（今天改变了记录方式，把原著的Chapter 8全文都记录下来啦。这样对于想读的童鞋可能看起来更加方便）
For a week, I barely saw Hassan. I woke up to find toasted bread, brewed tea, and a boiled egg already on the kitchen table. My clothes for the day were ironed and folded, left on the cane-seat chair in the foyer where Hassan usually did his ironing. He used to wait for me to sit at the breakfast table before he started ironing—that way, we could talk. Used to sing too, over the hissing of the iron, sang old Hazara songs about tulip fields. Now only the folded clothes greeted me. That, and a breakfast I hardly finished anymore.
cane-seat chair 大概就是这种椅子，也没查到中文名。在香港很多老人喜欢用这个。cane就是指那根拐杖，和seat结合起来就是可以当拐杖又可以坐。
One overcast morning, as I was pushing the boiled egg around on my plate, Ali walked in cradling a pile of chopped wood. I asked him where Hassan was. “He went back to sleep,” Ali said, kneeling before the stove. He pulled the little square door open. Would Hassan be able to play today?
Ali paused with a log in his hand. A worried look crossed his face. “Lately, it seems all he wants to do is sleep. He does his chores—I see to that—but then he just wants to crawl under his blanket. Can I ask you something?”
“If you have to.”
“After that kite tournament, he came home a little bloodied and his shirt was torn. I asked him what had happened and he said it was nothing, that he’d gotten into a little scuffle with some kids over the kite.”
I didn’t say anything. Just kept pushing the egg around on my plate.
“Did something happen to him, Amir agha? Something he’s not telling me?”
I shrugged. “How should I know?” “You would tell me, nay? Inshallah, you would tell me if something had happened?” “Like I said, how should I know what’s wrong with him?” I snapped. “Maybe he’s sick. People get sick all the time, Ali. Now, am I going to freeze to death or are you planning on lighting the stove today?”
That night I asked Baba if we could go to Jalalabad on Friday. He was rocking on the leather swivel chair behind his desk, reading a newspaper. He put it down, took off the reading glasses I disliked so much—Baba wasn’t old, not at all, and he had lots of years left to live, so why did he have to wear those stupid glasses?
rock verb： to (cause someone or something to) move backwards and forwards or from side toside in a regular way
swivel chair noun[countable]: a chair whose seat part can be turned while the legs remain in the same position
（使）摇晃，（使）摇动He picked up the baby and gently rocked her to sleep.他抱起了婴儿轻轻摇着哄她入睡。
“Why not!” he said. Lately, Baba agreed to everything I asked. Not only that, just two nights before, he’d asked me if I wanted to see El Cid with Charlton Heston at Cinema Aryana. “Do you want to ask Hassan to come along to Jalalabad?”
Why did Baba have to spoil it like that? “He’s mareez,” I said. Not feeling well.
“Really?” Baba stopped rocking in his chair. “What’s wrong with him?”
I gave a shrug and sank in the sofa by the fireplace. “He’s got a cold or something. Ali says he’s sleeping it off.”
“I haven’t seen much of Hassan the last few days,” Baba said.
“That’s all it is, then, a cold?” I couldn’t help hating the way his brow furrowed with worry.
brow noun： the forehead (= part of the faceabove the eyes)
额头
She wrinkled her brow as shethought.她思考时皱起眉头。
furrow verb： to form or cut a long line orhollow in the surface of something
皱纹；沟；车辙The wheels of the heavy tractorfurrowed the soft ground.重型拖拉机的轮子在柔软的土地上压出了车辙。
“Just a cold. So are we going Friday, Baba?”
“Yes, yes,” Baba said, pushing away from the desk. “Too bad about Hassan. I thought you might have had more fun if he came.”
“Well, the two of us can have fun together,” I said. Baba smiled. Winked. “Dress warm,” he said. It should have been just the two of us—that was the way I wanted it—but by Wednesday night, Baba had managed to invite another two dozen people. He called his cousin Homayoun—he was actually Baba’s second cousin—and mentioned he was going to Jalalabad on Friday, and Homayoun, who had studied engineering in France and had a house in Jalalabad, said he’d love to have everyone over, he’d bring the kids, his two wives, and, while he was at it, cousin Shafiqa and her family were visiting from Herat, maybe she’d like to tag along, and since she was staying with cousin Nader in Kabul, his family would have to be invited as well even though Homayoun and Nader had a bit of a feud going, and if Nader was invited, surely his brother Faruq had to be asked too or his feelings would be hurt and he might not invite them to his daughter’s wedding next month and . . .
