Sitting in the middle of my room the next morning, I ripped open box after box of presents. I don’t know why I even bothered, since I just gave them a joyless glance and pitched them to the corner of the room. The pile was growing there: a Polaroid camera, a transistor radio, an elaborate electric train set—and several sealed envelopes containing cash. I knew I’d never spend the money or listen to the radio, and the electric train would never trundle down its tracks in my room. I didn’t want any of it—it was all blood money; Baba would have never thrown me a party like that if I hadn’t won the tournament.

Baba gave me two presents. One was sure to become the envy of every kid in the neighborhood: a brand new Schwinn Stingray, the king of all bicycles. Only a handful of kids in all of Kabul owned a new Stingray and now I was one of them. It had high-rise handlebars with black rubber grips and its famous banana seat. The spokes were gold colored and the steel-frame body red, like a candy apple. Or blood. Any other kid would have hopped on the bike immediately and taken it for a full block skid. I might have done the same a few months ago.

trundle verb:  (to cause something) to move slowly on wheels

（使）慢慢地移动，滚动

She trundled the wheelbarrow down the path.她沿着花园慢慢地推着手推车。

handlebars noun： a bar with curved ends forming handles that turns the front wheel of a bicycle or motorcycle so that it points in a different direction

（自行车或摩托车的）车把，把手

spoke noun： any of the rods that join the edge of a wheel to its centre, so giving the wheel its strength

辐条；轮辐a bicycle spoke自行车辐条

skid verb： (especially of a vehicle) to slide along a surface so that you have no control

（尤指车辆）打滑

Tony's car skidded on some ice and hit a tree.特雷弗开的公共汽车在冰上打滑，撞到了一棵树上。

“You like it?” Baba said, leaning in the doorway to my room. I gave him a sheepish grin and a quick “Thank you.” I wished I could have mustered more.

sheepish adjective： embarrassed because you know that you have done something wrong or silly

（因做错事或傻事而）窘迫的，不好意思的

She gave me a sheepish smile and apologized.她窘迫地笑了一下，道了歉。

muster verb： to produce or encourage something such as an emotionor support

鼓起（勇气）；激起（某种感情或支持）

She managed to muster the courage to ask him to the cinema.她终于鼓起勇气请他去看电影。

“We could go for a ride,” Baba said. An invitation, but only a halfhearted one.

“Maybe later. I’m a little tired,” I said.

“Sure,” Baba said.

“Baba?”

“Yes?”

“Thanks for the fireworks,” I said. A thank-you, but only a halfhearted one. “Get some rest,” Baba said, walking toward his room.

The other present Baba gave me—and he didn’t wait around for me to open this one—was a wristwatch. It had a blue face with gold hands in the shape of lightning bolts. I didn’t even try it on. I tossed it on the pile of toys in the corner. The only gift I didn’t toss on that mound was Rahim Khan’s leather-bound notebook. That was the only one that didn’t feel like blood money. I sat on the edge of my bed, turned the notebook in my hands, thought about what Rahim Khan had said about Homaira, how his father’s dismissing her had been for the best in the end. She would have suffered. Like the times Kaka Homayoun’s projector got stuck on the same slide, the same image kept flashing in my mind over and over: Hassan, his head downcast, serving drinks to Assef and Wali. Maybe it would be for the best. Lessen his suffering. And mine too. Either way, this much had become clear: One of us had to go.

Like the times Kaka Homayoun’s projector got stuck on the same slide幻灯片总是在同一页卡住了；projector 投影仪

bolt noun： a metal bar on a door or window that slides across to lock it closed

（门窗上的）插销，闩

I closed the window and drew the bolt(= slid the bolt across).我关上窗户，拉上了插销。

downcast adjective： sad and without hope

垂头丧气的，萎靡不振的；伤心绝望的

I thought you were looking a little downcast this morning.我觉得你今天早上好像有点垂头丧气。

Later that afternoon, I took the Schwinn for its first and last spin. I pedaled around the block a couple of times and came back. I rolled up the driveway to the backyard where Hassan and Ali were cleaning up the mess from last night’s party. Paper cups, crumpled napkins, and empty bottles of soda littered the yard. Ali was folding chairs, setting them along the wall. He saw me and waved.

crumpled adjective： full of folds

起皱的

crumpled clothes皱巴巴的衣服

the crumpled charm of linen有皱褶的亚麻小饰品

napkin noun：  a small square piece of cloth or paper, used while you are eating to protect yourclothes or to clean your mouthor fingers

餐巾；餐巾纸

“Salaam, Ali,” I said, waving back. He held up a finger, asking me to wait, and walked to his living quarters. A moment later, he emerged with something in his hands. “The opportunity never presented itself last night for Has- san and me to give you this,” he said, handing me a box. “It’s modest and not worthy of you, Amir agha. But we hope you like it still. Happy birthday.”

