.”

Do you have to always be the hero? I thought, my heart fluttering. Can’t you just let it go for once? But I knew he couldn’t—it wasn’t in his nature. The problem was, his nature was going to get us all killed.

The Russian soldier said something to Karim, a smile creasing his lips. “Agha sahib,” Karim said, “these Roussi are not like us. They understand nothing about respect, honor.”

“What did he say?”

flutter verb： If your heart or stomach flutters, you feel slightly uncomfortable because you are excited or nervous.

（心）怦怦乱跳；（胃）颤动

Every time I think about my exams my stomach flutters!每次一想到考试，我心里就不舒服！

crease verb： If cloth, paper, etc. creases, or if you crease it, it gets a line in it where it has been folded or crushed.

压皱；（使）起褶皱

The seat belt has creased my blouse.安全带把我的衬衫弄皱了。

“He says he’ll enjoy putting a bullet in you almost as much as . . .” Karim trailed off, but nodded his head toward the young woman who had caught the guard’s eye. The soldier flicked his unfinished cigarette and unholstered his handgun. So this is where Baba dies, I thought. This is how it’s going to happen. In my head, I said a prayer I had learned in school.

“Tell him I’ll take a thousand of his bullets before I let this indecency take place,” Baba said. My mind flashed to that winter day six years ago. Me, peering around the corner in the alley. Kamal and Wali holding Hassan down. Assef’s buttock muscles clenching and unclenching, his hips thrusting back and forth. Some hero I had been, fretting about the kite. Sometimes, I too wondered if I was really Baba’s son.

trail away/off： When a person's voice or a similar sound trails away/off, it becomes quieter and less confident and then stops completely.

（说话声或类似声响）逐渐减弱到停止，逐渐消失

His voice trailed off as he saw the look on her face.当他看到她脸上的表情时，他的说话声越来越小，最后听不见了。

holster noun： a small case usually made ofleather and fixed on a belt or astrap, used for carrying a gun

手枪皮套

unholster应该就是从皮套中取出手枪

muscle noun： one of many tissuesin the body that can tightenand relax to producemovement

肌肉

neck/back/leg/stomach muscles颈／背／腿／胃部肌肉

fret verb： to be nervous or worried

烦躁不安，苦恼，发愁

Don't fret - I'm sure he's OK.别发愁——他肯定没事。

The bulldog-faced Russian raised his gun.

“Baba, sit down please,” I said, tugging at his sleeve. “I think he really means to shoot you.”

tug verb: to pull something quickly and usually with a lot of force

（用力）拉，拖，拽

Tom tugged at his mother's arm.汤姆拽着妈妈的胳膊。

Baba slapped my hand away. “Haven’t I taught you anything?” he snapped. He turned to the grinning soldier. “Tell him he’d better kill me good with that first shot. Because if I don’t go down, I’m tearing him to pieces, goddamn his father!”

The Russian soldier’s grin never faltered when he heard the translation. He clicked the safety on the gun. Pointed the barrel to Baba’s chest. Heart pounding in my throat, I buried my face in my hands.

The gun roared.

It’s done, then. I’m eighteen and alone. I have no one left in the world. Baba’s dead and now I have to bury him. Where do I bury him? Where do I go after that?

But the whirlwind of half thoughts spinning in my head came to a halt when I cracked my eyelids, found Baba still standing. I saw a second Russian officer with the others. It was from the muzzle of his upturned gun that smoke swirled. The soldier who had meant to shoot Baba had already holstered his weapon. He was shuffling his feet. I had never felt more like crying and laughing at the same time.

crack verb: to hitsomething or someone

碰，撞，击

I cracked my head on/against the door.我的头撞在门上。

The second Russian officer, gray-haired and heavyset, spoke to us in broken Farsi. He apologized for his comrade’s behavior. “Russia sends them here to fight,” he said. “But they are just boys, and when they come here, they find the pleasure of drug.” He gave the younger officer the rueful look of a father exasperated with his misbehaving son. “This one is attached to drug now. I try to stop him . . .” He waved us off.

