As we drove on, the landscape changed to paddy fields of deep lush green that smelt so fresh and orchards of apricot and fig trees. Occasionally we passed small marble works over streams which ran milky white with the discharge of chemicals. This made my father cross. ‘Look at what these criminals are doing to pollute our beautiful valley, ’ he always said. The road left the river and wound up through narrow passes over steep fir-clad heights, higher and higher, until our ears popped. On top of some of the peaks were ruins where vultures circled, the remains of forts built by the first wali. The bus strained and laboured, the driver cursing as trucks overtook us on blind bends with steep drops below. My brothers loved this, and they would taunt me and my mother by pointing out the wreckage of vehicles on the mountainside.

一路继续往前行驶，沿途的景致变成一块块绿油油的土地，空气闻起来新鲜很多，有桃子和无花果园的味道。有时，我们会经过溪边的小型大理石雕刻，溪水因为化学废料而被染成浑浊的白色。这让父亲很生气。“看看这些坏蛋是怎样在污染我们的河谷！”他每次都这样说。道路接着驶离了河边，开始沿着小径往上爬到陡峭的杉木层，越爬越高，直到我们都耳鸣了。山顶上有秃鹰在第一任瓦利留下来的堡垒遗迹上方盘旋。公交车行驶得很吃力。在紧临着悬崖的死角被其他卡车超车时，我们的司机就会咒骂两句。我的弟弟们特别喜欢这种状况，还会故意指着山腰的车祸残骸给我和母亲看，以此讥笑我们。

Finally we made it up onto Sky Turn, the gateway to Shangla Top, a mountain pass which feels as if it’s on top of the world. Up there we were higher than the rocky peaks all around us. In the far distance we could see the snows of Malam Jabba, our ski resort. By the roadside were fresh springs and waterfalls, and when we stopped for a break and to drink some tea, the air was clean and fragrant with cedar and pine. We breathed it into our lungs greedily. Shangla is all mountain, mountain, mountain and just a small sky. After this the road winds back down for a while then follows the Ghwurban River and peters out into a rocky track. The only way to cross the river is by rope bridges or on a pulley system by which people swing themselves across in a metal box. Foreigners call them suicide bridges but we loved them.

终于，我们抵达了通天关，这里是去往香拉县的入口，是个会让人感觉自己来到世界顶端的山隘。在通天关上，我们比四周布满岩砾的山顶都要更高。远远地，我们能看到马拉姆.贾巴，那是我们的滑雪场。路边有清澈的泉水和瀑布。当我们停下来喝茶休息时，干净的空气里飘着杉树和松树的香气，引得我们贪婪地大口深呼吸。香拉县触目所及之处皆是山峦，以及峰峦间的一点点蓝天。过了这里以后，有一小段道路随着古厄本河的流向蜿蜒，之后路面逐渐变成石子路。要过河去，只能走吊桥，或是通过流笼--人坐在一个金属制的箱子里，晃到对岸去。外国人称这种长绳制成的吊桥为“自杀桥”，但我们很喜欢。

If you look at a map of Swat you’ll see it is one long valley with little valleys we call darae off to the sides like the branches of a tree. Our village lies about halfway along on the east. It’s in the Kana dara, which is enclosed by craggy mountain walls and so narrow there is not even room for a cricket ground. We call our village Shahpur, but really there is a necklace of three villages along the bottom of the valley – Shahpur, the biggest; Barkana, where my father grew up; and Karshat, which is where my mother lived. At either end is a huge mountain – Tor Ghar, the Black Mountain to the south, and Spin Ghar, the White Mountain, to the north.

如果看斯瓦特的地图，你会发现斯瓦特的地形是一个狭长的河谷，连着许多小河谷，像树枝状伸展开来，我们称之为“达来”。我们的村庄大约位于河谷中段的东部地区。村子在卡拿谷，两边都是陡峭的山壁，地界狭窄得连个板球场都盖不下。我们的村子名叫夏波村。但其实沿着河谷底部，有由三个小村子围成一圈组成的村落，夏波村是其中最大的村子；巴卡纳，是我父亲长大的村子；还有卡夏特，是我母亲家的村子。河谷两端各有一座高山：南方的黑山托佳尔，和北方的白山史宾佳尔。