When Soraya’s family found out about the union they were furious. They threatened the widower’s family until a jirga was called of village elders to resolve the dispute. The jirga decided that the widower’s family should be punished by handing over their most beautiful girl to be married to the least eligible man of the rival clan. The boy was a good-for-nothing, so poor that the girl’s father had to pay all their expenses. Why should a girl’s life be ruined to settle a dispute she had nothing to do with?

当索瑞雅的家人发现这桩婚事时，气坏了。他们不停地胁迫鳏夫的家族，直到村里的一位支尔格[3]长老出面调停。支尔格决定鳏夫的家族应该受罚，必须交出家里最漂亮的女孩，把她嫁给仇家中那个最配不上她的男孩子。那位男孩不但一无是处，而且非常穷困，新娘的父亲甚至不得不支付他们的一切开销。为什么一个女孩子的大好人生要赔在一场与她毫不相干的纠纷上呢？

When I complained about these things to my father he told me that life was harder for women in Afghanistan. The year before I was born a group called the Taliban led by a one-eyed mullah had taken over the country and was burning girls’ schools. They were forcing men to grow beards as long as a lantern and women to wear burqas. Wearing a burqa is like walking inside big fabric shuttlecock with only a grille to see through and on hot days it’s like an oven. At least I didn’t have to wear one. He said that the Taliban had even banned women from laughing out loud or wearing white shoes as white was ‘a colour that belonged to men’. Women were being locked up and beaten just for wearing nail varnish. I shivered when he told me such things.

当我向父亲抱怨这一类的事情时，他告诉我，阿富汗的妇女生活更加辛苦。我出生的前一年，阿富汗被一位独眼毛拉领导的一个名为塔利班的团体占领后，开始放火烧女子学校。他们强迫男性都要留长长的胡须，女性则必须穿上罩袍。穿罩袍就像是裹在一个巨大的布制羽毛球里，只能通过一个小洞观察外面。天气热的时候，简直跟穿着火炉没有两样。父亲说塔利班甚至禁止女性大笑或是穿白色的鞋子，因为“白色是男性专属的颜色”。妇女会因为擦了指甲油而被关起来毒打。当父亲告诉我这些事的时候，我感到不寒而栗。

I read my books like Anna Karenina and the novels of Jane Austen and trusted in my father’s words: ‘Malala is free as a bird.’ When I heard stories of the atrocities in Afghanistan I felt proud to be in Swat. ‘Here a girl can go to school, ’ I used to say. But the Taliban were just around the corner and were Pashtuns like us. For me the valley was a sunny place and I couldn’t see the clouds gathering behind the mountains. My father used to say, ‘I will protect your freedom, Malala. Carry on with your dreams.’

我看过《安娜.卡列尼娜》和简.奥斯汀的小说，我也相信父亲说的，“马拉拉像只小鸟一样自由”。当我听说阿富汗发生的暴行时，我很骄傲自己是斯瓦特人。“在这里，女孩子可以去上学。”我总是这么说。但塔利班就在附近，而且他们跟我们一样是普什图人。对我来说，河谷地区是个充满阳光的地方，但我却没有看见山头之后，乌云正渐渐聚集。父亲总说：“我会捍卫你的自由，继续追求梦想吧，马拉拉。”