A Thousand Splendid Suns. —— 寻找希望之路

随感

这两章情节跌宕起伏，同命相连的二人心心念念着逃离魔鬼般的丈夫和战乱的城市，却错付了人，遭到出卖，Laila 和Mariam不得不被遣送回家。真相的暴露使Rasheed大发雷霆，对其二人实施暴虐，Laila的女儿也因此差点丢了性命。

命运本就对其不公，残酷的现实又给其致命一击，不知道在经历的磨难之后的二人能否获得最后的光明。

相对于Mariam，Laila是比较独立和不屈的，或许印证了那句“女本柔弱，为母则刚”，为了年幼的Aziza，她忍辱负重，像是拼了全力和性命，也要护女儿周全，为女儿赚的一个美好的将来。在母爱年前，任何猥琐的事物都显出其丑陋不堪的原型，任何黑暗都将被其照亮。它是她们心中唯一的光亮。

Words & Phrases

NO. 1 trip (v.) 绊倒

原文：the toys made him trip

to hit something with your foot by accident so that you fall or almost fall

(同义：stumble)

eg. He tripped and fell

NO. 2 ward off 避开，挡住

原文：…and wafted the espandi smoke in her baby's direction to ward off evil.

to do something to try to protect yourself from something bad, such as illness, danger, or attack.

eg. Don't forget insect repellent to ward off the mosquitoes.

NO. 3 vindication (得到辩护)

to prove that someone who was blamed for something is in fact not guilty.

eg. The charges are false, and we are sure we will be vindicated in court.

NO. 4 corrupt(v.) 使堕落

原文：I should have known that you'd corrupt her.

to encourage someone to start behaving in an immoral or dishonest way.

eg. Young prisoners are being corrupted by the older, long-term offenders.

NO. 5 pull out 离开

原文：it was thirst that pulled her out of bed.

to stop doing or being involved in something, or to make someone do this

eg. He threatened to pull his son out of the team.

赏析

Then an astonishing thing happened: the girl lunged at him. She grabbed his arm with both hands and tired to drag him down, but she could do no more than dangle from it. She did succeed in slowing Rasheed's progress toward Mariam.

lunged at 意为冲过去，扑过去

在这里着重对Laila与Rasheed之间的拉扯进行了描写，可以看出Laila并不是一个生性懦弱，忍气吞声的女子。反之，她更像一个伸张正义，爱打抱不平的人，即使Mariam平日对她冷言冷语，冷眼相向，她不计前嫌，以德报怨。看到Rasheed要对Mariam进行殴打后，她急忙“扑”过去进行阻止，正因为如此，这件事也为今后缓和Mariam之间的关系打下了良好基础，二人缔结情谊，在黑暗中相濡以沫。

There, the future did not matter. And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and its accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion.

accomplice 意为同谋者，帮凶

treacherous意为暗藏危险的，背信弃义的

那里无所谓未来。过去的事情留下了这样的教训：爱是一种错误，它能让人遍体鳞伤，而它的帮凶，希望，则是暗藏危险的幻想。

经历了多年的摧残，Mariam的灵魂早已逝去，她不敢想象摆脱了现在被奴役的生活的样子，因为她早已默认了这种生活，行尸走肉般的每天做着相同的事情。像前文所说的，她已经习惯了Rasheed的暴虐。面对Laila逃跑的邀请，她仿佛感受到了重生，那种感觉是前所未有的，是Laila和Aziza给了她希望，让她觉得仍有一些好过的岁月在等着她，她重拾了爱和希望。