Something roared like thunder. The earth shook a little and we
heard the rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire. “Father!” Hassan cried. We
sprung to our feet and raced out of the living room. We found Ali
hobbling frantically across the foyer.
“Father! What’s that sound?” Hassan yelped, his hands out-
stretched toward Ali. Ali wrapped his arms around us. A white
light flashed, lit the sky in silver. It flashed again and was followed
by a rapid staccato of gunfire.
“They’re hunting ducks,” Ali said in a hoarse voice. “They hunt
ducks at night, you know. Don’t be afraid.”
A siren went off in the distance. Somewhere glass shattered
and someone shouted. I heard people on the street, jolted from
sleep and probably still in their pajamas, with ruffled hair and
puffy eyes. Hassan was crying. Ali pulled him close, clutched him
with tenderness. Later, I would tell myself I hadn’t felt envious of
Hassan. Not at all.
hobble verb : to walk in an awkward way, usually because the feet or legs areinjured
一瘸一拐地行走，跛行
The last time I saw Rachel she was hobbling around with a stick.上次我见到雷切尔的时候，她拄着拐杖一瘸一拐的。
staccato adjective, adverb ：used to describe a noise or way of speaking that consists of a series of shortand separate 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。
siren noun： a device for making a loud warning noise
警报器，汽笛
When the air raid siren went off people ran to their shelters.空袭警报响起时，人们纷纷跑向掩蔽所。
jolt verb： to (cause something or someone to) move suddenly andviolently
（使）震动，（使）猛然摇动
The train stopped unexpectedly and we were jolted forwards.火车突然停住了，我们都猛地向前晃了一下。
puffy adjective: If the skin around your eyes is puffy, it is slightly swollen.
（眼睛）肿胀的，肿大的
His eyes were still puffy with sleep.他的眼睛因为睡觉还是肿肿的。
Just before sunrise, Baba’s car peeled into the driveway. His
door slammed shut and his running footsteps pounded the stairs.
Then he appeared in the doorway and I saw something on his
face. Something I didn’t recognize right away because I’d never
seen it before: fear. “Amir! Hassan!” he exclaimed as he ran to us,
opening his arms wide. “They blocked all the roads and the tele-
phone didn’t work. I was so worried!”
We let him wrap us in his arms and, for a brief insane
moment, I was glad about whatever had happened that night.
Just before sunrise, Baba’s car peeled into the driveway.
peel 有剥皮，剥开的意思。在这句里，黑暗的夜里，爸爸的车（灯）像是把这片暗黑剥开一般，开进了（院子里）的车道。十分赞的表达。
insane adjective： mentally ill
疯癫的，精神失常的
For the last ten years of his life he was clinically insane.在生命的最后10年，他处于临床上的精神失常状态。
My smile broadened. That was another thing about Hassan.
He always knew when to say the right thing—the news on the
radio was getting pretty boring. Hassan went to his shack to get
ready and I ran upstairs to grab a book. Then I went to the
kitchen, stuffed my pockets with handfuls of pine nuts, and ran
outside to find Hassan waiting for me. We burst through the front
gates and headed for the hill.
We crossed the residential street and were trekking through a
barren patch of rough land that led to the hill when, suddenly, a
rock struck Hassan in the back. We whirled around and my heart
dropped. Assef and two of his friends, Wali and Kamal, were
approaching us.
shack noun： a very simple and smallbuilding made from pieces ofwood, metal, or other materials
简陋小屋，棚屋
whirl verb: to (cause something to) turnaround in circles
（使…）旋转；（使…）回旋转
She saw a mass of bodies whirling around on the dance floor.她看到一大群人的身影在舞池里旋转。
Assef was the son of one of my father’s friends, Mahmood, an
airline pilot. His family lived a few streets south of our home, in a
posh, high-walled compound with palm trees. If you were a kid
living in the Wazir Akbar Khan section of Kabul, you knew about
Assef and his famous stainless-steel brass knuckles, hopefully not
through personal experience. Born to a German mother and
Afghan father, the blond, blue-eyed Assef towered over the other
kids. His well-earned reputation for savagery preceded him on the
streets. Flanked by his obeying friends, he walked the neighbor-
hood like a Khan strolling through his land with his eager-to-
please entourage. His word was law, and if you needed a little
legal education, then those brass knuckles were just the right
teaching tool. I saw him use those knuckles once on a kid from
the Karteh-Char district. I will never forget how Assef’s blue eyes
glinted with a light not entirely sane and how he grinned, how he
grinned, as he pummeled that poor kid unconscious. Some of the
boys in Wazir Akbar Khan had nicknamed him Assef Goshkhor, or
Assef “the Ear Eater.” Of course, none of them dared utter it to
his face unless they wished to suffer the same fate as the poor kid
who had unwittingly inspired that nickname when he had fought
Assef over a kite and ended up fishing his right ear from a muddy
gutter. Years later, I learned an English word for the creature that
Assef was, a word for which a good Farsi equivalent does not exist:
“sociopath.”
