I remember one overcast¹ winter day, Hassan and I were running a kite. I was chasing him through neighborhoods, hopping² gutters³, weaving through narrow streets. I was a year older than him, but Hassan ran faster than I did, and I was falling behind.

我记得有个阴暗的冬日，哈桑和我追着一只风筝。我跟着他，穿过各处街区，跳过水沟，侧身跑过那些狭窄的街道。我比他大一岁，但哈桑跑得比我快，我落在后面。

"Hassan! Wait!" I yelled, my breathing hot and ragged⁴.[qh] "哈桑，等等我。"我气喘吁吁地大喊，有些恼怒。

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.

他转过身，挥挥手:"这边!"说完就冲进另外一个拐角处。我抬头一看，那个方向与风筝跌落的方向恰好相反。

"We're losing it! We're going the wrong way!" I cried out.

"我们追不到它了!我们跑错路了!"我高声叫道。

"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 athieticism. When I staggered to my feet, I caught a glimpse of Hassan disappearing around another street corner. I hobbled after him, spikes⁵ of pain battering⁶ my scraped knees.

"相信我!"我听见他在前面说。我跑到拐角处，发现哈桑低首飞奔，根本就没有抬头看看天空，汗水浸透了他后背的衣服。我踩到一块石头，摔了一跤--我非但跑得比哈桑慢，也笨拙得多，我总是羡慕他与生俱来的运动才能。我站起身来，瞥见哈桑又拐进了另一条巷子。我艰难地追着他，摔破的膝盖传来阵阵剧痛。

I saw we had ended up on a rutted dirt road near Isteqial Middle School. There was a field on one side where lettuce⁷ 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.

我看到我们最终停在一条车辙纵横的泥土路上，就在独立中学旁边。路边有块田地，夏天会种满莴苣；路的另外一边有成排的酸樱桃树。只见哈桑盘起双腿，坐在其中一棵树下，吃着手里的一捧桑椹干。

"What are we doing here?" I panted, my stomach roiling⁸ with nausea⁹.

"我们在这干吗呢?"我上气不接下气，胃里翻江倒海，简直要吐出来。

He smiled. "Sit with me, Amir agha."

他微笑:"在我这边坐下，阿米尔少爷。"

I dropped next to him, lay on a thin patch of snow, wheezing¹⁰. "You're wasting our time. It was going the other way, didn't you see?"

我在他旁边颓然倒下，躺在一层薄薄的雪花上，喘着气。"你在浪费时间。它朝另外一边飞去了，你没看到吗?"

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

哈桑往嘴里扔了一颗桑椹:"它飞过来了。"我呼吸艰难，而他一点都不累。

"How do you know?" I said.

"你怎么知道?"我问。

"I know."

"我知道。"

"How can you know?"

"你是怎么知道的?"

He turned to me. A few sweat beads¹¹ rolled from his bald scalp. "Would I ever lie to you, Amir agha?"

他朝我转过身，有些汗珠从他额头流下来，"我骗过你吗，阿米尔少爷?"

Suddenly I decided¹² to toy with him a little. "I don't know. Would you?"

刹那间我决定跟他开开玩笑:"我不知道。你会骗我吗?"

"I'd sooner eat dirt," he said with a look of indignation.

"我宁愿吃泥巴也不骗你。"他带着愤愤的表情说。