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医学系毕业的卡勒德·胡赛尼凭借处女作《追风筝的人》(2003)一举成名，虽然他的第二部小说让其忠实的读者苦苦等待，但《灿烂千阳》(2007)的确没有令他们失望，再次创下畅销奇迹。同样以其祖国阿富汗为背景，同样是朴素但直指人心的文笔，但这次的叙述是通过两位女性的眼睛。
主角玛丽雅姆是个“哈拉米”(私生子)，这个身世让她处于永无止境、卑微如尘的生活中；但莱拉(玛丽雅姆的丈夫拉希德的第二任妻子，被玛丽雅姆起初视为竞争者)的到来，让她这个习惯了逆来顺受的女性重拾了爱、自尊和勇气。两名不同背景而又殊命同归的阿富汗女性共同经受着这个国度的战火和社会不平给她们带来的创伤，心底潜藏着的悲苦与忍耐让她们曾经水火不容，又让她们缔结情谊，相濡以沫。最后，玛丽雅姆做出了其一生中最无悔的一个决定，用自己的生命换来了莱拉及其小孩的自由和幸福。
34
(What Rasheed had prepared for his baby was boy’s clothes.)
Two days later, Laila woke up in the morning and found a stack of baby clothes, neatly folded, outside her bedroom door. There was a 1)twirl dress with little pink fishes sewn around the2)bodice, a blue 3)floral wool dress with matching socks and 4)mittens.
(Not until Rasheed had fallen asleep after dinner)
Laila slipped out of the bedroom and found Mariam in the kitchen 5)squatting, cleaning a pair of 6)trout. A pot of rice was already soaking beside her. The kitchen smelled like 7)cumin and smoke, browned onions and fish.
Laila sat in a corner and 8)draped her knees with the 9)hem of her dress.
“Thank you,” she said.
Mariam took no notice of her. She finished cutting up the first trout and picked up the second.
“The clothes are lovely.”
“I had no use for them,” Mariam 10)muttered. “It was either your daughter or the 11)moths.”
“Where did you learn to clean a fish like that?”
“When I was a little girl, I lived by a stream. I used to catch my own fish.”
“I’ve never fished.”
“Not much to it. It’s mostly waiting.”
Laila watched her cut the 12)gutted trout into thirds. “Did you sew the clothes yourself?”
Mariam nodded.
“When?”
Mariam 13)rinsed sections of fish in a bowl of water. “When I was 14)pregnant the first time. Or maybe the second time. Eighteen, nineteen years ago. Long time, anyhow. Like I said, I never had any use for them.”
“You’re really a good 15)khayat. Maybe you can teach me.”
Mariam placed the rinsed chunks of trout into a clean bowl. Drops of water dripping from her fingertips, she raised her head and looked at Laila, looked at her as if for the first time.
“16)The other night, when he…Nobody’s ever stood up for me before,” she said.
Laila examined Mariana’s 17)drooping cheeks, the eyelids that 18)sagged in tired folds, the deep lines that 19)framed her mouth—she saw these things as though she too were looking at someone for the first time. And, for the first time, it was not an 20)adversary’s face Laila saw but a face of 21)grievances unspoken, burdens gone 22)unprotested, a destiny 23)submitted to and endured. If she stayed, would this be her own face, Laila wondered, twenty years from now?
“I couldn’t let him,” Laila said. “I wasn’t raised in a household where people did things like that.”
“This is your household now. You ought to get used to it.”
“Not to that. I won’t.”
“He’ll turn on you too, you know,” Mariam said, wiping her hand dry with a rag. “Soon enough. And you gave him a daughter. So, you see, your sin is even less forgivable than mine.”
Laila rose to her feet. “I know it’s chilly outside, but what do you say we 24)sinners have us a cup of25)chai in the yard?”
Mariam looked surprised. “I can’t. I still have to cut and wash the beans.”
“I’ll help you do it in the morning.”
“And I have to clean up here.”