Moments later, we were pulling away. I heard a laugh and then the first soldier’s voice, slurry and off-key, singing the old wedding song.

rueful adjective: feeling sorry and wishing that something had not happened

懊悔的；后悔的；悔恨的

He turned away with a rueful laugh.他懊悔地苦笑着把脸转向一旁。

exasperated adjective: annoyed, especially because you can do nothing to solve aproblem

被激怒的；恼怒的；极厌烦的

He's becoming increasingly exasperated with the situation.面对这种情形，他越来越恼火。

slur noun:  a way of pronouncing thesounds of a word that isunclear, uncontrolled, orwrong

含糊发音，不清楚地发音

The drug affected her vision and made her speak with a slur.药物影响了她的视力，使她的口齿也不清楚了。

We rode in silence for about fifteen minutes before the young woman’s husband suddenly stood and did something I’d seen many others do before him: He kissed Baba’s hand.

Toor’s bad luck. Hadn’t I overheard that in a snippet of conversation back at Mahipar?

We rolled into Jalalabad about an hour before sunrise. Karim ushered us quickly from the truck into a one-story house at the intersection of two dirt roads lined with flat one-story homes, acacia trees, and closed shops. I pulled the collar of my coat against the chill as we hurried into the house, dragging our belongings. For some reason, I remember smelling radishes.

Once he had us inside the dimly lit, bare living room, Karim locked the front door, pulled the tattered sheets that passed for curtains. Then he took a deep breath and gave us the bad news: His brother Toor couldn’t take us to Peshawar. It seemed his truck’s engine had blown the week before and Toor was still waiting for parts.

snippet noun: a small and often interestingpiece of news, information, orconversation

一条，一则（新闻、消息或谈话）

I heard an interesting snippet on the radio this morning.今天早上我从广播里听到了一则有趣的新闻。

acacia noun: a tree from warm parts of theworld that has small leavesand yellow or white flowers

金合欢树

radish noun: a small vegetable, usually redor white and round or shapedlike a finger, that growsunderground and is usuallyeaten uncooked in salads

（通常指红色或白色，圆形或手指形的）小萝卜

tattered adjective: (especially of cloth or paper)badly torn

破碎的；破烂的（特别是衣服或纸张）

The flag was tattered and threadbare.这面旗烂而陈旧。

“Last week?” someone exclaimed. “If you knew this, why did you bring us here?”

I caught a flurry of movement out of the corner of my eye. Then a blur of something zipping across the room, and the next thing I saw was Karim slammed against the wall, his sandaled feet dangling two feet above the floor. Wrapped around his neck were Baba’s hands.

sandal noun: a light shoe that is fastened onto your foot by bands of leather or cloth, and is worn in warm weather

“I’ll tell you why,” Baba snapped. “Because he got paid for his leg of the trip. That’s all he cared about.” Karim was making guttural choking sounds. Spittle dripped from the corner of his mouth.

guttural adjective: (of speech sounds) producedat the back of the throat andtherefore deep

（话音）喉咙里发出的，粗嘎的

Two Egyptians were arguing outside the room, their voices loud and guttural.两个埃及人正在屋外扯着嗓门粗声粗气地争吵。

spit verb: to force out thecontents of the mouth,especially saliva

唾，吐（尤指唾液）

Bob Ewell spat contemptuously right in the lawyer's face.鲍勃‧尤厄尔轻蔑地朝律师脸上吐了口唾沫。

“Put him down, Agha, you’re killing him,” one of the passengers said.

“It’s what I intend to do,” Baba said. What none of the others in the room knew was that Baba wasn’t joking. Karim was turning red and kicking his legs. Baba kept choking him until the young mother, the one the Russian officer had fancied, begged him to stop.

Karim collapsed on the floor and rolled around fighting for air when Baba finally let go. The room fell silent. Less than two hours ago, Baba had volunteered to take a bullet for the honor of a woman he didn’t even know. Now he’d almost choked a man to death, would have done it cheerfully if not for the pleas of that same woman.

