雙語暢銷書《我是馬拉拉》第4章4:巴卡納祖父

We usually stayed in Barkana at my grandfather’s house, where my father grew up. Like almost all the houses in the area, it was flat-roofed and made of stone and mud. I preferred staying in Karshat with my cousins on my maternal side because they had a concrete house with a bathroom and there were lots of children to play with. My mother and I stayed in the women’s quarters downstairs. The women spent their days looking after the children and preparing food to serve to the men in their hujra upstairs. I slept with my cousins Aneesa and Sumbul in a room which had a clock in the shape of a mosque and a cabinet on the wall containing a rifle and some packets of hair dye.

我們通常都是住在巴卡納祖父的家裏，也就是我父親長大的地方。祖父的房子屋頂是平的，屋子由石塊和泥土建成，與這個地區其他的房屋大同小異。我比較喜歡和母親那邊的表兄弟姐妹們一起住在卡夏特，因爲他們是水泥房，還有浴室，而且那裏有很多同伴可以和我玩耍。母親和我睡在樓下專門給女眷睡覺的區域。白天，婦女的主要任務就是照顧孩子，並且爲樓上會堂的男人們準備食物。我和表姐妹安妮紗和桑波睡在一間牆上掛有清真寺形狀的時鐘的房間，牆上還有個櫃子，裏頭放着一把來複槍和幾包染髮劑。

In the village the day started early and even I, who liked to sleep late, woke with the sound of cocks crowing and the clatter of dishes as the women prepared breakfast for the men. In the morning the sun reflected off the top of Tor Ghar; when we got up for the fajr prayers, the first of our five daily prayers, we would look left and see the golden peak of Spin Ghar lit with the first rays of the sun like a white lady wearing a jumar tika – a gold chain on her forehead.

村子裏的一天開始得很早，連我這樣喜歡晚起的人，都在雞鳴和婦女們準備早餐的聲響中準時起牀。早上，陽光從託佳爾的山頂反射回來；而當我們進行一天五禱中的第一禱時，往左望去，就會看見史賓佳爾的山頂被第一道陽光照亮，發出金黃色的光芒，彷彿一位額頭上戴着珠滿帝嘉[1]的淑女一樣。

Often rain would then come to wash everything clean, and the clouds would linger on the green terraces of the hills where people grew radishes and walnut trees. Dotted around were hives of bees. I loved the gloopy honey, which we ate with walnuts. Down on the river at the Karshat end were water buffaloes. There was also a shed with a wooden waterwheel providing power to turn huge millstones to grind wheat and maize into flour, which young boys would then pour into sacks. Next to that was a smaller shed containing a panel with a confusion of wires sprouting from it. The village received no electricity from the government so many villagers got their power from these makeshift hydroelectric projects.

接着，常常會下一陣雨，將一切都洗淨。然後，雲朵會在種着小紅蘿蔔和核桃樹的梯田附近逗留。田間點綴着一些蜂窩，我喜歡那些黏糊糊的蜂蜜，我們會沾着核桃一起吃。卡夏特的河邊有水牛，附近還有個棚屋，旁邊有木造的水車，用來驅動巨大的磨坊，把麥子和玉米磨成麪粉。然後，年輕男孩子再把麪粉裝袋。磨坊旁有一間更小的棚屋，裏面滿是令人眼花繚亂的電線和電路板。政府的電纜沒有接到村子裏來，所以村民們使用水力發電。