“We’ll do it together. If I’m not mistaken, there’s some 26)halwa left over. Awfully good with chai.”
Mariam put the rag on the counter. Laila sensed anxiety in the way she 27)tugged at her sleeves, adjusted her 28)hijab, pushed back a curl of hair.
“The Chinese say it’s better to be 29)deprived of food for three days than tea for one.”
Mariam gave a half smile. “It’s a good saying.”
“It is.”
“But I can’t stay long.”
“One cup.”
They sat on folding chairs outside and ate halwa with their fingers from a common bowl. They had a second cup, and when Laila asked her if she wanted a third Mariam said she did. As gunfire 30)cracked in the hills, they watched the clouds slide over the moon and the last of the season’s fireflies 31)charting bright yellow32)arcs in the dark. And when Aziza woke up crying and Rasheed yelled for Laila to come up and shut her up, a look passed between Laila and Mariam. An 33)unguarded, knowing look. And in this fleeting, wordless exchange with Mariam, Laila knew that they were not enemies any longer.
35
(After Mariam and Laila had shared everything about their misery.)
Mariam did not sleep that night. She sat in bed, watched the snow falling soundlessly.
Seasons had come and gone; presidents in 34)Kabul had been 35)inaugurated and murdered; an 36)empire had been defeated; old wars had ended and new ones had broken out. But Mariam had hardly noticed, hardly cared. She had passed these years in a distant corner of her mind. A dry, 37)barren field, out beyond wish and 38)lament, beyond dream and 39)disillusionment. There, the future did not matter. And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and its 40)accomplice, hope, a 41)treacherous 42)illusion. And whenever those twin poisonous flowers began to sprout in the 43)parched land of that field, Mariam 44)uprooted them. She uprooted them and 45)ditched them before they took hold.
But somehow, over these last months, Laila and Aziza—a harami like herself, as it turned out—had become extensions of her, and now, without them, the life Mariam had46)tolerated for so long suddenly seemed intolerable.
We’re leaving this spring, Aziza and I. Come with us, Mariam.
The years had not been kind to Mariam. But perhaps, she thought, there were kinder years waiting still. A new life, a life in which she would find the blessings that Nana said a harami like her would never see. Two new flowers had unexpectedly sprouted in her life…