Something thumped next door. No, not next door, below. “What’s that?” someone asked.

“The others,” Karim panted between labored breaths. “In the basement.”

“How long have they been waiting?” Baba said, standing over Karim.

“Two weeks.”

“I thought you said the truck broke down last week.”

Karim rubbed his throat. “It might have been the week before,” he croaked.

croak verb: If you croak, you speak with arough voice because you have a sore or dry throat.

（因喉咙疼或干哑而）发出沙哑的声音，用沙哑的声音说出

“How long?”

“What?”

“How long for the parts?” Baba roared. Karim flinched but said nothing. I was glad for the darkness. I didn’t want to see the murderous look on Baba’s face.

The stench of something dank, like mildew, bludgeoned my nostrils the moment Karim opened the door that led down the creaky steps to the basement. We descended in single file. The steps groaned under Baba’s weight. Standing in the cold basement, I felt watched by eyes blinking in the dark. I saw shapes huddled around the room, their silhouettes thrown on the walls by the dim light of a pair of kerosene lamps. A low murmur buzzed through the basement, beneath it the sound of water drops trickling somewhere, and, something else, a scratching sound.

stench noun: a strong,unpleasant smell

恶臭，臭气

the stench of rotting fish/burningrubber/cigarette smoke烂鱼的腥臭味／燃烧的橡胶的刺鼻气味／难闻的烟味

dank adjective: (especially of buildings andair) wet, cold, and unpleasant

（尤指建筑物或空气）阴冷潮湿的，湿冷的

a dank, dark cellar阴暗湿冷的地窖

mildew noun: a black, green, or whitish areacaused by a fungus that growson things such as plants,paper, cloth, or buildings, usually if the conditions arewarm and wet

霉；霉菌

There are patches of mildew on the walls.墙上出现了一块块的霉斑。

bludgeon verb: to hit someone hard andrepeatedly with a heavyweapon

连续重击

The two boys had been mercilessly bludgeoned to death.那两个男孩被残忍地重击致死。

Baba sighed behind me and dropped the bags.

Karim told us it should be a matter of a couple of short days before the truck was fixed. Then we’d be on our way to Peshawar. On to freedom. On to safety.

The basement was our home for the next week and, by the third night, I discovered the source of the scratching sounds. Rats.

. . .

Once my eyes adjusted to the dark, I counted about thirty refugees in that basement. We sat shoulder to shoulder along the walls, ate crackers, bread with dates, apples. That first night, all the men prayed together. One of the refugees asked Baba why he wasn’t joining them. “God is going to save us all. Why don’t you pray to him?”

Baba snorted a pinch of his snuff. Stretched his legs. “What’ll save us is eight cylinders and a good carburetor.” That silenced the rest of them for good about the matter of God.

crackers noun: 咸饼干；饼乾；薄饼干

snort verb:  to take an illegal drug bybreathing it in through thenose

snuff noun: tobacco in the form of apowder for breathing into thenose

鼻烟

Very few people take snuff nowadays.现在很少有人吸鼻烟了。

carburettor noun: the part of an engine thatmixes fuel and air, producingthe gas that is burned toprovide the power needed tooperate the vehicle ormachine

汽化器，化油器（汽车发动机部件）

It was later that first night when I discovered that two of the people hiding with us were Kamal and his father. That was shocking enough, seeing Kamal sitting in the basement just a few feet away from me. But when he and his father came over to our side of the room and I saw Kamal’s face, really saw it ...