posh adjective: (of places and things) expensive and of highquality
高档的，一流的
He takes her to some really poshrestaurants.他带她去了一些真正高档的饭店。
brass knuckles noun: a metal weapon that is wornover the knuckles and isintended to increase theinjuries caused when hitting aperson
指节铜套
savagery noun: (acts of) cruel and violentbehaviour
残暴（行为），凶残（行径）；兽性
stroll verb: to walk in a slow, relaxedmanner, especially for pleasure
散步，溜达
We could stroll along the beach afterdinner.如果你愿意的话，我们可以去城里溜达溜达。
entourage noun： the group of people who travel with and work for an important or famous person
（要人或名人的）随行人员，随从
The star arrived in London with her usual entourage of dancers and backing singers.这位摇滚歌星到达了伦敦，她惯用的伴舞和伴唱人员随行。
pummel verb： to hit someone or something repeatedly, especially with your fists (= closedhands)
（尤指用双拳）接连地捶打
The boxer had pummelled his opponent into submission by the end of the fourth round.第4回合比赛快要结束时那位拳击手连续击打对手使其认输。
fish verb： to try to find something, using your fingers to look for it
（尤指在困难情况下）寻找She fished in her tool box for the right screwdriver.她在工具箱里翻找合适的扳手。
gutter noun： the edge of a road where rain flows away
（道路边的）排水沟，街沟
fishinghis right ear from a muddygutter在泥泞的排水沟里搜寻自己的右耳，指这个可怜小孩的耳朵被Assef咬掉了。这样说之前跳过了被咬的过程直接说结果，看似没有描述被凑的过程，但实际更加刻骨铭心。
sociopath noun： a person who is completely unable or unwilling to behave in a way that isacceptable to society
反社会者
I'm telling you he's a complete/total sociopath.我告诉你，他是个彻头彻尾的反社会分子。
Of all the neighborhood boys who tortured Ali, Assef was by
far the most relentless. He was, in fact, the originator of the
Babalu jeer, Hey, Babalu, who did you eat today? Huh? Come on,
Babalu, give us a smile! And on days when he felt particularly
inspired, he spiced up his badgering a little, Hey, you flat-nosed
Babalu, who did you eat today? Tell us, you slant-eyed donkey!
Now he was walking toward us, hands on his hips, his sneak-
ers kicking up little puffs of dust.
jeer verb： to laugh or shout insults at someone to show you have no respect for them
嘲笑，嘲弄
The people at the back of the hall jeered (at) the speaker.坐在礼堂后面的人嘲笑发言者。
spice verb： to use spice to add flavour to food or drink
在…中加香料
coffee spiced with cinnamon加了桂皮调味的咖啡
badger verb： to persuade someone by telling them repeatedly to do something, or toquestion someone repeatedly
困扰；纠缠Stop badgering me - I'll do it when I'm ready.别再烦我了——我准备好后会做的。
he spiced up his badgering a little spice加香料，badgering喋喋不休。很生动形象地说明了Assef变本加厉地用更多不好的词来称呼Ali
sneaker noun： a type of light, comfortable shoe that is suitable for playing sports
运动鞋
Hassan said nothing and crept another step behind me.
“Have you heard the news, boys?” Assef said, his grin never
faltering. “The king is gone. Good riddance. Long live the presi-
dent! My father knows Daoud Khan, did you know that, Amir?”
“So does my father,” I said. In reality, I had no idea if that was
true or not.
“‘So does my father,’” Assef mimicked me in a whining voice.
Kamal and Wali cackled in unison. I wished Baba were there.