第三十四章
（拉希德为新生儿准备的只有男孩的衣服。）
两天后，早晨莱拉醒过来时，发现她的卧室门口有一堆婴儿的衣服，叠得整整齐齐。那儿有一条上身绣有粉红小鱼的连衣裙，一条蓝花羊毛裙和相称的袜子和手套。
（晚饭后，等拉希德睡了）
莱拉悄悄下了床，在厨房找到玛丽雅姆，她蹲在地上，正在宰杀两条鲑鱼。其身旁一锅大米已经泡好了。厨房里弥漫着孜然、炊烟、浸过黄油的洋葱和鲑鱼的味道。
莱拉在一个角落坐下，掀起裙边盖住膝盖。
“谢谢你。”她说。
玛丽雅姆没有看她。第一条鱼已经杀好了，她拿起第二条。
“那些衣服很好看。”
“我留着它们也没用，” 玛丽雅姆咕哝着说。“不给你的女儿，它们也会被蛀虫吃掉。”
“这样杀鱼你是从哪里学来的啊？”
“小的时候，我住在一条小河旁边。我常常自己去捉鱼。”
“我还没钓过鱼呢。”
“钓鱼不是很好玩。大部分时间都在等待。”
莱拉看着她把杀好的鱼砍成三段。“那些衣服是你自己缝的吗？”
玛丽雅姆点点头。
“什么时候？”
玛丽雅姆在一个盛满水的碗里面清洗那几段鱼肉。“在我第一次怀孕的时候。也可能是第二次。十八年前、十九年以前。反正很久之前啦。就像我刚才说过的，我留着它们也没用。”
“你真是一个好裁缝。也许你可以教我。”
玛丽雅姆把洗过的鲑鱼段放进一个干净的碗里。几颗水珠从她的指尖滴下来，她抬起头，看着莱拉，好像第一次看到她似的。
“那天晚上，他……之前从来没有人为我挺身而出。”她说。
莱拉端详着玛丽雅姆脸皮松弛的面孔，因为劳累而生出眼袋的眼脸，还有她的嘴巴四周深深的皱纹——她看着这面孔，好像她也是第一次看到玛丽雅姆。破天荒以来头一遭，莱拉看到的不再是一张敌人的面孔，而是一张忍辱负重、自认命苦的脸庞。如果她留下来，莱拉心想，再过二十年，她的脸会不会也变成这样呢？
“我不能让他这么做，”莱拉说，“我不是在人们会做出那种事情的家庭长大的。”
“现在这个才是你的家啦。你应该学习适应它。”
“我适应不了那种事情。将来也不会。”
“他会对付你的，你知道的，” 玛丽雅姆说，用一块抹布擦着手，“就快了。你给他生了一个女儿。所以，你知道的，你的罪行比我的更加不能得到他的饶恕。”
莱拉站起来，“我知道外面很凉，但你觉得我们这样的罪人到院子里喝一杯茶怎么样？”
玛丽雅姆露出惊讶的神色。“我可不能去。我还得切洗大豆。”
“明天早上我来帮你做。”
“我还得把这里清扫一下呢。”
“等我们一起来做吧。如果我没有弄错的话，还有一些吃剩的甜饼。用来配茶简直太棒啦。”
玛丽雅姆把抹布放在灶台上。她卷起衣袖，调整了头巾，将一绺头发挪到后面；莱拉察觉到她很紧张。
“中国人说宁可饿三天肚子也不能一天没茶喝。”
玛丽雅姆微微笑了笑，“这句话说得好。”
“就是。”
“但我不能待太久。”
“就喝一杯。”
她们坐在屋外的折叠椅上，用手指从一个普通碗里拿甜饼吃。她们喝完了第二杯茶，当莱拉问她要不要来第三杯的时候，玛丽雅姆说好。山中枪炮声连绵不绝，她们看着云彩飘过月亮，这个季节最后一批萤火虫在黑暗中划出一道道明亮的黄色弧线。当阿兹莎哭着醒过来、拉希德大声喊莱拉上去让她闭嘴时，莱拉和玛丽雅姆交换了一个眼神。坦诚的、会意的眼神。在和玛丽雅姆这次匆匆的无声交流中，莱拉知道她们已经不再是敌人了。
第三十五章
（玛丽雅姆和莱拉互诉衷肠。）
玛丽雅姆那天晚上彻夜未眠。她坐在床上，看着雪花无声地飘落。
一年年秋去东又来，几个总统在喀布尔上任又被谋杀；一个帝国入侵阿富汗又被打败，旧的战争才结束新的战争又开始。但玛丽雅姆从没留意，从不关心。她躲在自己心灵的一个遥远角落，独自度过了这些岁月。那儿是一片干旱贫瘠的土地，没有希望，也没有哀伤；没有梦想，也没有幻灭。那儿无所谓未来。那儿的过去只留下这个教训：爱是使人遍体鳞伤的错误，而它的帮凶，希望，则是背信弃义的幻象。无论什么时候，若这一对剧毒的两生花开始在那片干涸的土地上生长出来，玛丽雅姆就会将它们连根拔除。她把它们拔起来，还没拿稳就赶紧将其扔掉。
但不知道怎么回事，过去这几个月来，莱拉和阿兹莎——原来（阿兹莎）也是哈拉米，和她本人一样——变成了她生命的一部分；但现在，玛丽雅姆突然觉得，若没有她们，她似乎无法忍受自己业已忍受了这么久的生活。
我们开春就走了，阿兹莎和我。跟我们一起走吧，玛丽雅姆。
这些年来，玛丽雅姆的日子并不好过。但也许，她想，仍有一些较为好过的年月在等着她。一种新的生活。娜娜（玛丽雅姆的妈妈）曾说过，像她这样的哈拉米永远得不到幸福，但在这种新生活中，她也许能找得到。两朵新的花朵始料未及地在她的生命中生长出来……
（译文参考自上海人民出版社）
主角玛丽雅姆是个“哈拉米”(私生子)，这个身世让她处于永无止境、卑微如尘的生活中；但莱拉(玛丽雅姆的丈夫拉希德的第二任妻子，被玛丽雅姆起初视为竞争者)的到来，让她这个习惯了逆来顺受的女性重拾了爱、自尊和勇气。两名不同背景而又殊命同归的阿富汗女性共同经受着这个国度的战火和社会不平给她们带来的创伤，心底潜藏着的悲苦与忍耐让她们曾经水火不容，又让她们缔结情谊，相濡以沫。最后，玛丽雅姆做出了其一生中最无悔的一个决定，用自己的生命换来了莱拉及其小孩的自由和幸福。
34
(What Rasheed had prepared for his baby was boy’s clothes.)