A lump was rising in my throat. “Thank you, Ali,” I said. I wished they hadn’t bought me anything. I opened the box and found a brand new Shahnamah, a hardback with glossy colored illustrations beneath the passages. Here was Ferangis gazing at her newborn son, Kai Khosrau. There was Afrasiyab riding his horse, sword drawn, leading his army. And, of course, Rostam inflicting a mortal wound onto his son, the warrior Sohrab. “It’s beautiful,” I said.

lump noun：  a piece of a solid substance, usually with no particular shape

（通常指无固定形状的）块，团

a lump of coal一块煤

inflict verb： to force someone to experience something very unpleasant

使遭受，使承受

These new bullets are capable of inflicting massive injuries.这些新型子弹可以造成重创。

 “Hassan said your copy was old and ragged, and that some of the pages were missing,” Ali said. “All the pictures are hand-drawn in this one with pen and ink,” he added proudly, eyeing a book neither he nor his son could read. 

“It’s lovely,” I said. And it was. And, I suspected, not inexpensive either. I wanted to tell Ali it was not the book, but I who was unworthy. I hopped back on the bicycle. “Thank Hassan for me,” I said.

I ended up tossing the book on the heap of gifts in the corner of my room. But my eyes kept going back to it, so I buried it at the bottom. Before I went to bed that night, I asked Baba if he’d seen my new watch anywhere.

The next morning, I waited in my room for Ali to clear the breakfast table in the kitchen. Waited for him to do the dishes, wipe the counters. I looked out my bedroom window and waited until Ali and Hassan went grocery shopping to the bazaar, pushing the empty wheelbarrows in front of them. Then I took a couple of the envelopes of cash from the pile of gifts and my watch, and tiptoed out. I paused before Baba’s study and listened in. He’d been in there all morning, making phone calls. He was talking to someone now, about a shipment of rugs due to arrive next week. I went downstairs, crossed the yard, and entered Ali and Hassan’s living quarters by the loquat tree. I lifted Hassan’s mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it.

wheelbarrow noun： a large, open container for moving things in with a wheel at the front and two handles at the back, used especially in the garden

（尤指花园中的）手推车，独轮车

loquat n.枇杷

I waited another thirty minutes. Then I knocked on Baba’s door and told what I hoped would be the last in a long line of shameful lies.

Through my bedroom window, I watched Ali and Hassan push the wheelbarrows loaded with meat, naan, fruit, and vegetables up the driveway. I saw Baba emerge from the house and walk up to Ali. Their mouths moved over words I couldn’t hear. Baba pointed to the house and Ali nodded. They separated. Baba came back to the house; Ali followed Hassan to their hut. A few moments later, Baba knocked on my door. “Come to my office,” he said. “We’re all going to sit down and settle this thing.”

I went to Baba’s study, sat in one of the leather sofas. It was thirty minutes or more before Hassan and Ali joined us. They’d both been crying; I could tell from their red, puffed-up eyes. They stood before Baba, hand in hand, and I wondered how and when I’d become capable of causing this kind of pain.

Baba came right out and asked. “Did you steal that money? Did you steal Amir’s watch, Hassan?”

Hassan’s reply was a single word, delivered in a thin, raspy voice: “Yes.”

raspy adjective： A raspy voice sounds unpleasantly rough.

（声音）刺耳的，沙哑的

I flinched, like I’d been slapped. My heart sank and I almost blurted out the truth. Then I understood: This was Hassan’s final sacrifice for me. If he’d said no, Baba would have believed him because we all knew Hassan never lied. And if Baba believed him, then I’d be the accused; I would have to explain and I would be revealed for what I really was. Baba would never, ever forgive me. And that led to another understanding: Hassan knew. He knew I’d seen everything in that alley, that I’d stood there and done noth- ing. He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time. I loved him in that moment, loved him more than I’d ever loved anyone, and I wanted to tell them all that I was the snake in the grass, the monster in the lake. I wasn’t worthy of this sacrifice; I was a liar, a cheat, and a thief. And I would have told, except that a part of me was glad. Glad that this would all be over with soon. Baba would dismiss them, there would be some pain, but life would move on. I wanted that, to move on, to forget, to start with a clean slate. I wanted to be able to breathe again.

Except Baba stunned me by saying, “I forgive you.”

Forgive? But theft was the one unforgivable sin, the common denominator of all sins. When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. There is no act more wretched than stealing. Hadn’t Baba sat me on his lap and said those words to me? Then how could he just forgive Hassan? And if Baba could forgive that, then why couldn’t he forgive me for not being the son he’d always wanted? Why—

“We are leaving, Agha sahib,” Ali said.

