Winter.

Here is what I do on the first day of snowfall every year: I step out of the house early in the morning, still in my pajamas, hugging my arms against the chill. I find the driveway, my father’s car, the walls, the trees, the rooftops, and the hills buried under a foot of snow. I smile. The sky is seamless and blue, the snow so white my eyes burn. I shovel a handful of the fresh snow into my mouth, listen to the muffled stillness broken only by the cawing of crows. I walk down the front steps, barefoot, and call for Hassan to come out and see.

shovel verb: to move with a shovel

铲起；用铲子移动或移开

Would you give me a hand shovelling the snow away from the garage door?你能帮我把车库门前的雪铲走吗？

For a few unfortunate kids, winter did not spell the end of the school year. There were the so-called voluntary winter courses. No kid I knew ever volunteered to go to these classes; parents, of course, did the volunteering for them. Fortunately for me, Baba was not one of them. I remember one kid, Ahmad, who lived across the street from us. His father was some kind of doctor, I think.

Ahmad had epilepsy and always wore a wool vest and thick black-rimmed glasses—he was one of Assef’s regular victims. Every morning, I watched from my bedroom window as their Hazara servant shoveled snow from the driveway, cleared the way for the black Opel. I made a point of watching Ahmad and his father get into the car, Ahmad in his wool vest and winter coat, his schoolbag filled with books and pencils. I waited until they pulled away, turned the corner, then I slipped back into bed in my flannel pajamas. I pulled the blanket to my chin and watched the snowcapped hills in the north through the window. Watched them until I drifted back to sleep.

epilepsy noun: a condition of the brain thatcauses a person to becomeunconscious for short periodsor to move in a violent and uncontrolled way

癫痫，羊痫疯，羊角风

She can't drive because she suffersfrom/has epilepsy.她不能开车，因为她患有癫痫。

rim verb: to be round or along the edgeof something

环绕（某物的边缘）；形成…的边沿；给…镶边

The martini glass was rimmed withsugar.杯口上沾了一圈糖。

flannel noun: a light cloth usually made from wool, used especially for making clothes

法兰绒

snowcapped adj. : 顶上积雪的

I could see snowcapped mountains glittering in the distance.

我可以看见冰雪盖顶的高山在远处闪闪发光。

I loved wintertime in Kabul. I loved it for the soft pattering of snow against my window at night, for the way fresh snow crunched under my black rubber boots, for the warmth of the cast-iron stove as the wind screeched through the yards, the streets. But mostly because, as the trees froze and ice sheathed the roads, the chill between Baba and me thawed a little. And the reason for that was the kites. Baba and I lived in the same house, but in different spheres of existence. Kites were the one paper-thin slice of intersection between those spheres.

crunch verb: to crush hard food loudlybetween the teeth, or to make asound as if something is beingcrushed or broken

嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼；嘎吱作响

She was crunching noisily on anapple.她嘎吱嘎吱地嚼着苹果。

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

尖叫；发出刺耳声

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

Every winter, districts in Kabul held a kite-fighting tournament. And if you were a boy living in Kabul, the day of the tournament was undeniably the highlight of the cold season. I never slept the night before the tournament. I’d roll from side to side, make shadow animals on the wall, even sit on the balcony in the dark, a blanket wrapped around me. I felt like a soldier trying to sleep in the trenches the night before a major battle. And that wasn’t so far off. In Kabul, fighting kites was a little like going to war.

far-off adjective: A time that is far-off, is a longtime before or after thepresent.

（时间）遥远的，久远的

some point in the far-off future遥远未来的某个时刻

As with any war, you had to ready yourself for battle. For a while, Hassan and I used to build our own kites. We saved our weekly allowances in the fall, dropped the money in a little porcelain horse Baba had brought one time from Herat. When the winds of winter began to blow and snow fell in chunks, we undid the snap under the horse’s belly. We went to the bazaar and bought bamboo, glue, string, and paper. We spent hours every day shaving bamboo for the center and cross spars, cutting the thin tissue paper which made for easy dipping and recovery. And then, of course, we had to make our own string, or tar. If the kite was the gun, then tar, the glass-coated cutting line, was the bullet in the chamber. We’d go out in the yard and feed up to five hundred feet of string through a mixture of ground glass and glue. We’d then hang the line between the trees, leave it to dry. The next day, we’d wind the battle-ready line around a wooden spool. By the time the snow melted and the rains of spring swept in, every boy in Kabul bore telltale horizontal gashes on his fingers from a whole winter of fighting kites. I remember how my classmates and I used to huddle, compare our battle scars on the first day of school. The cuts stung and didn’t heal for a couple of weeks, but I didn’t mind. They were reminders of a beloved season that had once again passed too quickly. Then the class captain would blow his whistle and we’d march in a single file to our classrooms, longing for winter already, greeted instead by the specter of yet another long school year.