Two days later, Laila woke up in the morning and found a stack of baby clothes, neatly folded, outside her bedroom door. There was a 1)twirl dress with little pink fishes sewn around the2)bodice, a blue 3)floral wool dress with matching socks and 4)mittens.
(Not until Rasheed had fallen asleep after dinner)
Laila slipped out of the bedroom and found Mariam in the kitchen 5)squatting, cleaning a pair of 6)trout. A pot of rice was already soaking beside her. The kitchen smelled like 7)cumin and smoke, browned onions and fish.
Laila sat in a corner and 8)draped her knees with the 9)hem of her dress.
“Thank you,” she said.
Mariam took no notice of her. She finished cutting up the first trout and picked up the second.
“The clothes are lovely.”
“I had no use for them,” Mariam 10)muttered. “It was either your daughter or the 11)moths.”
“Where did you learn to clean a fish like that?”
“When I was a little girl, I lived by a stream. I used to catch my own fish.”
“I’ve never fished.”
“Not much to it. It’s mostly waiting.”
Laila watched her cut the 12)gutted trout into thirds. “Did you sew the clothes yourself?”
Mariam nodded.
“When?”
Mariam 13)rinsed sections of fish in a bowl of water. “When I was 14)pregnant the first time. Or maybe the second time. Eighteen, nineteen years ago. Long time, anyhow. Like I said, I never had any use for them.”
“You’re really a good 15)khayat. Maybe you can teach me.”
Mariam placed the rinsed chunks of trout into a clean bowl. Drops of water dripping from her fingertips, she raised her head and looked at Laila, looked at her as if for the first time.
“16)The other night, when he…Nobody’s ever stood up for me before,” she said.
Laila examined Mariana’s 17)drooping cheeks, the eyelids that 18)sagged in tired folds, the deep lines that 19)framed her mouth—she saw these things as though she too were looking at someone for the first time. And, for the first time, it was not an 20)adversary’s face Laila saw but a face of 21)grievances unspoken, burdens gone 22)unprotested, a destiny 23)submitted to and endured. If she stayed, would this be her own face, Laila wondered, twenty years from now?
“I couldn’t let him,” Laila said. “I wasn’t raised in a household where people did things like that.”
“This is your household now. You ought to get used to it.”
“Not to that. I won’t.”
“He’ll turn on you too, you know,” Mariam said, wiping her hand dry with a rag. “Soon enough. And you gave him a daughter. So, you see, your sin is even less forgivable than mine.”
Laila rose to her feet. “I know it’s chilly outside, but what do you say we 24)sinners have us a cup of25)chai in the yard?”
Mariam looked surprised. “I can’t. I still have to cut and wash the beans.”
“I’ll help you do it in the morning.”
“And I have to clean up here.”
“We’ll do it together. If I’m not mistaken, there’s some 26)halwa left over. Awfully good with chai.”
Mariam put the rag on the counter. Laila sensed anxiety in the way she 27)tugged at her sleeves, adjusted her 28)hijab, pushed back a curl of hair.
