雙語暢銷書《我是馬拉拉》第4章3:綠油油的土地

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.

一路繼續往前行駛，沿途的景緻變成一塊塊綠油油的土地，空氣聞起來新鮮很多，有桃子和無花果園的味道。有時，我們會經過溪邊的小型大理石雕刻，溪水因爲化學廢料而被染成渾濁的白色。這讓父親很生氣。“看看這些壞蛋是怎樣在污染我們的河谷！”他每次都這樣說。道路接着駛離了河邊，開始沿着小徑往上爬到陡峭的杉木層，越爬越高，直到我們都耳鳴了。山頂上有禿鷹在第一任瓦利留下來的堡壘遺蹟上方盤旋。公交車行駛得很吃力。在緊臨着懸崖的死角被其他卡車超車時，我們的司機就會咒罵兩句。我的弟弟們特別喜歡這種狀況，還會故意指着山腰的車禍殘骸給我和母親看，以此譏笑我們。

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.

終於，我們抵達了通天關，這裏是去往香拉縣的入口，是個會讓人感覺自己來到世界頂端的山隘。在通天關上，我們比四周佈滿巖礫的山頂都要更高。遠遠地，我們能看到馬拉姆.賈巴，那是我們的滑雪場。路邊有清澈的泉水和瀑布。當我們停下來喝茶休息時，乾淨的空氣裏飄着杉樹和松樹的香氣，引得我們貪婪地大口深呼吸。香拉縣觸目所及之處皆是山巒，以及峯巒間的一點點藍天。過了這裏以後，有一小段道路隨着古厄本河的流向蜿蜒，之後路面逐漸變成石子路。要過河去，只能走吊橋，或是通過流籠--人坐在一個金屬製的箱子裏，晃到對岸去。外國人稱這種長繩製成的吊橋爲“自殺橋”，但我們很喜歡。

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.

如果看斯瓦特的地圖，你會發現斯瓦特的地形是一個狹長的河谷，連着許多小河谷，像樹枝狀伸展開來，我們稱之爲“達來”。我們的村莊大約位於河谷中段的東部地區。村子在卡拿谷，兩邊都是陡峭的山壁，地界狹窄得連個板球場都蓋不下。我們的村子名叫夏波村。但其實沿着河谷底部，有由三個小村子圍成一圈組成的村落，夏波村是其中最大的村子；巴卡納，是我父親長大的村子；還有卡夏特，是我母親家的村子。河谷兩端各有一座高山：南方的黑山託佳爾，和北方的白山史賓佳爾。