wink verb： to close one eye for a shorttime as a way of greetingsomeone or showingfriendliness, sexual interest, etc., or of showing that you are not serious about something you have said
眨眼示意；使眼色
Laura winked at me as Stephenturned his back.他转过身去的时候，她冲我眨了眨眼。
feud noun： an argument that has existedfor a long time between twopeople or groups, causing a lot of anger or violence
夙怨；世仇；长期争斗
a family feud家族世仇
We filled three vans. I rode with Baba, Rahim Khan, Kaka Homayoun—Baba had taught me at a young age to call any older male Kaka, or Uncle, and any older female, Khala, or Aunt. Kaka Homayoun’s two wives rode with us too—the pinch-faced older one with the warts on her hands and the younger one who always smelled of perfume and danced with her eyes close—as did Kaka Homayoun’s twin girls. I sat in the back row, carsick and dizzy, sandwiched between the seven-year-old twins who kept reaching over my lap to slap at each other. The road to Jalalabad is a two-hour trek through mountain roads winding along a steep drop, and my stomach lurched with each hairpin turn. Everyone in the van was talking, talking loudly and at the same time, nearly shrieking, which is how Afghans talk. I asked one of the twins—Fazila or Karima, I could never tell which was which—if she’d trade her window seat with me so I could get fresh air on account of my car sickness. She stuck her tongue out and said no. I told her that was fine, but I couldn’t be held accountable for vomiting on her new dress. A minute later, I was leaning out the window. I watched the cratered road rise and fall, whirl its tail around the mountainside, counted the multicolored trucks packed with squatting men lumbering past. I tried closing my eyes, letting the wind slap at my cheeks, opened my mouth to swallow the clean air. I still didn’t feel better. A finger poked me in the side. It was Fazila/Karima.
pinched adjective： A pinched face is thin and pale.
（脸）消瘦的，苍白清瘦的
He had that pinched look thatsuggests poverty and lack ofnourishment.他面容那么消瘦，说明他穷困潦倒、营养不良。
wart noun： a small, hard lump (= a raisedarea) that grows on the skin, often on the face and hands
（常见于面部和手上的）疣，肉赘
hairpin noun： a thin, U-shaped metal pin that is used to hold part of the hairin a suitable position
（U 形）发卡，发夹 （这里应该指转U型的弯）
squat verb： to position yourself close to the ground balancing on thefront part of your feet with yourlegs bent under your body
蹲，蹲坐
She squatted on the ground andwarmed her hands by the fire.她蹲在地上，伸出双手烤火。
“What?” I said.
“I was just telling everyone about the tournament,” Baba said
from behind the wheel. Kaka Homayoun and his wives were smiling at me from the middle row of seats.
“There must have been a hundred kites in the sky that day?”
Baba said. “Is that about right, Amir?”
“I guess so,” I mumbled.
mumble verb： to speak quietly and in a way that is not clear so that the words are difficult tounderstand
含糊地说，咕哝
She mumbled something about being too busy.她嘟囔着说太忙了。
“A hundred kites, Homayoun jan. No laaf. And the only one still flying at the end of the day was Amir’s. He has the last kite at home, a beautiful blue kite. Hassan and Amir ran it together.” “Congratulations,” Kaka Homayoun said. His first wife, the one with the warts, clapped her hands. “Wah wah, Amir jan, we’re all so proud of you!” she said. The younger wife joined in. Then they were all clapping, yelping their praises, telling me how proud I’d made them all. Only Rahim Khan, sitting in the passenger seat next to Baba, was silent. He was looking at me in an odd way.
“Please pull over, Baba,” I said.
“What?”
“Getting sick,” I muttered, leaning across the seat, pressing against Kaka Homayoun’s daughters. Fazila/Karima’s face twisted. “Pull over, Kaka! His face is yellow! I don’t want him throwing up on my new dress!” she squealed.
pull over： If a vehicle pulls over, itmoves to the side of the roadand stops.