“The Chinese say it’s better to be 29)deprived of food for three days than tea for one.”
Mariam gave a half smile. “It’s a good saying.”
“It is.”
“But I can’t stay long.”
“One cup.”
They sat on folding chairs outside and ate halwa with their fingers from a common bowl. They had a second cup, and when Laila asked her if she wanted a third Mariam said she did. As gunfire 30)cracked in the hills, they watched the clouds slide over the moon and the last of the season’s fireflies 31)charting bright yellow32)arcs in the dark. And when Aziza woke up crying and Rasheed yelled for Laila to come up and shut her up, a look passed between Laila and Mariam. An 33)unguarded, knowing look. And in this fleeting, wordless exchange with Mariam, Laila knew that they were not enemies any longer.
35
(After Mariam and Laila had shared everything about their misery.)
Mariam did not sleep that night. She sat in bed, watched the snow falling soundlessly.
Seasons had come and gone; presidents in 34)Kabul had been 35)inaugurated and murdered; an 36)empire had been defeated; old wars had ended and new ones had broken out. But Mariam had hardly noticed, hardly cared. She had passed these years in a distant corner of her mind. A dry, 37)barren field, out beyond wish and 38)lament, beyond dream and 39)disillusionment. There, the future did not matter. And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and its 40)accomplice, hope, a 41)treacherous 42)illusion. And whenever those twin poisonous flowers began to sprout in the 43)parched land of that field, Mariam 44)uprooted them. She uprooted them and 45)ditched them before they took hold.
But somehow, over these last months, Laila and Aziza—a harami like herself, as it turned out—had become extensions of her, and now, without them, the life Mariam had46)tolerated for so long suddenly seemed intolerable.
We’re leaving this spring, Aziza and I. Come with us, Mariam.