He had withered—there was simply no other word for it. His eyes gave me a hollow look and no recognition at all registered in them. His shoulders hunched and his cheeks sagged like they were too tired to cling to the bone beneath. His father, who’d owned a movie theater in Kabul, was telling Baba how, three months before, a stray bullet had struck his wife in the temple and killed her. Then he told Baba about Kamal. I caught only snippets of it: Should have never let him go alone . . . always so handsome, you know ...four of them . . . tried to fight ...God ... took him . . . bleeding down there . . . his pants . . . doesn’t talk anymore . . . just stares . . .

wither verb:  (to cause) to becomeweak and dry and decay

（使）枯萎，（使）干枯

Grass had withered in the fields.田里的草都枯萎了

hunch verb: to lean forward with yourshoulders raised or to bendyour back and shoulders into arounded shape

弓（背），弯腰

We hunched round the fire to keep warm.我们弓着身子围在火边取暖。

sag verb: to drop down to a lower levelin the middle

（中部）下垂，下陷

The shelf sagged under the weight of the heavy books.搁板被沉重的书压弯了。

stray adjective: Stray things have moved apart from similar things and are not in their expected or intended place.

零星的，零落的

There are still a few stray spots of paint on the window pane.窗玻璃上还有零星的几个油漆点儿。

There would be no truck, Karim told us after we’d spent a week in the rat-infested basement. The truck was beyond repair.

“There is another option,” Karim said, his voice rising amid the groans. His cousin owned a fuel truck and had smuggled people with it a couple of times. He was here in Jalalabad and could probably fit us all.

Everyone except an elderly couple decided to go.

We left that night, Baba and I, Kamal and his father, the others. Karim and his cousin, a square-faced balding man named Aziz, helped us get into the fuel tank. One by one, we mounted the idling truck’s rear deck, climbed the rear access ladder, and slid down into the tank. I remember Baba climbed halfway up the ladder, hopped back down and fished the snuffbox from his pocket. He emptied the box and picked up a handful of dirt from the middle of the unpaved road. He kissed the dirt. Poured it into the box. Stowed the box in his breast pocket, next to his heart.

deck noun:a flat area for walking on,built across the spacebetween the sides of a boat

甲板，舱面；（公共汽车的）地板；（船或公共汽车的）一层，层面

We sat on deck until it was dark.我们在甲板上一直坐到天黑。

snuffbox noun:

a small container for snuff

stow verb: to store something

储存，储藏

There's a big cupboard under the stairs for stowing toys.楼梯下有一个很大的壁橱用于储藏玩具。

Panic.

You open your mouth. Open it so wide your jaws creak. You order your lungs to draw air, NOW, you need air, need it NOW. But your airways ignore you. They collapse, tighten, squeeze, and suddenly you’re breathing through a drinking straw. Your mouth closes and your lips purse and all you can manage is a strangled croak. Your hands wriggle and shake. Somewhere a dam has cracked open and a flood of cold sweat spills, drenches your body. You want to scream. You would if you could. But you have to breathe to scream.

Panic.

creak verb: When a door, floorboard, etc. creaks, it makes a long low sound when it moves or is moved.

（门、地板等）嘎吱作响

The door creaked on its hinges.门打开时合页处嘎吱作响。

draw verb:  to take air or smoke intoyour lungs

吸入（空气或烟雾）；吸气

She drew a deep breath and plunged into the water.她深吸一口气然后猛地跳入水中。

straw noun:  the dried, yellowstems of crops such as wheat, used as food for animals or as a layer on the ground foranimals to lie on, and for making traditional objects

禾秆；麦秆；稻草

a bale of straw一捆稻草

strangled adjective: A strangled sound is a weak, high, interrupted sound made by an extremely frightened or worried and nervous person.

（声音因极度害怕或紧张）哽咽的，顿住的

It came again, a strangled cry from the room next door.隔壁房间又传来一声哽咽的哭声。

wriggle verb:  to twist your body, ormove part of your body, withsmall, quick movements

扭动；蠕动

A large worm wriggled in the freshly dug earth.一条大虫子在新翻过的地里蠕动。

Baby Martha was wriggling her toes in the sand.

