My friends and I couldn’t understand why it was so wrong.

我和朋友们都无法理解为什么上学这件事会变得如此十恶不赦。

‘Why don’t they want girls to go to school?’ I asked my father.

为什么他们不让女孩子去上学？我问父亲。

‘They are scared of the pen,’ he replied.

因为他们惧怕文字的力量。父亲回答。

Then another teacher at our school, a maths teacher with long hair, also refused to teach girls.

接着，我们学校另一名老师，一位蓄着长发的数学老师也拒绝为女孩上课。

My father fired him, but some other teachers were worried and sent a delegation to his office.

父亲开除了他。其他老师忧心忡忡，委派一名代表来到他的办公室。

‘Sir, don’t do this,’ they pleaded.

先生，请不要这么做。

‘These are bad days.

他们苦苦哀求，最近形势不是很稳定。

Let him stay and we will cover for him.’

让他留下来，我们会负责补他的课。

Every day it seemed a new edict came.

似乎每天都会有新的命令下达。

Fazlullah closed beauty parlours and banned shaving so there was no work for barbers.

法兹鲁拉关闭了美容院的大门，严禁人们剃须，理发师们都失了业。

My father, who only has a moustache, insisted he would not grow a beard for the Taliban.

父亲留着八字胡，他坚称不会为了塔利班而留长须。