（车辆）驶到路边
Just pull over here, and I'll get out and walk the rest of the way.就在这儿停车吧，剩下的路我下车走回去。
squeal verb： to make a long, very highsound or cry
发出长而尖的声音；尖叫
We could hear the piglets squealing as we entered the farmyard.我们走进农场庭院时，可以听见猪崽在长嚎。
Baba began to pull over, but I didn’t make it. A few minutes later, I was sitting on a rock on the side of the road as they aired out the van. Baba was smoking with Kaka Homayoun who was telling Fazila/Karima to stop crying; he’d buy her another dress in Jalalabad. I closed my eyes, turned my face to the sun. Little shapes formed behind my eyelids, like hands playing shadows on the wall. They twisted, merged, formed a single image: Hassan’s brown corduroy pants discarded on a pile of old bricks in the alley.
air something out： to let fresh air into a room, especially one that has been closed for a long time
Kaka Homayoun’s white, two-story house in Jalalabad had a balcony overlooking a large, walled garden with apple and persimmon trees. There were hedges that, in the summer, the gardener shaped like animals, and a swimming pool with emerald-colored tiles. I sat on the edge of the pool, empty save for a layer of slushy snow at the bottom, feet dangling in. Kaka Homayoun’s kids were playing hide-and-seek at the other end of the yard. The women were cooking and I could smell onions frying already, could hear the phht-phht of a pressure cooker, music, laughter.
persimmon noun: a very sweet orange tropicalfruit
柿，柿子
slushy adjective: Slushy snow is partly melted.
（雪）半融的
Baba, Rahim Khan, Kaka Homayoun, and Kaka Nader were sitting on the balcony, smoking. Kaka Homayoun was telling them he’d brought the projector along to show his slides of France. Ten years since he’d returned from Paris and he was still showing those stupid slides.
It shouldn’t have felt this way. Baba and I were finally friends. We’d gone to the zoo a few days before, seen Marjan the lion, and I had hurled a pebble at the bear when no one was watching. We’d gone to Dadkhoda’s Kabob House afterward, across from Cinema Park, had lamb kabob with freshly baked naan from the tandoor. Baba told me stories of his travels to India and Russia, the people he had met, like the armless, legless couple in Bombay who’d been married forty-seven years and raised eleven children. That should have been fun, spending a day like that with Baba, hearing his stories. I finally had what I’d wanted all those years. Except now that I had it, I felt as empty as this unkempt pool I was dan- gling my legs into.说明Amir心里还是在意Hassan的
hurl verb: to throw something with a lot of force, usually in an angry orviolent way
（通常指愤怒或用力地）抛，扔
In a fit of temper he hurled the bookacross the room.他一怒之下把书扔到了房间的另一头。
The wives and daughters serhurlverbved dinner—rice, kofta, and chicken qurma—at sundown. We dined the traditional way, sitting on cushions around the room, tablecloth spread on the floor, eating with our hands in groups of four or five from common platters. I wasn’t hungry but sat down to eat anyway with Baba, Kaka Faruq, and Kaka Homayoun’s two boys. Baba, who’d had a few scotches before dinner, was still ranting about the kite tourna- ment, how I’d outlasted them all, how I’d come home with the last kite. His booming voice dominated the room. People raised their heads from their platters, called out their congratulations. Kaka Faruq patted my back with his clean hand. I felt like sticking a knife in my eye.又一次印证Amir的愧疚
rant verb: to speak or shout in a loud, uncontrolled, or angry way, often saying confused or sillythings
怒吼；抱怨；叫嚷；大声责骂
He's always ranting (on) about thegovernment.他总是抱怨政府。
Later, well past midnight, after a few hours of poker between Baba and his cousins, the men lay down to sleep on parallel mattresses in the same room where we’d dined. The women went upstairs. An hour later, I still couldn’t sleep. I kept tossing and turning as my relatives grunted, sighed, and snored in their sleep. I sat up. A wedge of moonlight streamed in through the window. “I watched Hassan get raped,” I said to no one. Baba stirred in his sleep. Kaka Homayoun grunted. A part of me was hoping someone would wake up and hear, so I wouldn’t have to live with this lie anymore. But no one woke up and in the silence that followed, I understood the nature of my new curse: I was going to get away with it.