“What?” Baba said, the color draining from his face.

“We can’t live here anymore,” Ali said.

“But I forgive him, Ali, didn’t you hear?” said Baba. “Life here is impossible for us now, Agha sahib. We’re leav- ing.” Ali drew Hassan to him, curled his arm around his son’s shoulder. It was a protective gesture and I knew whom Ali was protecting him from. Ali glanced my way and in his cold, unforgiving look, I saw that Hassan had told him. He had told him everything, about what Assef and his friends had done to him, about the kite, about me. Strangely, I was glad that someone knew me for who I really was; I was tired of pretending.

“I don’t care about the money or the watch,” Baba said, his arms open, palms up. “I don’t understand why you’re doing this . . . what do you mean ‘impossible’?”

“I’m sorry, Agha sahib, but our bags are already packed. We have made our decision.”

Baba stood up, a sheen of grief across his face. “Ali, haven’t I provided well for you? Haven’t I been good to you and Hassan? You’re the brother I never had, Ali, you know that. Please don’t do this.”

sheen noun： a bright, smooth surface

光彩；光泽

The conditioner gives hair a beautiful soft sheen.这种护发素能使头发美丽、柔顺，富有光泽。

“Don’t make this even more difficult than it already is, Agha sahib,” Ali said. His mouth twitched and, for a moment, I thought I saw a grimace. That was when I understood the depth of the pain I had caused, the blackness of the grief I had brought onto everyone, that not even Ali’s paralyzed face could mask his sorrow. I forced myself to look at Hassan, but his head was downcast, his shoulders slumped, his finger twirling a loose string on the hem of his shirt.

slumped adjective： having your head low and shoulders forward

耷拉着脑袋的；萎靡不振的

He sat slumped over his desk, the picture of misery.他垂头丧气地坐在桌前，一副可怜相。

twirl verb： to (cause to) give a sudden quick turn or set of turns in a circle

（使）旋转；（使）转动；（使）缠绕

She danced and twirled across the room.她在房间里转着圈跳舞。

hem noun： the edge of a piece of cloth, such as the bottom edge of a skirt or dress, that is folded over and sewn so that it does not develop loose threads

（衣服等的）褶边，边

I took the hem up/let the hem down.我把褶边改短／放长。

Baba was pleading now. “At least tell me why. I need to know!” Ali didn’t tell Baba, just as he didn’t protest when Hassan confessed to the stealing. I’ll never really know why, but I could imagine the two of them in that dim little hut, weeping, Hassan pleading him not to give me away. But I couldn’t imagine the restraint it must have taken Ali to keep that promise.

plead verb： to make an urgent,emotional statement orrequest for something

乞求，恳求

He was on his knees, pleading for mercy/forgiveness.他跪在地上，乞求宽恕／原谅。

“Will you drive us to the bus station?”

“I forbid you to do this!” Baba bellowed. “Do you hear me? I forbid you!”

“Respectfully, you can’t forbid me anything, Agha sahib,” Ali said. “We don’t work for you anymore.”

“Where will you go?” Baba asked. His voice was breaking.

“Hazarajat.”

“To your cousin?”

“Yes. Will you take us to the bus station, Agha sahib?”

Then I saw Baba do something I had never seen him do before: He cried. It scared me a little, seeing a grown man sob. Fathers weren’t supposed to cry. “Please,” Baba was saying, but Ali had already turned to the door, Hassan trailing him. I’ll never forget the way Baba said that, the pain in his plea, the fear.

In Kabul, it rarely rained in the summer. Blue skies stood tall and far, the sun like a branding iron searing the back of your neck. Creeks where Hassan and I skipped stones all spring turned dry, and rickshaws stirred dust when they sputtered by. People went to mosques for their ten raka’ts of noontime prayer and then retreated to whatever shade they could find to nap in, waiting for the cool of early evening. Summer meant long school days sweating in tightly packed, poorly ventilated classrooms learning to recite ayats from the Koran, struggling with those tongue-twisting, exotic Arabic words. It meant catching flies in your palm while the mullah droned on and a hot breeze brought with it the smell of shit from the outhouse across the schoolyard, churning dust around the lone rickety basketball hoop.

sear verb： to burn the surface of something with sudden verystrong heat

燎；烧焦；烧灼

The heat from the explosion seared their hands and faces.爆炸的热浪灼伤了他们的手和脸。

skip verb：  to throw a flat stone horizontally over water so that it touches and rises off the surface several times

扔（石块）打水漂

We watched a child skipping stones across the lake.我们看着一个孩子在湖上打水漂。

rickshaw noun： a small, covered passenger vehicle with two wheels that is usually pulled by one person