undid the snap under the horse's belly结合上一句，应该是把马形状的陶瓷存钱罐的塞子拔开，取出存的零钱

spar noun： a strong pole, especially one used as a mast to hold the sailon a ship

（尤指船上用作桅杆的）圆材

dip verb： to put something into aliquid for a short time

涮，浸，蘸

Dip the fish in the batter, then drop it into the hot oil.先把鱼在面糊中浸一下，然后再放进热油中。

spool noun： a tube-shaped object with topand bottom edges that stickout and around which a lengthof thread, wire, film, etc. iswrapped in order to store it（线、金属丝、胶片等的）卷轴，卷盘

a spool of cotton/film一轴棉线／一卷胶片

telltale noun： a person, especially a child, who secretly tells someone inauthority, especially a teacher, that someone else has done something bad, often in orderto cause trouble

告密者，打小报告者（尤指向老师告状的小孩）

gash noun： a long, deep cut, especially in the skin

（尤指皮肤上）深长的伤口，大而深的切口

telltale adjective： allowing a secret to becomeknown

泄露秘密的

She found lipstick on his shirts - the telltale sign that he was having anaffair.她发现他的衬衫上有口红印，这说明他有外遇。

Then the class captain would blow his whistle and we’d march in a single file to our classrooms, longing for winter already,greeted instead by the specter of yet another long school year. 之后班长会吹个口哨，然后我们会排成一列回教室，刚回去就开始想念冬天了，但是相反迎接我们的是阴魂不散的另一个漫长的学年。

But it quickly became apparent that Hassan and I were better kite fighters than kite makers. Some flaw or other in our design always spelled its doom. So Baba started taking us to Saifo’s to buy our kites. Saifo was a nearly blind old man who was a moochi by profession—a shoe repairman. But he was also the city’s most famous kite maker, working out of a tiny hovel on Jadeh Maywand, the crowded street south of the muddy banks of the Kabul River. I remember you had to crouch to enter the prison cell–sized store, and then had to lift a trapdoor to creep down a set of wooden steps to the dank basement where Saifo stored his coveted kites.

Baba would buy us each three identical kites and spools of glass string. If I changed my mind and asked for a bigger and fancier kite, Baba would buy it for me—but then he’d buy it for Hassan too. Sometimes I wished he wouldn’t do that. Wished he’d let me be the favorite.

hovel noun： a small home that is dirty and in bad condition

破败的小屋；肮脏简陋的住所

crouch verb： to bend your knees and loweryourself so that you are closeto the ground and leaningforward slightly

蹲下，蹲伏；蜷缩

She saw him coming and crouched(down) behind a bush.看见他来了，她便蜷伏在一簇灌木丛后面。

卧虎藏龙 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon（老是记得这个片名，但是看到crouch又老是眼生，还是看的太少啦）

trapdoor noun： a small door in a ceiling or floor

（天花板或地板上的）活板门，地板门There's a trapdoor into the attic.有扇活板门通向阁楼。

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

（尤指建筑物或空气）阴冷潮湿的，湿冷的

In the cathedral vaults the air was dank and stale.大教堂的地窖里空气湿冷并带有霉味。

covet verb： to want to have something very much, especially something that belongs to someone else

觊觎，垂涎（尤指他人之物）；贪求，渴望

She always coveted power but neverquite achieved it.她一直贪求权力，但从未得逞。

The kite-fighting tournament was an old winter tradition in Afghanistan. It started early in the morning on the day of the contest and didn’t end until only the winning kite flew in the sky—I remember one year the tournament outlasted daylight. People gathered on sidewalks and roofs to cheer for their kids. The streets filled with kite fighters, jerking and tugging on their lines, squinting up to the sky, trying to gain position to cut the opponent’s line. Every kite fighter had an assistant—in my case, Hassan—who held the spool and fed the line.

One time, a bratty Hindi kid whose family had recently moved into the neighborhood told us that in his hometown, kite fighting had strict rules and regulations. “You have to play in a boxed area and you have to stand at a right angle to the wind,” he said proudly. “And you can’t use aluminum to make your glass string.”