wedge noun: a piece of metal, wood,rubber, etc. with a pointededge at one end and a wideedge at the other, eitherpushed between two objects tokeep them still or forced into something to break pieces off it
（金属、木头或橡胶等制成的）楔子，三角木
Push a wedge under the door to keepit open while we're carrying the boxesin.在门底下塞一个楔子让门敞开着，我们好往里搬箱子。
get away with sth: to succeed in avoidingpunishment for something
做（错事）而未被惩罚，做（坏事）而未被发觉
If I thought I could get away with it, I wouldn't pay my taxes at all.如果我认为逃税可以不受处罚的话，我就干脆一分钱都不交了。
I thought about Hassan’s dream, the one about us swimming in the lake. There is no monster, he’d said, just water. Except he’d been wrong about that. There was a monster in the lake. It had grabbed Hassan by the ankles, dragged him to the murky bottom. I was that monster. That was the night I became an insomniac.
murky adjective: dark and dirty or difficult to seethrough
黑暗的；不清楚的；肮脏的
The river was brown and murky after the storm.暴风雨过后，河水变成了褐色，浑浊不清。
I didn’t speak to Hassan until the middle of the next week. I had just half-eaten my lunch and Hassan was doing the dishes. I was walking upstairs, going to my room, when Hassan asked if I wanted to hike up the hill. I said I was tired. Hassan looked tired too—he’d lost weight and gray circles had formed under his puffed-up eyes. But when he asked again, I reluctantly agreed.
puff up:If part of your body puffs up, itbecomes bigger because it isinfected or injured.
（因感染或受伤）肿胀
My leg puffed up all around the insectbite.我腿上被昆虫叮咬的部位肿了起来。
reluctant adjective: not willing to do something and therefore slow to do it
We trekked up the hill, our boots squishing in the muddy snow. Neither one of us said anything. We sat under our pome- granate tree and I knew I’d made a mistake. I shouldn’t have come up the hill. The words I’d carved on the tree trunk with Ali’s kitchen knife, Amir and Hassan: The Sultans of Kabul ...I couldn’t stand looking at them now.
He asked me to read to him from the Shahnamah and I told him I’d changed my mind. Told him I just wanted to go back to my room. He looked away and shrugged. We walked back down the way we’d gone up: in silence. And for the first time in my life, I couldn’t wait for spring.
My memory of the rest of that winter of 1975 is pretty hazy. I remember I was fairly happy when Baba was home. We’d eat together, go to see a film, visit Kaka Homayoun or Kaka Faruq. Sometimes Rahim Khan came over and Baba let me sit in his study and sip tea with them. He’d even have me read him some of my stories. It was good and I even believed it would last. And Baba believed it too, I think. We both should have known better. For at least a few months after the kite tournament, Baba and I immersed ourselves in a sweet illusion, saw each other in a way that we never had before. We’d actually deceived ourselves into thinking that a toy made of tissue paper, glue, and bamboo could somehow close the chasm between us.
deceive verb: to persuade someone that something false is the truth, or to keep the truth hidden from someone for your ownadvantage
欺骗，蒙骗；隐瞒
The company deceived customers byselling old computers as new ones.该公司用旧计算机冒充新机器欺骗顾客。
chasm noun: a very deep, narrow opening inrock, ice, or the ground
（岩石、地面或冰面的）裂隙，深坑
They leaned over the rails and peereddown into the dizzying chasm below.他们靠在栏杆上向下凝视令人眩晕的深渊。
But when Baba was out—and he was out a lot—I closed myself in my room. I read a book every couple of days, wrote stories, learned to draw horses. I’d hear Hassan shuffling around the kitchen in the morning, hear the clinking of silverware, the whis- tle of the teapot. I’d wait to hear the door shut and only then I would walk down to eat. On my calendar, I circled the date of the first day of school and began a countdown.
To my dismay, Hassan kept trying to rekindle things between us. I remember the last time. I was in my room, reading an abbre- viated Farsi translation of Ivanhoe, when he knocked on my door.
clink verb: to (cause something to) make ashort ringing sound like piecesof glass or metal knockinglightly together
（使）发出叮当声，（使）叮当作响
The ice clinked as she dropped it into the glass.她把冰块丢入玻璃杯，冰块叮当作响。
rekindle verb: to make someone have afeeling that they had in the past
重新激起；重新唤起
The holiday was a last chance to rekindle their love.这次休假是使他们重新燃起爱情之火的最后一次机会
“What is it?”
“I’m going to the baker to buy naan,” he said from the other side. “I was wondering if you ...if you wanted to come along.”
“I think I’m just going to read,” I said, rubbing my temples. Lately, every time Hassan was around, I was getting a headache.
“It’s a sunny day,” he said.