The basement had been dark. The fuel tank was pitch-black. I looked right, left, up, down, waved my hands before my eyes, didn’t see so much as a hint of movement. I blinked, blinked again. Nothing at all. The air wasn’t right, it was too thick, almost solid. Air wasn’t supposed to be solid. I wanted to reach out with my hands, crush the air into little pieces, stuff them down my windpipe. And the stench of gasoline. My eyes stung from the fumes, like someone had peeled my lids back and rubbed a lemon on them. My nose caught fire with each breath. You could die in a place like this, I thought. A scream was coming. Coming, coming . . .

pitch-dark adjective: extremely dark

漆黑的

a moonless, pitch-black night没有月亮的漆黑夜晚

And then a small miracle. Baba tugged at my sleeve and something glowed green in the dark. Light! Baba’s wristwatch. I kept my eyes glued to those fluorescent green hands. I was so afraid I’d lose them, I didn’t dare blink.

Slowly I became aware of my surroundings. I heard groans and muttered prayers. I heard a baby cry, its mother’s muted soothing. Someone retched. Someone else cursed the Shorawi. The truck bounced side to side, up and down. Heads banged against metal.

“Think of something good,” Baba said in my ear. “Something happy.”

Something good. Something happy. I let my mind wander. I let it come:

Friday afternoon in Paghman. An open field of grass speckled with mulberry trees in blossom. Hassan and I stand ankle-deep in untamed grass, I am tugging on the line, the spool spinning in Hassan’s calloused hands, our eyes turned up to the kite in the sky. Not a word passes between us, not because we have nothing to say, but because we don’t have to say anything—that’s how it is between people who are each other’s first memories, people who have fed from the same breast. A breeze stirs the grass and Hassan lets the spool roll. The kite spins, dips, steadies. Our twin shadows dance on the rippling grass. From somewhere over the low brick wall at the other end of the field, we hear chatter and laughter and the chirping of a water fountain. And music, something old and familiar, I think it’s Ya Mowlah on rubab strings. Someone calls our names over the wall, says it’s time for tea and cake.

speckled adjective: covered with speckles

布满斑点的；有色斑的

a bird with a speckled breast胸部有斑点的鸟

calloused adjective: If feet or hands are calloused, they are covered with hard areas of skin.

chirp verb: to say something with a high, happy voice

轻松愉快地说，快活地说

"Morning!" she chirped.“早上好！”她欢快的说道。

I didn’t remember what month that was, or what year even. I only knew the memory lived in me, a perfectly encapsulated morsel of a good past, a brushstroke of color on the gray, barren canvas that our lives had become.

The rest of that ride is scattered bits and pieces of memory that come and go, most of it sounds and smells: MiGs roaring past overhead; staccatos of gunfire; a donkey braying nearby; the jingling of bells and mewling of sheep; gravel crushed under the truck’s tires; a baby wailing in the dark; the stench of gasoline, vomit, and shit.

morsel noun: a very small piece or amount

一点点，点滴

a morsel of good news一点点好消息

staccato adjective, adverb: used to describe a noise or way of speaking that consists of a series of short andseparate sounds

（噪声或说话方式）断断续续的，不连贯的

She gave staccato replies to every question.她回答每个问题都是支支吾吾的。

bray verb: to make a loud, unpleasantnoise

（驴）叫；发出似驴叫的声音

The mules suddenly started braying.骡子突然叫了起来。

jingle verb: to make a repeated gentleringing sound, or to make things do this

（使）发出叮当声

She waited for him by the car, jingling the keys in her hand.她在汽车旁等他，将手中的钥匙弄得叮当作响。

gravel noun: small, rounded stones, oftenmixed with sand

沙砾，砾石

a gravel path石子路

What I remember next is the blinding light of early morning as I climbed out of the fuel tank. I remember turning my face up to the sky, squinting, breathing like the world was running out of air. I lay on the side of the dirt road next to a rocky trench, looked up to the gray morning sky, thankful for air, thankful for light, thankful to be alive.

squint verb: to partly close your eyes inorder to see more clearly

眯起眼看

The sun was shining straight in her eyes and made her squint.阳光刺眼，她不得不眯起了眼睛。

“We’re in Pakistan, Amir,” Baba said. He was standing over me. “Karim says he will call for a bus to take us to Peshawar.”