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。

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

眯起眼看

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

bratty adjective： a bratty child or person behaves badly, especially because they expect to get everything that they want:

Hassan and I looked at each other. Cracked up. The Hindi kid would soon learn what the British learned earlier in the century, and what the Russians would eventually learn by the late 1980s: that Afghans are an independent people. Afghans cherish custom but abhor rules. And so it was with kite fighting. The rules were simple: No rules. Fly your kite. Cut the opponents. Good luck.

cracked up：The whole audience cracked up.全体听众哄堂大笑。忍受不了了

For kite runners, the most coveted prize was the last fallen kite of a winter tournament. It was a trophy of honor, something to be displayed on a mantle for guests to admire. When the sky cleared of kites and only the final two remained, every kite runner readied himself for the chance to land this prize. He positioned himself at a spot that he thought would give him a head start. Tense muscles readied themselves to uncoil. Necks craned. Eyes crinkled. Fights broke out. And when the last kite was cut, all hell broke loose.

crinkle verb： to become covered in manysmall lines and folds, or tocause something to do this

（使）变皱，（使）起皱

She crinkled (up) her nose indistaste.她厌恶地皱了皱鼻子。

“Hassan! Wait!” I yelled, my breathing hot and ragged. He whirled around, motioned with his hand. “This way!” he called before dashing around another corner. I looked up, saw that the direction we were running was opposite to the one the kite was drifting.

“We’re losing it! We’re going the wrong way!” I cried out.

“Trust me!” I heard him call up ahead. I reached the corner and saw Hassan bolting along, his head down, not even looking at the sky, sweat soaking through the back of his shirt. I tripped over a rock and fell—I wasn’t just slower than Hassan but clumsier too; I’d always envied his natural athleticism. When I staggered to my feet, I caught a glimpse of Hassan disappearing around another street corner. I hobbled after him, spikes of pain battering my scraped knees.

ragged adjective: suffering from exhaustion or stress he looked a little ragged, a little shadowy beneath the eyes.

bolt 查到的名词是门闩或者闪电，没有对应闪电的动词。但是我认为这里作者把bolt当动词使用了，意为像闪电一样快地移动。

trip verb：  to lose your balanceafter knocking your footagainst something when you are walking or running, or tocause someone to do this

绊，绊倒

He tripped and fell down, grazing hisknee.他绊了个跟头，擦伤了膝盖。

stagger verb：  to walk ormove with difficulty as if you are going to fall

摇晃；蹒跚；踉踉跄跄地走

After he was attacked, he managed to stagger to the phone and call forhelp.他遇袭后，跌跌撞撞地走到电话机旁打电话求救。

hobble verb：  to walk in anawkward way, usually because the feet or legs are injured

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。

（这个词昨天有，又查了一遍）

spike noun： a narrow, thin shape with asharp point at one end, or something, especially a pieceof metal, with this shape

尖头，尖刺；（尤指金属的）尖状物

There were large spikes on top of therailings to stop people climbing over them.栏杆顶端装着粗大的尖钉，防止有人攀越。

scrape verb： to (cause to)rub against a surface so thatslight damage or an unpleasantnoise is produced

刮坏；擦伤；蹭破

Jackie fell over and scraped her knee(on the pavement).杰基跌倒了，（在路面上）擦伤了膝盖。

I saw we had ended up on a rutted dirt road near Isteqlal Middle School. There was a field on one side where lettuce grew in the summer, and a row of sour cherry trees on the other. I found

Hassan sitting cross-legged at the foot of one of the trees, eating from a fistful of dried mulberries.

“What are we doing here?” I panted, my stomach roiling with nausea.

He smiled. “Sit with me, Amir agha.”

I dropped next to him, lay on a thin patch of snow, wheezing.

“You’re wasting our time. It was going the other way, didn’t you

see?”

Hassan popped a mulberry in his mouth. “It’s coming,” he said. I could hardly breathe and he didn’t even sound tired.

rutted adjective： If a surface is rutted, it hasdeep narrow marks in it made by wheels.

有车辙的

a deeply/badly rutted road一条被轧出了深深车辙／满是车辙坑洼不平的道路

pop verb：  to put or take something quickly

迅速地拿；快速地放（pop的意思有很多，我查的是剑桥词典，这个释义较为接近。应该为塞一口桑葚到嘴里）

If you pop the pizza in the oven now, it'll be ready in 15 minutes.如果你现在把比萨饼放在炉子里，15分钟就好了。

“How can you know?”

He turned to me. A few sweat beads rolled from his bald scalp.

“Would I ever lie to you, Amir agha?”

Suddenly I decided to toy with him a little. “I don’t know.

Would you?”

“I’d sooner eat dirt,” he said with a look of indignation.