“I can see that.”
“Might be fun to go for a walk.”
“You go.”
“I wish you’d come along,” he said. Paused. Something thumped against the door, maybe his forehead. “I don’t know what I’ve done, Amir agha. I wish you’d tell me. I don’t know why we don’t play anymore.”
thump verb: to hit someone with your fist(= closed hand)
重击，捶击
He thumped him in the face.他一拳狠狠打在他的脸上。
“You haven’t done anything, Hassan. Just go.”
“You can tell me, I’ll stop doing it.” I buried my head in my lap, squeezed my temples with my knees, like a vice. “I’ll tell you what I want you to stop doing,” I said, eyes pressed shut.
“Anything.”
“I want you to stop harassing me. I want you to go away,” I snapped. I wished he would give it right back to me, break the door open and tell me off—it would have made things easier, bet- ter. But he didn’t do anything like that, and when I opened the door minutes later, he wasn’t there. I fell on my bed, buried my head under the pillow, and cried.
Hassan milled about the periphery of my life after that. I made sure our paths crossed as little as possible, planned my day that way. Because when he was around, the oxygen seeped out of the room. My chest tightened and I couldn’t draw enough air; I’d stand there, gasping in my own little airless bubble of atmosphere. But even when he wasn’t around, he was. He was there in the hand-washed and ironed clothes on the cane-seat chair, in the warm slippers left outside my door, in the wood already burning in the stove when I came down for breakfast. Everywhere I turned, I saw signs of his loyalty, his goddamn unwavering loyalty.
periphery noun: the less important part of agroup or activity
（某一团体或活动的）次要部分，边缘
Many women feel they are being kepton the periphery of the armed forces.许多妇女感到她们在武装部队中被边缘化了。
seep verb: to move or spread slowly out of a hole or through something
渗出；渗漏
Pesticides are seeping out offarmland and into the water supply.杀虫剂正从农田中渗出，进入供水系统。
Early that spring, a few days before the new school year started, Baba and I were planting tulips in the garden. Most of the snow had melted and the hills in the north were already dotted with patches of green grass. It was a cool, gray morning, and Baba was squatting next to me, digging the soil and planting the bulbs I handed to him. He was telling me how most people thought it was better to plant tulips in the fall and how that wasn’t true, when I came right out and said it. “Baba, have you ever thought about getting new servants?”
He dropped the tulip bulb and buried the trowel in the dirt.
dot verb: to be spreadacross an area, or to spreadmany similar things across anarea
分布，分散
The area is dotted with beautifulchurches.乡间散落着很多漂亮的教堂。
bulb noun: a round root of some plantsfrom which the plant grows
球茎，鳞茎
tulip bulbs郁金香球茎
trowel noun: a small tool with a curvedpointed metal blade, used in the garden for digging smallholes and removing smallplants from the ground
小泥铲，小铲子（一种园艺工具）
Took off his gardening gloves. I’d startled him. “Chi? What did you say?”
“I was just wondering, that’s all.”
“Why would I ever want to do that?” Baba said curtly.
“You wouldn’t, I guess. It was just a question,” I said, my voice fading to a murmur. I was already sorry I’d said it.
“Is this about you and Hassan? I know there’s something going on between you two, but whatever it is, you have to deal with it, not me. I’m staying out of it.”
“I’m sorry, Baba.”
He put on his gloves again. “I grew up with Ali,” he said through clenched teeth. “My father took him in, he loved Ali like his own son. Forty years Ali’s been with my family. Forty goddamn years. And you think I’m just going to throw him out?” He turned to me now, his face as red as a tulip. “I’ve never laid a hand on you, Amir, but you ever say that again . . .” He looked away, shaking his head. “You bring me shame. And Hassan . . . Hassan’s not going anywhere, do you understand?”
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
"Get out of here," she said through clenched teeth.“滚出去，”她咬牙切齿地说。
lay a hand on sb: to harm someone
对（某人）动手，伤害（某人）I never laid a hand on her!我从未伤害过她！
I looked down and picked up a fistful of cool soil. Let it pour between my fingers.
“I said, Do you understand?” Baba roared.
