雙語暢銷書《我是馬拉拉》第16章:悲傷之谷(8)
Islamabad was totally different to Swat.
It was as different for us as Islamabad is to New York.
對我們來說，就好像伊斯蘭堡與紐約的差距一樣。Shiza introduced us to women who were lawyers and doctors and also activists, which showed us that women could do important jobs yet still keep their culture and traditions.
西莎把我們介紹給女性的律師、醫生與政治運動人士，讓我們見識到女性可以在成就一番事業的同時，依然保有她們的文化與傳統。
We saw women in the streets without purdah, their heads completely uncovered.
我們在大街上看見不穿罩袍的女人，她們的臉上全無遮掩。I stopped wearing my shawl over my head in some of the meetings, thinking I had become a modern girl.
在參加部分集會時，我不再用披巾包住頭，感覺自己已經成了一個摩登女孩。Later I realised that simply having your head uncovered isn't what makes you modern.
後來我才理解到，並不是把自己的頭臉露出來就可以被稱爲“摩登”！We were there one week and predictably Moniba and I quarrelled.
我們在那裏待了一週，不出所料，莫妮巴跟我又吵了起來。She saw me gossiping with a girl in the year above and told me, 'Now you are with Resham and I am with Rida.'
她看見我和一個高年級的女孩在閒聊，就對我說：“現在你是瑞珊的朋友，而我跟麗達是朋友。”Shiza wanted to introduce us to influential people.
西莎想把我們介紹給有影響力的人物。In our country of course this often means the military.
當然，在我們國家，這通常意味着對方來自軍方。One of our meetings was with Major General Athar Abbas, the chief spokesman for the army and its head of public relations.
有一場會議安排我們與阿薩爾·阿巴斯少將見面，他是軍方的主要發言人，同時也是公關部的主任。We drove to Islamabad's twin city of Rawalpindi to see him in his office.
我們開車前往伊斯蘭堡的姊妹城市拉瓦爾品第，在他的辦公室與他會面。Our eyes widened when we saw that the army headquarters was so much neater than the rest of the city with perfect green lawns and blossoming flowers.
軍方的總部令我們大開眼界：它比這座城市的其他地方更加整齊清潔。草皮完美而翠綠，鮮花朵朵盛開，Even the trees were all the same size with the trunks painted white to exactly halfway up – we didn't know why.
就連樹的大小都一模一樣。但我們不明白，爲什麼要在樹幹上漆上一半白漆。