“Well, Daoud Khan dined at our house last year,” Assef went
on. “How do you like that, Amir?”
creep verb： to move slowly, quietly, and carefully, usually in orderto avoid being noticed
（通常指为避免注意而）缓慢行进，悄悄移动，潜行
She turned off the light and creptthrough the door.她关上灯，悄悄溜出门。
falter verb： to lose strength or purpose andstop, or almost stop
衰弱；动摇；犹豫；畏缩
The dinner party conversation faltered for a moment.晚宴上的谈话出现了一会儿冷场。
good riddance： used to show that you are glad to be free of somebody or something太好了，他可算走了；大解脱；摆脱
cackle verb： 咯咯地笑
in unison：同时地；又…又…；一致
“Baba says Hitler was crazy, that he ordered a lot of innocent
people killed,” I heard myself say before I could clamp a hand on
my mouth.
Assef snickered. “He sounds like my mother, and she’s Ger-
man; she should know better. But then they want you to believe
that, don’t they? They don’t want you to know the truth.”
clamp verb (HOLD TIGHTLY)： If you clamp something in a particular place, you hold it there tightly.
紧紧抓住；牢牢固定住
He clamped his hand over her mouth.他用手死死地捂住她的嘴巴。
snicker verb （同snigger）： to laugh at someone or something in a silly and often unkind way
暗笑，窃笑
They spent half the time sniggering at the clothes people were wearing.他们有一半时间都在窃笑人们穿的衣服。
His blue eyes flicked to Hassan. “Afghanistan is the land of
Pashtuns. It always has been, always will be. We are the true
Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this Flat-Nose here. His people
pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our blood.” He made
a sweeping, grandiose gesture with his hands. “Afghanistan for
Pashtuns, I say. That’s my vision.”
Assef shifted his gaze to me again. He looked like someone
coming out of a good dream. “Too late for Hitler,” he said. “But
not for us.”
grandiose adjective: larger and containing more detail than necessary, or intended to seemimportant or great
夸大的，不切实际的；华而不实的
grandiose schemes / /designs / /ideas for making money不切实际的赚钱计划／方案／想法
gaze noun: a long look, usually of a particular kind
凝视；注视；盯着
a steady gaze目不转睛地凝视
There was a flurry of rapid movement behind me. Out of the
corner of my eye, I saw Hassan bend down and stand up quickly.
Assef’s eyes flicked to something behind me and widened with
surprise. I saw that same look of astonishment on Kamal and
Wali’s faces as they too saw what had happened behind me.
I turned and came face to face with Hassan’s slingshot. Has-
san had pulled the wide elastic band all the way back. In the cup
was a rock the size of a walnut. Hassan held the slingshot pointed
directly at Assef’s face. His hand trembled with the strain of the
pulled elastic band and beads of sweat had erupted on his brow.
“Please leave us alone, Agha,” Hassan said in a flat tone. He’d
referred to Assef as “Agha,” and I wondered briefly what it must
be like to live with such an ingrained sense of one’s place in a
hierarchy.
Assef gritted his teeth. “Put it down, you motherless Hazara.”
flurry noun: a sudden, short period of activity, excitement, or interest
一阵忙乱（或激动、关注）
The prince's words on marriage have prompted a flurry of speculation in the press this week.本周王子就结婚问题所说的话引起新闻界一片猜测。
ingrained adjective： (of beliefs) so firmly held that they are not likely to change
（观念）根深蒂固的
Such ingrained prejudices cannot be corrected easily.如此根深蒂固的偏见是不容易纠正的。
grit one's teeth：咬牙切齿；咬紧牙关
Then go "pare-fare" , "kill" a decoration company Henbuneng emesis of blood,and finally only grit one's teeth orders.
于是便拼命“杀价”，“杀”得装修公司恨不能吐血，最后只能咬牙接单。
Assef’s mouth twitched. Wali and Kamal watched this
exchange with something akin to fascination. Someone had chal-
lenged their god. Humiliated him. And, worst of all, that someone
was a skinny Hazara. Assef looked from the rock to Hassan. He
searched Hassan’s face intently. What he found in it must have
convinced him of the seriousness of Hassan’s intentions, because
he lowered his fist.
