The two 14)Buddhas were enormous, soaring much higher than she had imagined from all the photos she’d seen of them. Chiseled into a 15)sun-bleached rock cliff, they peered down at them, as they had nearly two thousand years before, Laila imagined, at 16)caravans crossing the valley on the Silk Road. On either side of them, along the overhanging niche, the cliff 17)was pocked with myriad caves.
她之前见过这两尊大佛的图片，但它们极其庞大，高高耸起，规模之宏伟远远超出她先前的想象。大佛是在一片被阳光晒得发白的石壁上被开凿出来的，居高临下地俯视着他们。莱拉想象将近两千年之前，它们也是这样俯瞰着途经这座位于丝绸之路上的峡谷的商旅。两尊大佛的两旁，沿着突出来的神龛的峭壁上还有无数个洞穴。
“I feel so small,” Tariq said. “You want to climb up?” Babi said. “Up the statues?” Laila asked. “We can do that?”
“我觉得自己很渺小。”塔里克说。“你们想爬上去吗？”爸爸说。“爬上那两尊佛像？”莱拉问，“我们可以爬上去吗？”
Babi smiled and held out his hand. “Come on.”
爸爸笑了起来，伸出他的手，“走吧。”
They saw shadowy caves along the way, and tunnels 18)honeycombing the cliff every which way. “Careful where you step,” Babi said. His voice made a loud echo. “The ground is 19)treache-rous.” In some parts, the staircase was open to the Buddha’s cavity. “Don’t look down, children. Keep looking straight ahead.”
一路上，他们看到很多阴影幢幢的洞穴，还有向四面八方延伸的隧道，蜂巢似的分布在峭壁上。“当心你们的脚下，”爸爸说，他的声音产生了巨大的回声，“路不好走。” 在有些地方，这条楼梯通向大佛藏身的洞穴。“别往下看，孩子们，一直往前看就好了。”
As they climbed, Babi told them that 20)Bamiyan had once been a thriving Buddhist center until it had fallen under Islamic Arab rule in the ninth century. The sandstone cliffs were home to Buddhist monks who carved caves in them to use as living quarters and as 21)sanctuary for weary traveling pilgrims. The monks, Babi said, painted beautiful 22)frescoes along the walls and roofs of their caves.
向上爬的时候，爸爸告诉他们，巴米扬曾经是昌盛繁荣的佛教中心，后来在九世纪的时候，它落进了信奉伊斯兰教的阿拉伯人的手里。这儿的砂岩峭壁过去是很多僧侣的家园，他们在峭壁上凿开洞穴，当成自己的住所，也供过往疲惫的香客暂住。爸爸说，这些僧侣在洞穴的墙壁和洞顶上绘制了很多美丽的壁画。
Tariq was badly out of breath when they reached the top. Babi was panting too. But his eyes shone with excitement. “We’re standing atop its head,” he said, wiping his brow with a handkerchief. “There’s a niche over here where we can look out.”
他们登到顶的时候，塔里克几乎喘不过来气来。爸爸也是气喘吁吁，但他的眼里闪烁着兴奋的光芒。“我们正站在它的头顶，”他边说，边用手帕擦额头。“那边有一个神龛，我们可以站在那里望。”
They inched over to the craggy 23)overhang and, standing side by side, with Babi in the middle, gazed down on the valley. “Look at this!” said Laila. Babi smiled.
他们沿着那条崎岖的悬道走过去，并排站着，爸爸在中间，俯视着下方的峡谷。“快看这个！”莱拉说。爸爸笑了起来。
The Bamiyan Valley below was carpeted by lush farming fields. Babi said they were green winter wheat and 24)alfalfa, potatoes too. The fields were bordered by 25)poplars and crisscrossed by streams and irrigation ditches, on the banks of which tiny female figures squatted and washed clothes. It was autumn, and Laila could make out people in bright 26)tunics on the roofs of mud brick dwellings laying out the harvest to dry. The sky above all of this was an immaculate, spotless blue. “It’s so quiet,” Laila breathed. She could see tiny sheep and horses but couldn’t hear their 27)bleating and 28)whinnying. “It’s what I always remember about being up here,” Babi said. “The silence. The peace of it. I wanted you to experience it. But I also wanted you to see your country’s heritage, children, to learn of its rich past. You see, some things I can teach you. Some you learn from books. But there are things that, well, you just have to see and feel.”
下方的巴米扬峡谷遍布着长势繁茂的农田。爸爸说它们是绿色的冬小麦和紫花苜蓿，也有一些是土豆。田地四周是高耸的白杨树，中间纵横交错的是溪流和用于灌溉的沟渠，几个细小的女性蹲在岸边洗衣服。已是入秋时节，莱拉能看见一些人穿着颜色鲜艳的束腰外衣，站在泥砖屋的屋顶上晾晒谷物。所有这一切上方，是一碧如洗、幽蓝如渊的天空。“真安静。”莱拉吸了一口气。她看得见细小的绵羊和马匹，但听不到它们的咩咩声和嘶叫声。“在我的记忆中，这里一直都是这样的，”爸爸说，“寂静，祥和。孩子们，我想让你们来感受一番，我也希望你们来看看祖国的遗产，来了解它丰富的历史。你们知道的，有些东西我可以教你们，有些东西你们可以从书本上学到。但有些东西，怎么说呢，得你们自己去见识和体会。”
Laila watched a trio of men far below, talking near a cow 29)tethered to a fence. Around them, the trees had started to turn, ochre and orange, scarlet red.
莱拉看到下面远远的地方有三个男人，在一头系在篱笆上的耕牛旁边聊天。他们身边的树已经开始换颜色了，满是一片赭色，鲜黄和猩红的色彩。
编后语：
胡塞尼此书的书名来自波斯诗人塞依伯歌颂喀布尔的诗歌：“人们数不清她的屋顶上有多少皎洁的明月，也数不清她的墙壁之后那一千个灿烂的太阳。”（One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs. And the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.）书中女主人公莱拉的爸爸，刚吟完这首诗就被炸得身首分离。当时他正在整理书架，为难地想如何从满架的书中挑出五本来带到美国去。
很长一段时间内，世界上很多关于阿富汗人的文章多数围绕塔利班、本 • 拉登和反恐战争展开。电视新闻画面里血肉模糊、炸弹横飞的场面也很难让人想象那些和我们比邻而居的人们过着一种怎样的生活。胡塞尼的两本小说为全球读者展开了阿富汗文化民俗和历史的长卷，就好像擦亮了一扇窗户，那个国家不再只是灰色……(Eva)
作者简介：
卡勒德·胡塞尼（Khaled Hosseini），1965年生于喀布尔，后随父亲逃往美国。胡塞尼毕业于加州大学圣地亚哥医学系，现居加州，并因其巨大的国际影响力受邀担任联合国亲善大使。他的第一本小说《追风筝的人》（The Kite Runner）问世后大获成功，因书中角色刻画生动，故事情节震撼感人，蝉联亚马逊排行榜131周之久，全球热销600万册，创下出版奇迹。《灿烂千阳》是胡塞尼继《追风筝的人》四年后出版的第二本小说，出版之前即获得极大关注，2007年5月22日在美国首发，赢得评论界一致好评，使胡塞尼由新人作家一跃成为受到广泛认可的成熟作家。