人力车

sputter verb： to talk quickly in short confused phrases, especially because you are angry or shocked SYN splutter

ventilate verb： to cause fresh air to enter and move around a closed space

使通风；使空气流通

I work in a very well-/poorly-ventilated building.我工作的大楼通风非常好／差。

drone verb： to make a low continuous noise that does not change its note

轰鸣声，嗡嗡声

An airplane droned in the background.背景响起了飞机的轰鸣声。

outhouse noun： a small building joined to or near to a larger one

（与大建筑物相连或相近的）附属建筑，外围建筑

churn verb：  to move something, especially a liquid, with great force

剧烈搅动（尤指液体）；翻搅；使猛烈翻腾

The sea was churned up by heavy winds.狂风搅得大海白浪滔天。

rickety adjective： in bad condition and therefore weak and likely to break

快要散架的；摇摇晃晃的；不结实的

Careful! That chair's a bit rickety.小心！那把椅子不结实。

But it rained the afternoon Baba took Ali and Hassan to the bus station. Thunderheads rolled in, painted the sky iron gray. Within minutes, sheets of rain were sweeping in, the steady hiss of falling water swelling in my ears.

Baba had offered to drive them to Bamiyan himself, but Ali refused. Through the blurry, rain-soaked window of my bedroom, I watched Ali haul the lone suitcase carrying all of their belongings to Baba’s car idling outside the gates. Hassan lugged his mattress, rolled tightly and tied with a rope, on his back. He’d left all of his toys behind in the empty shack—I discovered them the next day, piled in a corner just like the birthday presents in my room. 

swell verb：to become larger and rounder than usual; to (cause to) increase in size or amount

肿胀，肿，膨胀

It was obvious she had broken her toe, because it immediately started to swell (up).她的脚趾显然已经骨折了，因为它马上开始肿起来了。

lug verb： to carry or pull something witheffort or difficulty because it isheavy

（费力地）拖，拉，拽

I'm exhausted after lugging these suitcases all the way across the city.拖着这些箱子穿过整个伦敦可把我给累坏了。

Slithering beads of rain sluiced down my window. I saw Baba slam the trunk shut. Already drenched, he walked to the driver’s side. Leaned in and said something to Ali in the backseat, perhaps one last-ditch effort to change his mind. They talked that way awhile, Baba getting soaked, stooping, one arm on the roof of the car. But when he straightened, I saw in his slumping shoulders that the life I had known since I’d been born was over. Baba slid in. The headlights came on and cut twin funnels of light in the rain. If this were one of the Hindi movies Hassan and I used to watch, this was the part where I’d run outside, my bare feet splashing rainwater. I’d chase the car, screaming for it to stop. I’d pull Hassan out of the backseat and tell him I was sorry, so sorry, my tears mixing with rainwater. We’d hug in the downpour. But this was no Hindi movie. I was sorry, but I didn’t cry and I didn’t chase the car. I watched Baba’s car pull away from the curb, taking with it the person whose first spoken word had been my name. I caught one final blurry glimpse of Hassan slumped in the back-seat before Baba turned left at the street corner where we’d played marbles so many times.

I stepped back and all I saw was rain through windowpanes that looked like melting silver.

slither verb： (of bodies) to move easily andquickly across a surface whiletwisting or curving

（躯体）蜿蜒而行，曲折滑行

She watched the snake slither away.她看着蛇游走了。

sluice verb： If water sluices out from somewhere, it flows in large amounts.

（水）大量溢出，泄出

Water sluiced out from the pipes.水从管道里大量溢出。

drench verb： to make someone or something extremely wet

使湿透；淋透；浇透

A sudden thunderstorm had drenched us to the skin.突如其来的雷阵雨把我们淋透了。

slump verb：  to sit or fallheavily and suddenly

沉重地坐下（或倒下）She slumped into the chair,exhausted.她颓然跌坐在椅子上，筋疲力尽。

funnel noun： an object that has a wide round opening at the top,sloping sides, and a narrow tube at the bottom, used for pouring liquids or powders into containers with narrow necks

漏斗

After you grind the coffee, use a funnel to pour it into the jar.磨好咖啡后，用漏斗将其倒入罐中。

marble noun： a small ball, usually made of coloured or transparentglass, that is used in children's games

（儿童游戏中用的）弹子

windowpane noun： a single piece of glass in thewindow of a building

窗玻璃

Summary

I feel sad that Rahim Khan’s word had such a negative effect on Amir. In my mind, Rahim Khan was intellectual and saw thoroughly through Amir, but this time he might lead him to the wrong way. In fact, his advice was objective. It was Amir who could not face Hassan and thought the leaving of one of them would be the best ending. That's totally incorrect. I hadn't made such a huge mistake in my life. If so, I would, from the inspiration of this book, know that escape won't be useful to rescue one from pain, but engrave the scar in one's heart.