“You should know something about me, Hazara,” Assef said
gravely. “I’m a very patient person. This doesn’t end today, believe
me.” He turned to me. “This isn’t the end for you either, Amir.
Someday, I’ll make you face me one on one.” Assef retreated a
step. His disciples followed.
“Your Hazara made a big mistake today, Amir,” he said. They
then turned around, walked away. I watched them walk down the
hill and disappear behind a wall.
Hassan was trying to tuck the slingshot in his waist with a
pair of trembling hands. His mouth curled up into something that
was supposed to be a reassuring smile. It took him five tries to tie
the string of his trousers. Neither one of us said much of anything
as we walked home in trepidation, certain that Assef and his
friends would ambush us every time we turned a corner. They
didn’t and that should have comforted us a little. But it didn’t. Not
at all.
akin adjective： having some of the same qualities
相似的，类似的
They speak a language akin to French.他们说的是一种类似法语的语言。
disciple noun： a person who believes in the ideas and principles of someone famous andtries to live the way that person does or did
信徒，门徒，追随者
trepidation noun： fear or worry about what is going to happen
惊恐不安，惴惴不安
We view future developments with some trepidation.我们对未来的发展动态感到惴惴不安。
For the next couple of years, the words economic devel-
opment and reform danced on a lot of lips in Kabul. The constitu-
tional monarchy had been abolished, replaced by a republic, led
by a president of the republic. For a while, a sense of rejuvenation
and purpose swept across the land. People spoke of women’s
rights and modern technology.
And for the most part, even though a new leader lived in Arg—
the royal palace in Kabul—life went on as before. People went to
work Saturday through Thursday and gathered for picnics on Fri-
days in parks, on the banks of Ghargha Lake, in the gardens of
Paghman. Multicolored buses and lorries filled with passengers
rolled through the narrow streets of Kabul, led by the constant
shouts of the driver assistants who straddled the vehicles’ rear
bumpers and yelped directions to the driver in their thick Kabuli
accent. On Eid, the three days of celebration after the holy month
of Ramadan, Kabulis dressed in their best and newest clothes and
visited their families. People hugged and kissed and greeted each
other with “Eid Mubarak.” Happy Eid. Children opened gifts and
played with dyed hard-boiled eggs.
dance on a lot of lips in Kabul.用dance很惟妙惟肖，lips应该是指Kabul的边境，周边的地带。
straddle verb： to sit or stand with your legs on either side of something
骑，跨坐；分开腿站在…上
He pulled on his helmet and straddled the motorbike.他戴上头盔，跨坐在摩托车上。
Baba never missed Hassan’s birthday. For a while, he used to
ask Hassan what he wanted, but he gave up doing that because
Hassan was always too modest to actually suggest a present. So
every winter Baba picked something out himself. He bought him a
Japanese toy truck one year, an electric locomotive and train track
set another year. The previous year, Baba had surprised Hassan
with a leather cowboy hat just like the one Clint Eastwood wore in
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly—which had unseated The Mag-
nificent Seven as our favorite Western. That whole winter, Hassan
and I took turns wearing the hat, and belted out the film’s famous
music as we climbed mounds of snow and shot each other dead.
We took off our gloves and removed our snow-laden boots at
the front door. When we stepped into the foyer, we found Baba
sitting by the wood-burning cast-iron stove with a short, balding
Indian man dressed in a brown suit and red tie.
“Hassan,” Baba said, smiling coyly, “meet your birthday pres-
ent.”
belt out： 拉开嗓门唱，热情演奏
He held a three-hour family Karaoke session in his hotel, belting out Sinatra and Beatles hits.
他在他的酒店举行了一场历时3个钟头的家庭卡拉OK演唱会，其间高歌了辛纳屈和甲壳虫乐队的一些热门歌曲。
balding adjective： becoming bald
变得秃头Eammon was plump and balding.埃蒙发福了，头发日渐稀疏。
coyly adverb： 害羞地；羞怯地
Hassan shook his head. He looked to me for help but I
shrugged. All I knew was that you went to a surgeon to fix you
when you had appendicitis. I knew this because one of my class-
mates had died of it the year before and the teacher had told us
they had waited too long to take him to a surgeon. We both
looked to Ali, but of course with him you could never tell. His face
was impassive as ever, though something sober had melted into
his eyes.