I flinched. “Yes, Baba.” “Hassan’s not going anywhere,” Baba snapped. He dug a new hole with the trowel, striking the dirt harder than he had to. “He’s staying right here with us, where he belongs. This is his home and we’re his family. Don’t you ever ask me that question again!”
flinch verb: to make a sudden, smallmovement because of pain orfear
（因疼痛或恐惧）猛地一颤，畏缩，退缩
He didn't even flinch when the nursecleaned the wound.护士清洗伤口的时候，他都一点也没畏缩。
“I won’t, Baba. I’m sorry.”
We planted the rest of the tulips in silence.
I was relieved when school started that next week. Students with new notebooks and sharpened pencils in hand ambled about the courtyard, kicking up dust, chatting in groups, waiting for the class captains’ whistles. Baba drove down the dirt lane that led to the entrance. The school was an old two-story building with bro- ken windows and dim, cobblestone hallways, patches of its original dull yellow paint still showing between sloughing chunks of plaster. Most of the boys walked to school, and Baba’s black Mustang drew more than one envious look. I should have been beam- ing with pride when he dropped me off—the old me would have—but all I could muster was a mild form of embarrassment. That and emptiness. Baba drove away without saying good-bye. I bypassed the customary comparing of kite-fighting scars and stood in line. The bell rang and we marched to our assigned class, filed in in pairs. I sat in the back row. As the Farsi teacher handed out our textbooks, I prayed for a heavy load of homework. School gave me an excuse to stay in my room for long hours.
amble verb: to walk in a slow and relaxedway
漫步，缓行
He was ambling along the beach.他沿着沙滩漫步。
cobble noun also(cobblestone): a rounded stone used on thesurface of an old-fashionedroad
（老式路面用的）鹅卵石
The cart rumbled over the cobbles.大车咕隆隆地碾过鹅卵石。
hallway noun: a hall
礼堂，大厅，会堂
slough verb: (of some animals) to have a layer of skin come off
（某些动物）蜕（皮）
Snakes slough their skin regularly.蛇定期蜕皮。
plaster noun: a substance that becomeshard as it dries and is usedespecially for spreading onwalls and ceilings in order to give a smooth surface
灰泥，灰浆
The plaster on the walls was crackedand flaking.墙上的灰浆出现了裂缝，正在剥落。
muster verb: to produce or encouragesomething such as an emotionor support
鼓起（勇气）；激起（某种感情或支持）
She managed to muster the courageto ask him to the cinema.她终于鼓起勇气请他去看电影。
And, for a while, it took my mind off what had happened that win- ter, what I had let happen. For a few weeks, I preoccupied myself with gravity and momentum, atoms and cells, the Anglo-Afghan wars, instead of thinking about Hassan and what had happened to him. But, always, my mind returned to the alley. To Hassan’s brown corduroy pants lying on the bricks. To the droplets of blood staining the snow dark red, almost black. One sluggish, hazy afternoon early that summer, I asked Hassan to go up the hill with me. Told him I wanted to read him a new story I’d written. He was hanging clothes to dry in the yard and I saw his eagerness in the harried way he finished the job.说明Hassan以为Amir要跟他和好了，急急忙忙把手上的活儿做完。
We climbed the hill, making small talk. He asked about school, what I was learning, and I talked about my teachers, especially the mean math teacher who punished talkative students by sticking a metal rod between their fingers and then squeezing them together. Hassan winced at that, said he hoped I’d never have to experience it. I said I’d been lucky so far, knowing that luck had nothing to do with it. I had done my share of talking in class too. But my father was rich and everyone knew him, so I was spared the metal rod treatment.
rod noun: a long, thin pole made of woodor metal
竿，杆，棒
He was given a fishing rod for hisbirthday.别人送给他一根钓鱼竿作为生日礼物。
wince verb: to show pain suddenly and for a short time in the face, oftenmoving the head back at the same time
（因疼痛而）脸部肌肉抽搐，皱眉蹙额
Did I hurt you? - I thought I saw you wince.我弄疼你了吗？——好像看到你皱了一下眉。
We sat against the low cemetery wall under the shade thrown by the pomegranate tree. In another month or two, crops of scorched yellow weeds would blanket the hillside, but that year the spring showers had lasted longer than usual, nudging their way into early summer(很棒的表达，慢慢地进入夏天。nudging their way into...), and the grass was still green, peppered with tangles of wildflowers. Below us, Wazir Akbar Khan’s white- walled, flat-topped houses gleamed in the sunshine, the laundry hanging on clotheslines in their yards stirred by the breeze to dance like butterflies.