The years had not been kind to Mariam. But perhaps, she thought, there were kinder years waiting still. A new life, a life in which she would find the blessings that Nana said a harami like her would never see. Two new flowers had unexpectedly sprouted in her life…
第三十四章
（拉希德为新生儿准备的只有男孩的衣服。）
两天后，早晨莱拉醒过来时，发现她的卧室门口有一堆婴儿的衣服，叠得整整齐齐。那儿有一条上身绣有粉红小鱼的连衣裙，一条蓝花羊毛裙和相称的袜子和手套。
（晚饭后，等拉希德睡了）
莱拉悄悄下了床，在厨房找到玛丽雅姆，她蹲在地上，正在宰杀两条鲑鱼。其身旁一锅大米已经泡好了。厨房里弥漫着孜然、炊烟、浸过黄油的洋葱和鲑鱼的味道。
莱拉在一个角落坐下，掀起裙边盖住膝盖。
“谢谢你。”她说。
玛丽雅姆没有看她。第一条鱼已经杀好了，她拿起第二条。
“那些衣服很好看。”
“我留着它们也没用，” 玛丽雅姆咕哝着说。“不给你的女儿，它们也会被蛀虫吃掉。”
“这样杀鱼你是从哪里学来的啊？”
“小的时候，我住在一条小河旁边。我常常自己去捉鱼。”
“我还没钓过鱼呢。”
“钓鱼不是很好玩。大部分时间都在等待。”
莱拉看着她把杀好的鱼砍成三段。“那些衣服是你自己缝的吗？”
玛丽雅姆点点头。
“什么时候？”
玛丽雅姆在一个盛满水的碗里面清洗那几段鱼肉。“在我第一次怀孕的时候。也可能是第二次。十八年前、十九年以前。反正很久之前啦。就像我刚才说过的，我留着它们也没用。”
“你真是一个好裁缝。也许你可以教我。”
玛丽雅姆把洗过的鲑鱼段放进一个干净的碗里。几颗水珠从她的指尖滴下来，她抬起头，看着莱拉，好像第一次看到她似的。
“那天晚上，他……之前从来没有人为我挺身而出。”她说。
莱拉端详着玛丽雅姆脸皮松弛的面孔，因为劳累而生出眼袋的眼脸，还有她的嘴巴四周深深的皱纹——她看着这面孔，好像她也是第一次看到玛丽雅姆。破天荒以来头一遭，莱拉看到的不再是一张敌人的面孔，而是一张忍辱负重、自认命苦的脸庞。如果她留下来，莱拉心想，再过二十年，她的脸会不会也变成这样呢？
“我不能让他这么做，”莱拉说，“我不是在人们会做出那种事情的家庭长大的。”
“现在这个才是你的家啦。你应该学习适应它。”
“我适应不了那种事情。将来也不会。”
“他会对付你的，你知道的，” 玛丽雅姆说，用一块抹布擦着手，“就快了。你给他生了一个女儿。所以，你知道的，你的罪行比我的更加不能得到他的饶恕。”
莱拉站起来，“我知道外面很凉，但你觉得我们这样的罪人到院子里喝一杯茶怎么样？”
玛丽雅姆露出惊讶的神色。“我可不能去。我还得切洗大豆。”
“明天早上我来帮你做。”
“我还得把这里清扫一下呢。”
“等我们一起来做吧。如果我没有弄错的话，还有一些吃剩的甜饼。用来配茶简直太棒啦。”
玛丽雅姆把抹布放在灶台上。她卷起衣袖，调整了头巾，将一绺头发挪到后面；莱拉察觉到她很紧张。
“中国人说宁可饿三天肚子也不能一天没茶喝。”
玛丽雅姆微微笑了笑，“这句话说得好。”
“就是。”
“但我不能待太久。”
“就喝一杯。”
她们坐在屋外的折叠椅上，用手指从一个普通碗里拿甜饼吃。她们喝完了第二杯茶，当莱拉问她要不要来第三杯的时候，玛丽雅姆说好。山中枪炮声连绵不绝，她们看着云彩飘过月亮，这个季节最后一批萤火虫在黑暗中划出一道道明亮的黄色弧线。当阿兹莎哭着醒过来、拉希德大声喊莱拉上去让她闭嘴时，莱拉和玛丽雅姆交换了一个眼神。坦诚的、会意的眼神。在和玛丽雅姆这次匆匆的无声交流中，莱拉知道她们已经不再是敌人了。
第三十五章
（玛丽雅姆和莱拉互诉衷肠。）
玛丽雅姆那天晚上彻夜未眠。她坐在床上，看着雪花无声地飘落。
一年年秋去东又来，几个总统在喀布尔上任又被谋杀；一个帝国入侵阿富汗又被打败，旧的战争才结束新的战争又开始。但玛丽雅姆从没留意，从不关心。她躲在自己心灵的一个遥远角落，独自度过了这些岁月。那儿是一片干旱贫瘠的土地，没有希望，也没有哀伤；没有梦想，也没有幻灭。那儿无所谓未来。那儿的过去只留下这个教训：爱是使人遍体鳞伤的错误，而它的帮凶，希望，则是背信弃义的幻象。无论什么时候，若这一对剧毒的两生花开始在那片干涸的土地上生长出来，玛丽雅姆就会将它们连根拔除。她把它们拔起来，还没拿稳就赶紧将其扔掉。
但不知道怎么回事，过去这几个月来，莱拉和阿兹莎——原来（阿兹莎）也是哈拉米，和她本人一样——变成了她生命的一部分；但现在，玛丽雅姆突然觉得，若没有她们，她似乎无法忍受自己业已忍受了这么久的生活。
我们开春就走了，阿兹莎和我。跟我们一起走吧，玛丽雅姆。
这些年来，玛丽雅姆的日子并不好过。但也许，她想，仍有一些较为好过的年月在等着她。一种新的生活。娜娜（玛丽雅姆的妈妈）曾说过，像她这样的哈拉米永远得不到幸福，但在这种新生活中，她也许能找得到。两朵新的花朵始料未及地在她的生命中生长出来……
（译文参考自上海人民出版社）