“Really? You’d do that?” He threw me a puzzled look. “Do what?”

indignation noun ：anger about a situation that you think is wrong or not fair

（由错误或不公正的事激起的）愤怒；愤慨

His eyes searched my face for a long time. We sat there, two boys under a sour cherry tree, suddenly looking, really looking, at each other. That’s when it happened again: Hassan’s face changed. Maybe not changed, not really, but suddenly I had the feeling I was looking at two faces, the one I knew, the one that was my first memory, and another, a second face, this one lurking just beneath the surface. I’d seen it happen before—it always shook me up a little. It just appeared, this other face, for a fraction of a moment, long enough to leave me with the unsettling feeling that maybe I’d seen it someplace before. Then Hassan blinked and it was just him again. Just Hassan.

lurk verb：  (of anunpleasant feeling or quality) to exist although it is not always noticeable

（不好的感觉或特征）潜伏，潜藏

Danger lurks around every corner.每个角落里都潜伏着危险。

I didn’t know what to think. Or what to say. Was that what it would take? Had he just slipped me a key? I was a good kite fighter. Actually, a very good one. A few times, I’d even come close to winning the winter tournament—once, I’d made it to the final three. But coming close wasn’t the same as winning, was it? Baba hadn’t come close. He had won because winners won and everyone else just went home. Baba was used to winning, winning at everything he set his mind to. Didn’t he have a right to expect the same from his son? And just imagine. If I did win . . .

slipped me a key是给我一把钥匙？不太理解这句

Baba smoked his pipe and talked. I pretended to listen. But I couldn’t listen, not really, because Baba’s casual little comment had planted a seed in my head: the resolution that I would win that winter’s tournament. I was going to win. There was no other viable option. I was going to win, and I was going to run that last kite. Then I’d bring it home and show it to Baba. Show him once and for all that his son was worthy. Then maybe my life as a ghost in this house would finally be over. I let myself dream: I imagined conversation and laughter over dinner instead of silence broken only by the clinking of silverware and the occasional grunt. I envisioned us taking a Friday drive in Baba’s car to Paghman, stopping on the way at Ghargha Lake for some fried trout and potatoes.

We’d go to the zoo to see Marjan the lion, and maybe Baba wouldn’t yawn and steal looks at his wristwatch all the time.

Maybe Baba would even read one of my stories. I’d write him a hundred if I thought he’d read one. Maybe he’d call me Amir jan like Rahim Khan did. And maybe, just maybe, I would finally be pardoned for killing my mother.

viable adjective：  able to work as intended orable to succeed

可以实施的；可望成功的

In order to make the company viable, it will unfortunately be necessary toreduce staffing levels.很遗憾，为使公司继续运转下去，将不得不裁员。

yawn verb ：to open the mouth wideand take a lot of air into thelungs and slowly send it out, usually when tired or bored

打哈欠

I can't stop yawning - I must be tired.我一个劲儿打哈欠——肯定是累了。

I killed Hassan’s ten of diamonds, played him two jacks and a six. Next door, in Baba’s study, Baba and Rahim Khan were discussing business with a couple of other men—one of them I recognized as Assef’s father. Through the wall, I could hear the scratchy sound of Radio Kabul News.

Hassan killed the six and picked up the jacks. On the radio, Daoud Khan was announcing something about foreign investments.

“He says someday we’ll have television in Kabul,” I said.

“Who?”

“Daoud Khan, you ass, the president.”

Hassan giggled. “I heard they already have it in Iran,” he said. I sighed. “Those Iranians . . .” For a lot of Hazaras, Iran represented a sanctuary of sorts—I guess because, like Hazaras, most Iranians were Shi’a Muslims. But I remembered something my teacher had said that summer about Iranians, that they were grinning smooth talkers who patted you on the back with one hand and picked your pocket with the other. I told Baba about that and he said my teacher was one of those jealous Afghans, jealous because Iran was a rising power in Asia and most people around the world couldn’t even find Afghanistan on a world map. “It hurts to say that,” he said, shrugging. “But better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie.”

scratchy adjective: 带沙沙的杂音的making a rough, unpleasant sound like sth being scratched across a surface

sanctuary noun:  protection or asafe place, especially for someone or something beingchased or hunted庇护，保护；避难所，庇护所

Illegal immigrants found/sought/tooksanctuary in a local church.非法移民把当地的一座教堂当作避难所。

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.

spade noun:  a playing card from the suitof spades

（纸牌中的）黑桃Don't you have any spades?

Summary

Winter had come in the book, the most exciting season for kids because of the vacation and a variety of activities. More significantly, for Amir winter was the time to fly kite: maybe the only activity that Amir and his father were both interested in. Apart from flying kite, running for the last falling kite was also a great honor during the tournament. It is the first time that this book mentions the kite runner.

Coincidently, Hassan was endowed with the unique talent to catch the kite. I reckon this crucial information would indicate the main event or plot for the book. And Amir’s desire to win this game to please his father might led to some unexpected aftermath. Let’s wait and see.