I rolled onto my chest, still lying on the cool dirt, and saw our suitcases on either side of Baba’s feet. Through the upside down V between his legs, I saw the truck idling on the side of the road, the other refugees climbing down the rear ladder. Beyond that, the dirt road unrolled through fields that were like leaden sheets under the gray sky and disappeared behind a line of bowl-shaped hills. Along the way, it passed a small village strung out atop a sun-baked slope.

leaden adjective: dark grey

深灰色的，灰蒙蒙的

leaden skies灰蒙蒙的天空

lead 铅

strung verb：past simple and past participle of string verb

弦；把…串在一起

My eyes returned to our suitcases. They made me sad for Baba. After everything he’d built, planned, fought for, fretted over, dreamed of, this was the summation of his life: one disappointing son and two suitcases.

summary noun（summation）：a short, clear descriptionthat gives the main facts orideas about something

总结，概要，摘要

At the end of the news, they often give you a summary of the main stories.在新闻结束的时候，他们常常会总结一下主要的新闻内容。

Someone was screaming. No, not screaming. Wailing. I saw the passengers huddled in a circle, heard their urgent voices. Someone said the word “fumes.” Someone else said it too. The wail turned into a throat-ripping screech.

Baba and I hurried to the pack of onlookers and pushed our way through them. Kamal’s father was sitting cross-legged in the center of the circle, rocking back and forth, kissing his son’s ashen face.

fumes noun: strong, unpleasant, and sometimes dangerous gas orsmoke

（浓重难闻，有时有害的）烟，烟雾，气

exhaust fumes尾气

screech verb: to make an unpleasant, loud, high noise

尖叫；发出刺耳声

She was screeching at him at the top of her voice.她冲他声嘶力竭地尖叫着。

ashen adjective: without colour, or pale grey incolour

灰色的；苍白的

Julie walked in, ashen-faced with shock.朱莉走了进来，惊魂未定，面如死灰。

“He won’t breathe! My boy won’t breathe!” he was crying. Kamal’s lifeless body lay on his father’s lap. His right hand, uncurled and limp, bounced to the rhythm of his father’s sobs. “My boy! He won’t breathe! Allah, help him breathe!”

Baba knelt beside him and curled an arm around his shoulder. But Kamal’s father shoved him away and lunged for Karim who was standing nearby with his cousin. What happened next was too fast and too short to be called a scuffle. Karim uttered a surprised cry and backpedaled. I saw an arm swing, a leg kick. A moment later, Kamal’s father was standing with Karim’s gun in his hand. “Don’t shoot me!” Karim cried.

But before any of us could say or do a thing, Kamal’s father shoved the barrel in his own mouth. I’ll never forget the echo of that blast. Or the flash of light and the spray of red. I doubled over again and dry-heaved on the side of the road.

scuffle noun:

a short and sudden fight,especially one involving a small number of people

（尤指少数人的）短暂扭打，小冲突

Two police officers were injured in scuffles with demonstrators at Sunday's protest.星期天的全国足球联赛上，在与球迷的冲突中两名警察受伤。

backpedal verb: to change an opinion that you had expressed before, or do something different from what you had said you would do

改变立场；出尔反尔；变卦

As soon as I said I thought she was wrong, she started backpedalling.我一说我觉得她错了，她就开始变卦。

heave verb:  to feel as if you are going to vomit

恶心，想吐

The smell of the fish made me/my stomach heave.鱼的味道让我一阵恶心。

heave有呕吐的意思，dry-heaved 应该为干掉之后的呕吐物

Summary

Clearly, This chapter indicates a turn in the story: they(Amir and his father) were no longer staying in Kabul. The routine was no that easy. And from this sentence(After everything he’d built, planned, fought for,fretted over, dreamed of, this was the summation of his life: one disappointing son and two suitcases.), readers can feel that how Amir was disappointing about himself and how his father sighed but inevitably accepted this fact. This chapter serves as the transition from Amir in different period, so to some degree it would be a little boring. But still, the author remained to  depict the figure of Amir meticulously, a sinful boy who hated to be weak but could not change it.