scorched adjective: slightly burned, or damaged byfire or heat
烧焦的；烧毁的；烫坏的
The countryside was scorched after several weeks of hot sun.经过几周的烈日暴晒，乡下的土地都焦了。
shower noun:a short period of rain orsnow
阵雨；阵雪
showers of rain, hail and sleet一阵阵的雨、冰雹和雨夹雪
nudge verb: to move slowly andalmost reach a higher point orlevel
接近（更高点或水平）
Oil prices continue to nudge higher.油价持续上涨。
tangle noun: an untidy mass of things that are not in a state of order, or astate of confusion or difficulty
纠结的一团；纠结；混乱
a tangle of wires一团乱糟糟的电线
（每次作者写景色就会有很多好句噢）
We had picked a dozen pomegranates from the tree. I unfolded the story I’d brought along, turned to the first page, then put it down. I stood up and picked up an overripe pomegranate that had fallen to the ground.
“What would you do if I hit you with this?” I said, tossing the fruit up and down.
Hassan’s smile wilted. He looked older than I’d remembered. No, not older, old. Was that possible? Lines had etched into his tanned face and creases framed his eyes, his mouth. I might as well have taken a knife and carved those lines myself.
wilt verb： (of a plant) to become weakand begin to bend towards theground, or (of a person) tobecome weaker, tired, or lessconfident
（植物）枯萎，凋谢；（人）变得萎靡不振
Cut flowers will soon wilt withoutwater.切花没有水会很快枯萎。
etch verb： to cut a pattern, picture, etc. into a smooth surface,especially on metal or glass, using acid or a sharpinstrument
（尤指在金属或玻璃上）蚀刻，凿出
He etched his name on a piece ofglass.他把自己的名字蚀刻在一块玻璃上。
crease noun： a line on cloth or paperwhere it has been folded orcrushed
（布或纸上的）褶痕，皱褶
He ironed a crease down the front of each trouser leg.他在每条裤腿的正面熨出一条褶痕来。
“What would you do?” I repeated.
The color fell from his face. Next to him, the stapled pages of the story I’d promised to read him fluttered in the breeze. I hurled the pomegranate at him. It struck him in the chest, exploded in a spray of red pulp. Hassan’s cry was pregnant with surprise and pain.
staple verb： to fasten something using staples
用钉书钉钉住
Would you mind stapling the reportstogether?你能把报告用订书钉订好吗？
“Hit me back!” I snapped. Hassan looked fro
m the stain on his chest to me.
“Get up! Hit me!” I said. Hassan did get up, but he just stood there, looking dazed like a man dragged into the ocean by a riptide when, just a moment ago, he was enjoying a nice stroll on the beach. I hit him with another pomegranate, in the shoulder this time.
The juice splattered his face. “Hit me back!” I spat. “Hit me back, goddamn you!” I wished he would. I wished he’d give me the punishment I craved, so maybe I’d finally sleep at night. Maybe then things could return to how they used to be between us. But Has- san did nothing as I pelted him again and again. “You’re a cow- ard!” I said. “Nothing but a goddamn coward!”
I don’t know how many times I hit him. All I know is that, when I finally stopped, exhausted and panting, Hassan was smeared in red like he’d been shot by a firing squad. I fell to my knees, tired, spent, frustrated.
spat verb： past simple and past participle of spit verb
争吵，争执，口角
pelt verb： to throw a number of thingsquickly at someone or something
连续投掷
We saw rioters pelting police withbricks and bottles.我们看见暴乱分子向警察投掷砖头和瓶子。
smear verb： to spread aliquid or a thick substance over a surface
涂抹（黏腻的东西）
The children had smeared peanutbutter all over the sofa.孩子们把花生酱抹得沙发上到处都是。
Then Hassan did pick up a pomegranate. He walked toward me. He opened it and crushed it against his own forehead. “There,” he croaked, red dripping down his face like blood. “Are you satisfied? Do you feel better?” He turned around and started down the hill.
I let the tears break free, rocked back and forth on my knees. “What am I going to do with you, Hassan? What am I going to do with you?” But by the time the tears dried up and I trudged down the hill, I knew the answer to that question.
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
trudge verb： to walk slowly with a lot ofeffort, especially over a difficultsurface or while carryingsomething heavy
（尤指在崎岖的路上或携重物时）步履艰难地走，费力地走，跋涉
We trudged back up the hill.我们跋涉回到山上。
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