Near us on our street there was a family with a girl my age called Safina and two boys similar in age to my brothers, Babar and Basit. We all played cricket on the street or rooftops together, but I knew as we got older the girls would be expected to stay inside. We’d be expected to cook and serve our brothers and fathers.

在我们家这条街上，不远处有户人家，他们有个女儿跟我同龄，名叫萨芬娜，他们还有两个儿子，也跟我的两个弟弟年纪相仿，分别是巴芭和巴赛特。我们常在街上或屋顶上一起打板球，但我知道等我们女孩子再长大一点，大人们就会要求我们待在家里了。通常，对女孩的期望是负责煮饭并服侍父亲和兄弟。男人们可以在城里自由活动，即便只是个五岁的小男孩也可以！

While boys and men could roam freely about town, my mother and I could not go out without a male relative to accompany us, even if it was a five-year-old boy! This was the tradition.

而我和母亲却必须要有男性亲戚的陪伴才可以出门！这就是传统。

I had decided very early I would not be like that. My father always said, ‘Malala will be free as a bird.’ I dreamed of going to the top of Mount Elum like Alexander the Great to touch Jupiter and even beyond the valley. But, as I watched my brothers running across the roof, flying their kites and skilfully flicking the strings back and forth to cut each other’s down, I wondered how free a daughter could ever be.

很早以前，我就下定决心，不要过那样的生活。父亲总是说：“马拉拉会像只小鸟一般自由。”我梦想能登上埃勒姆顶峰，像亚历山大大帝一样，伸手抚触木星，甚至离开河谷地区。但当我看着弟弟们在屋顶上跑来跑去、放着风筝，熟练地控制手中的线绳，企图击落对方的风筝时，我不禁怀疑，身为一个女儿，我究竟能获取多少自由。