12歲的阿富汗富家少爺阿米爾與仆人哈桑情同手足。然而,在一場風(fēng)箏比賽后,發(fā)生了一件悲慘不堪的事,阿米爾為自己的懦弱感到自責(zé)和痛苦,逼走了哈桑,不久,自己也跟隨父親逃往美國。
成年后的阿米爾始終無法原諒自己當(dāng)年對哈桑的背叛。為了贖罪,阿米爾再度踏上暌違二十多年的故鄉(xiāng),希望能為不幸的好友盡最后一點(diǎn)心力,卻發(fā)現(xiàn)一個(gè)驚天謊言,兒時(shí)的噩夢再度重演,阿米爾該如何抉擇?
故事如此殘忍而又美麗,作者以溫暖細(xì)膩的筆法勾勒人性的本質(zhì)與救贖,讀來令人蕩氣回腸。
下面就跟小編一起來欣賞雙語名著·追風(fēng)箏的人 The Kite Runner(203)的精彩內(nèi)容吧!
Sohrab emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later. He had barely said a dozen words since the meeting with Raymond Andrews and my attempts at conversation had only met with a nod or a monosyllabic reply. He climbed into bed, pulled the blanket to his chin. Within minutes, he was snoring.
I wiped a circle on the fogged-up mirror and shaved with one of the hotel’s old-fashioned razors, the type that opened and you slid the blade in. Then I took my own bath, lay there until the steaming hot water turned cold and my skin shriveled up. I lay there drifting, wondering, imagining... OMAR FAISAL WAS CHUBBY, dark, had dimpled cheeks, black button eyes, and an affable, gap-toothed smile. His thinning gray hair was tied back in a ponytail. He wore a brown corduroy suit with leather elbow patches and carried a worn, overstuffed briefcase. The handle was missing, so he clutched the briefcase to his chest. He was the sort of fellow who started a lot of sentences with a laugh and an unnecessary apology, like I’m sorry, I’ll be there at five. Laugh. When I had called him, he had insisted on coming out to meet us. “I’m sorry, the cabbies in this town are sharks,” he said in perfect English, without a trace of an accent. “They smell a foreigner, they triple their fares.”
He pushed through the door, all smiles and apologies, wheezing a little and sweating. He wiped his brow with a handkerchief and opened his briefcase, rummaged in it for a notepad and apologized for the sheets of paper that spilled on the bed. Sitting crosslegged on his bed, Sohrab kept one eye on the muted television, the other on the harried lawyer. I had told him in the morning that Faisal would be coming and he had nodded, almost asked some thing, and had just gone on watching a show with talking animals.
“Here we are,” Faisal said, flipping open a yellow legal notepad. “I hope my children take after their mother when it comes to organization. I’m sorry, probably not the sort of thing you want to hear from your prospective lawyer, heh?” He laughed.
“Well, Raymond Andrews thinks highly of you.”
“Mr. Andrews. Yes, yes. Decent fellow. Actually, he rang me and told me about you.”
“He did?”
“Oh yes.”
“So you’re familiar with my situation.”
幾分鐘后,索拉博從浴室出來。自從與安德魯會面之后,他說過的話幾乎不超過十來個(gè)單詞,我每次試圖跟他交談,他總是點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭,或者用一個(gè)字回答我。他爬上床,把毯子拉到下巴。沒過幾分鐘,他呼呼睡去。
我抹開水汽迷濛的鏡子,用旅館的舊式刮胡刀刮臉。你得把它打開,然后把刀片裝進(jìn)去。接著我洗澡,躺在浴缸里面,直到冒著汽的熱水變冷,讓我的皮膚起雞皮疙瘩。我躺在那兒漂浮著、思索著、想像著……奧馬爾?費(fèi)薩爾皮膚很暗,矮矮胖胖,臉上有酒窩,黑色的大眼睛,還有和藹的笑容,露出來的齒縫很大。他稀疏的頭發(fā)在后面梳成馬尾,穿著棕色燈芯絨西裝,手肘的位置上有幾塊毛皮補(bǔ)丁,還帶著個(gè)鼓鼓的破舊公文包。公文包的提手不見了,所以他將其抱在胸前。他是一見面就笑著說很多話而且過分客套的人,比如說“對不起,我將會在五點(diǎn)在那兒 ”之類的。我打電話給他,聽到他的笑聲,他執(zhí)意要出來會晤我們?!昂鼙?,這個(gè)城市里面的出租車跟鯊魚一樣,”他的英語說得很棒,沒有任何口音,“一旦嗅到外國人的味道,就會多要三倍車費(fèi)?!?br />他推開門,臉帶微笑,道歉連連,稍微有點(diǎn)喘氣和流汗。他用手帕擦額頭,打開公文包,亂翻著找記事本,為把文件扔得滿床都是不停道歉。索拉博盤膝坐在床上,一邊看著消掉聲音的電視,一邊看著那個(gè)手忙腳亂的律師。那天早晨我跟他說過費(fèi)薩爾要來,他點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭,似乎想問些什么,但只是走開去看一個(gè)有動物在說話的電視節(jié)目。
“找到了?!辟M(fèi)薩爾說,翻開一本黃色的法律記事本?!熬桶才攀挛锏哪芰Χ?,我希望我的孩子像他們的媽媽。很抱歉,也許這不是你所想要從你未來的律師口里聽到的,對吧?”他哈哈大笑。
“嗯,雷蒙德?安德魯對你評價(jià)很高?!?br />“安德魯先生。是的,是的,那個(gè)家伙人很好。實(shí)際上,他打過電話給我,把你的事情告訴我了。”
“真的嗎?”
“哦,是的。”
“那么你清楚我的情況了。”