The Kite Runner(追风筝的人): Chapter13-2

ECAUSE SORAYA AND I never had an engagement period, much of what I learned about the Taheris I learned after I married into their family. 

由于我和索拉雅没有经历过订婚期，我对塔赫里一家的了解，多半是来自婚后。

For example, I learned that, once a month, the general suffered from blinding migraines that lasted almost a week. When the headaches struck, the general went to his room, undressed, turned off the light, locked the door, and didn’t come out until the pain subsided. No one was allowed to go in, no one was allowed to knock. Eventually, he would emerge, dressed in his gray suit once more, smelling of sleep and bedsheets, his eyes puffy and bloodshot. 

例如，将军患有严重的偏头痛，每月发作一次，持续将近一个星期。当头痛难忍的时候，将军到自己的房间去，脱光衣服，关掉电灯，把门锁上，直到疼痛消退才走出来。他不许任何人进去，不许任何人敲门。他终究会出来，穿着那身灰色的西装，散发着睡眠和床单的气味，血红的双眼浮肿。

I learned from Soraya that he and Khanum Taheri had slept in separate rooms for as long as she could remember. I learned that he could be petty, such as when he’d take a bite of the qurma his wife placed before him, sigh, and push it away. “I’ll make you something else,” Khanum Taheri would say, but he’d ignore her, sulk, and eat bread and onion. This made Soraya angry and her mother cry. Soraya told me he took antidepressants. I learned that he had kept his family on welfare and had never held a job in the U.S., preferring to cash government-issued checks than degrading himself with work unsuitable for a man of his stature—he saw the flea market only as a hobby, a way to socialize with his fellow Afghans. The general believed that, sooner or later, Afghanistan would be freed, the monarchy restored, and his services would once again be called upon. So every day, he donned his gray suit, wound his pocket watch, and waited.

我从索拉雅口中得知，自她懂事起，将军就和塔赫里太太分房睡。我还知道他有时很小气，比如说他妻子把菜肴摆在他面前，他会尝一口，就叹着气把它推开。“我给你做别的。”塔赫里太太会说。但他不理不睬，阴沉着脸，只顾吃面包和洋葱。这让索拉雅很恼怒，让她妈妈哭起来。索拉雅告诉我，说他服用抗抑郁的药物。我了解到他靠救济金生活，而他到了美国之后还没工作过，宁愿用政府签发的支票去换现金，也不愿自贬身份，去干那些与他地位不配的活儿。至于跳蚤市场的营生，在他看来只是个爱好，一种可以跟他的阿富汗朋友交际的方式。将军相信，迟早有一天，阿富汗会解放，君主制会恢复，而当权者会再次征召他服役。所以他每天穿上那身灰色套装，捂着怀表，等待时来运转。

……

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