"Well," Dr. Kumar said, "my job is to fix things on people's bodies. Sometimes their faces."

"这么说吧，"库玛大夫说，"我的工作是修理人们的身体，有时是人们的脸庞。"

"Oh,"Hassan said. He looked from Dr. Kumar to Baba to Ali. His hand touched his upper lip. "Oh,"he said again.

"噢，"哈桑说，他看看库玛大夫，看看爸爸，又看看阿里，伸手遮住上唇。"噢。"他又说。

"It's an unusual present, I know," Baba said. "And probably not what you had in mind, but this present will last you forever."

"这不是份寻常的礼物，我知道。"爸爸说，"也许不是你想要的，但这份礼物会陪伴你终生。"

"Oh,"Hassan said. He licked his lips. Cleared his throat. "Agha sahib, will it... will it--"

"噢，"哈桑说，他舔舔嘴唇，清清喉咙，说:"老爷，这……这会不会……"

"Nothing doing,"Dr. Kumar intervened, smiling kindly¹. "It will not hurt you one bit. In fact, I will give you a Medicine and you will not remember a thing."

"别担心，"库玛大夫插嘴说，脸上带着微笑,"不会让你觉得很痛的。实际上，我会给你用一种药，你什么都不会记得。"

"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 dread², I remembered my circumcision the year prior. The doctor had given me the same line, reassured³ me it wouldn't hurt one bit. But when the numbing⁴ 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.

"噢。"哈桑说。他松了一口气，微笑着，但也只是松了一口气。"我不是害怕，老爷，我只是……"哈桑也许是个傻瓜，我可不是。我知道要是医生跟你说不会痛的时候，你的麻烦就大了。我心悸地想起去年割包皮的情形，医生也是这么对我说，安慰说那不会很痛。但那天深夜，麻醉药的药性消退之后，感觉像有人拿着又红又热的木炭在烫我的下阴。爸爸为什么要等到我十岁才让我割包皮呢?我百思不得其解，这也是我永远无法原谅他的事情之一。

I wished I too had some kind of scar that would beget⁵ 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.

我希望自己身上也有类似的残疾，可以乞换来爸爸的怜悯。太不公平了，哈桑什么都没干，就得到爸爸的爱护，他不就是生了那个愚蠢的兔唇吗?

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 grotesque⁶ mesh⁷ of swollen⁸, raw tissue. I expected Hassan 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.

手术很成功。他们刚解掉绷带的时候，我们多少都有点吃惊，但还是像库玛大夫先前交代的那样保持微笑。但那并不容易，因为哈桑的上唇看起来又肿又怪，没有表皮。护士递给哈桑镜子的时候，我希望他哭起来。哈桑深深地看着镜子，若有所思，阿里则紧紧握住他的手。他咕哝了几句，我没听清楚。我把耳朵凑到他唇边，他又低声说了一遍。

"Tashakor." Thank you.

"谢谢。"

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.

接着他的嘴唇扭曲了，当时，我完全知道他在干什么。他在微笑。就像他从母亲子宫里出来时那样微笑着。

The swelling⁹ subsided¹⁰, and the wound healed with time. Soon, it was just a pink jagged line running up from his lip. By the following winter, it was only a faint scar. Which was ironic¹¹. Because that was the winter that Hassan stopped smiling.

随着时间的过去，肿胀消退，伤口弥合。不久，他的嘴唇上就只剩下一道弯弯曲曲的缝合线。到下一个冬天，它变成淡淡的伤痕。说来讽刺，正是从那个冬天之后，哈桑便不再微笑了。