“Well,” Dr. Kumar said, “my job is to fix things on people’s
bodies. Sometimes their faces.”
“Oh,” Hassan said. He looked from Dr. Kumar to Baba to Ali.
His hand touched his upper lip. “Oh,” he said again.
“It’s an unusual present, I know,” Baba said. “And probably
not what you had in mind, but this present will last you forever.”
“Oh,” Hassan said. He licked his lips. Cleared his throat.
“Agha sahib, will it ...will it—”
“Nothing doing,” Dr. Kumar intervened, smiling kindly. “It will
not hurt you one bit. In fact, I will give you a medicine and you
will not remember a thing.”
“Oh,” Hassan said. He smiled back with relief. A little relief
anyway. “I wasn’t scared, Agha sahib, I just . . .” Hassan might have
been fooled, but I wasn’t. I knew that when doctors said it
wouldn’t hurt, that’s when you knew you were in trouble. With
dread, I remembered my circumcision the year prior. The doctor
had given me the same line, reassured me it wouldn’t hurt one bit.
But when the numbing medicine wore off later that night, it felt
like someone had pressed a red hot coal to my loins. Why Baba
waited until I was ten to have me circumcised was beyond me and
one of the things I will never forgive him for.
appendicitis noun： an illness in which the appendix is infected and painful and usually needs to beremoved in an operation
阑尾炎
circumcise verb： to cut the protecting loose skin off a boy's penis, for medical, traditional, orreligious reasons包皮环切
loins [ plural ] literary or humorous： the part of the body that is above the legs and below the waist, especiallythe sexual organs
阴部，下身（尤指性器官）
I wished I too had some kind of scar that would beget Baba’s
sympathy. It wasn’t fair. Hassan hadn’t done anything to earn
Baba’s affections; he’d just been born with that stupid harelip.
The surgery went well. We were all a little shocked when they
first removed the bandages, but kept our smiles on just as Dr.
Kumar had instructed us. It wasn’t easy, because Hassan’s upper
lip was a grotesque mesh of swollen, raw tissue. I expected Has-
san to cry with horror when the nurse handed him the mirror. Ali
held his hand as Hassan took a long, thoughtful look into it. He
muttered something I didn’t understand. I put my ear to his
mouth. He whispered it again.
“Tashakor.” Thank you.
Then his lips twisted, and, that time, I knew just what he was
doing. He was smiling. Just as he had, emerging from his
mother’s womb.
The swelling subsided, and the wound healed with time. Soon,
it was just a pink jagged line running up from his lip. By the fol-
lowing winter, it was only a faint scar. Which was ironic. Because
that was the winter that Hassan stopped smiling.
beget verb： to cause
引起，导致
Poverty begets hunger, and hunger begets crime.贫穷导致饥饿，而饥饿则导致犯罪。
grotesque adjective： strange and unpleasant, especially in a silly or slightly frightening way
怪诞的，荒谬的；奇形怪状的；丑陋的
By now she'd had so much cosmetic surgery that she looked quite grotesque.她现在因为作了太多的整容手术，看上去让人觉得怪异可怖。
mesh noun： (a piece of) material like a net with spaces in it, made from wire, plastic, orthread
（金属丝、塑料或线织成的）网，网状物
a sieve with a fine/large mesh细／粗筛孔的滤网
Summary
In this chapter, Amir described his conflicting and paradoxical relationship with Hassan. On one hand, they grew up together and always played together, so Amir really treated him as a friend and would be sincerely glad when Hassan got his lip repaired . On the other hand, Amir was jealous that his father showed great care about Hassan and even brought him such a unexpected birthday present. On the inside, Amir liked Hassan, but from his education and real life experiences, Amir should regard Hassan as a servant rather than a friend. Meanwhile, Amir was kind and weak. He would like to defense for Hassan but he was afraid of others’opinions and thoughts more that he often failed to do so. On the contrary, Hassan was brave and pure. He received many bullies but he was still optimistic. He stood up to protect Amir even when himself was extremely sacred of Assef. This complicated relationship was attributed to the environment inKabulin that era. Perhaps that’s the reason why this book was marvelous: it vividly depicts a detailed picture of Afghanistan in a turbulent age.
（因为篇幅不短，所以没有做笔记的段落就跳过啦，缺少的一小部分大家直接在自己书上看吧，望谅解~）
