8220;Well, 8221; Dr. Kumar said, 8220;my job is to fix things on people 8217;s bodies. Sometimes their faces. 8221;
8220;这么说吧， 8221;库玛大夫说， 8221;我的工作是修理人们的身体，有时是人们的脸庞。 8221;
8220;Oh, 8221;Hassan said. He looked from Dr. Kumar to Baba to Ali. His hand touched his upper lip. 8220;Oh, 8221;he said again.
8220;噢， 8221;哈桑说，他看看库玛大夫，看看爸爸，又看看阿里，伸手遮住上唇。 8221;噢。 8221;他又说。
8220;It 8217;s an unusual present, I know, 8221; Baba said. 8220;And probably not what you had in mind, but this present will last you forever. 8221;
8220;这不是份寻常的礼物，我知道。 8221;爸爸说， 8221;也许不是你想要的，但这份礼物会陪伴你终生。 8221;
8220;Oh, 8221;Hassan said. He licked his lips. Cleared his throat. 8220;Agha sahib, will it 8230; will it 8211; 8220;
8220;噢， 8221;哈桑说，他舔舔嘴唇，清清喉咙，说: 8221;老爷，这……这会不会…… 8221;
8220;Nothing doing, 8221;Dr. Kumar intervened, smiling kindly. 8220;It will not hurt you one bit. In fact, I will give you a Medicine and you will not remember a thing. 8221;
8220;别担心， 8221;库玛大夫插嘴说，脸上带着微笑, 8221;不会让你觉得很痛的。实际上，我会给你用一种药，你什么都不会记得。 8221;
8220;Oh, 8221;Hassan said. He smiled back with relief. A little relief anyway. 8220;I wasn 8217;t scared, Agha sahib, I just 8230; 8221; Hassan might have been fooled, but I wasn 8217;t. I knew that when doctors said it wouldn 8217;t hurt, that 8217;s when you knew you were in trouble. With dread, I remembered my circumcision the year prior. The doctor had given me the same line, reassured me it wouldn 8217;t hurt one bit. But when the numbing Medicine wore off later that night, it felt like someone had pressed a red hot coal to my loins. Why Baba waited until I was ten to have me circumcised was beyond me and one of the things I will never forgive him for.
8220;噢。 8221;哈桑说。他松了一口气，微笑着，但也只是松了一口气。 8221;我不是害怕，老爷，我只是…… 8221;哈桑也许是个傻瓜，我可不是。我知道要是医生跟你说不会痛的时候，你的麻烦就大了。我心悸地想起去年割包皮的情形，医生也是这么对我说，安慰说那不会很痛。但那天深夜，麻醉药的药性消退之后，感觉像有人拿着又红又热的木炭在烫我的下阴。爸爸为什么要等到我十岁才让我割包皮呢?我百思不得其解，这也是我永远无法原谅他的事情之一。
I wished I too had some kind of scar that would beget Baba 8217;s sympathy. It wasn 8217;t fair. Hassan hadn 8217;t done anything to earn Baba 8217;s affections; he 8217;d just been born with that stupid harelip.
我希望自己身上也有类似的残疾，可以乞换来爸爸的怜悯。太不公平了，哈桑什么都没干，就得到爸爸的爱护，他不就是生了那个愚蠢的兔唇吗?
The surgery went well. We were all a little shocked when they first removed the bandages, but kept our smiles on just as Dr. Kumar had instructed us. It wasn 8217;t easy, because Hassan 8217;s upper lip was a grotesque mesh of swollen, raw tissue. I expected Hassan to cry with horror when the nurse handed him the mirror. Ali held his hand as Hassan took a long, thoughtful look into it. He muttered something I didn 8217;t understand. I put my ear to his mouth. He whispered it again.
手术很成功。他们刚解掉绷带的时候，我们多少都有点吃惊，但还是像库玛大夫先前交代的那样保持微笑。但那并不容易，因为哈桑的上唇看起来又肿又怪，没有表皮。护士递给哈桑镜子的时候，我希望他哭起来。哈桑深深地看着镜子，若有所思，阿里则紧紧握住他的手。他咕哝了几句，我没听清楚。我把耳朵凑到他唇边，他又低声说了一遍。
8220;Tashakor. 8221; Thank you.
8220;谢谢。 8221;
Then his lips twisted, and, that time, I knew just what he was doing. He was smiling. Just as he had, emerging from his mother 8217;s womb.
接着他的嘴唇扭曲了，当时，我完全知道他在干什么。他在微笑。就像他从母亲子宫里出来时那样微笑着。
The swelling subsided, and the wound healed with time. Soon, it was just a pink jagged line running up from his lip. By the following winter, it was only a faint scar. Which was ironic. Because that was the winter that Hassan stopped smiling.
随着时间的过去，肿胀消退，伤口弥合。不久，他的嘴唇上就只剩下一道弯弯曲曲的缝合线。到下一个冬天，它变成淡淡的伤痕。说来讽刺，正是从那个冬天之后，哈桑便不再微笑了。