美国国家公共电台 NPR Opinion: How 'The Godfather' Sparked Imagination In Afghanistan

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

It's hard to forecast the influence a work of art may have. Fifty years ago, Mario Puzo wrote a book in his basement after his first two novels had won splendid reviews but sold poorly. In 1969, he wrote "The Godfather." One of the more than 30 millions of copies sold wound up in a pile of books on the street in Kabul, Afghanistan, in the mid-1990s. All Western literature from Cervantes to Shakespeare to, well, Puzo had been removed from the library during Afghanistan's civil war. Afghans would buy the books to burn the pages for heat, then tie the covers around their feet as makeshift shoes.

A young student named Zalmai Yawar saw a copy of "The Godfather" and placed it in a heap of books he hauled off in his arms for about 8 cents. Zalmai says because it was a paperback¹, it wouldn't make good shoes, so he decided² to try to read it. He didn't read or write English. English education had been forbidden under Soviet³ domination. But Zalmai still had his father's old English-Pashtun dictionary and translated the novel in secret word by word. And he loved it. He saw "The Godfather" as a story of tribal⁴ rivalries⁵, blood grudges⁶ and family loyalties⁷.

When the Taliban came to power in 1996, Zalmai says he learned to look away from their religious police, who often beat people on the street for imagined disobedience because he recalled a passage from "The Godfather" where Don Vito Corleone counsels, never let anyone know what you were thinking.

When producer Peter Breslow and I came to Kabul to report on the war in 2002, Zalmai was our indispensable interpreter and guide. After he told us how he loved "The Godfather," we began to call him consigliere and Zally, like Sally, a name straight out of the story. I remember a night in the hills of Bamiyan where the Taliban had blown up statues of Buddha⁸ and left behind mass graves. Zally told me to look into the sky and said, when you live in the mountains like we do, the stars become your neighbors.

Zalmai Yawar came to the United States after Peter and I returned and graduated from Amherst College in 2006. He's studying for his Ph.D. in geology at Indiana University where Zally and his adviser⁹ help a group of geologists¹⁰ analyze¹¹ images from the Mars science lab.

I think Mario Puzo would appreciate how an old copy of his book about blood and love wound up on a pile on another side of the world just in time to nourish a young man's imagination. Art can lead to the most amazing places.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE GODFATHER")

1 paperback   

n.平装本，简装本

参考例句：

• A paperback edition is now available at bookshops.平装本现在在书店可以买到。
• Many books that are out of print are reissued in paperback form.许多绝版的书籍又以平装本形式重新出现。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

4 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

5 rivalries   

n.敌对，竞争，对抗( rivalry的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The new government was torn by rivalries. 新政府由于各派对立而四分五裂。 来自辞典例句
• Rivalries could bring about pain and hatred or give rise to fighting. 竞争会带来痛苦、仇恨，或者引起争斗。 来自互联网

6 grudges   

不满，怨恨，妒忌( grudge的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He never grudges money. 他从不吝惜金钱。
• They bear grudges against each other. 他俩有过节儿。

7 loyalties   

n.忠诚( loyalty的名词复数 )；忠心；忠于…感情；要忠于…的强烈感情

参考例句：

• an intricate network of loyalties and relationships 忠诚与义气构成的盘根错节的网络
• Rows with one's in-laws often create divided loyalties. 与姻亲之间的矛盾常常让人两面为难。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 Buddha   

n.佛；佛像；佛陀

参考例句：

• Several women knelt down before the statue of Buddha and prayed.几个妇女跪在佛像前祈祷。
• He has kept the figure of Buddha for luck.为了图吉利他一直保存着这尊佛像。

9 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

10 geologists   

地质学家，地质学者( geologist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Geologists uncovered the hidden riches. 地质学家发现了地下的宝藏。
• Geologists study the structure of the rocks. 地质学家研究岩石结构。

11 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。