雙語暢銷書《我是馬拉拉》第3章8:三個學生

Unfortunately not many people were convinced. When the school opened they had just three students. Even so my father insisted on starting the day in style by singing the national anthem. Then his nephew Aziz, who had come to help, raised the Pakistan flag.

不幸的是，沒幾個人相信這一套。學校開學時，他們只有三個學生。即便如此，父親依然堅持照章辦事，從唱國歌開始一天的學習。然後，由來幫忙的侄子阿齊茲升起巴基斯坦國旗。

With so few students, they had little money to equip the school and soon ran out of credit. Neither man could get any money from their families, and Hidayatullah was not pleased to discover that my father was still in debt to lots of people from college, so they were always receiving letters demanding money.

因爲學生太少，他們沒有錢替學校添購設備，而且很快，錢也就用盡了。他們經常收到討債的各種信件，兩人都無法從家裏要到錢。而當希達亞圖拉發現父親還積欠許多大學同學的錢時，也很不高興。

There was worse in store when my father went to register the school. After being made to wait for hours, he was finally ushered into the office of a superintendent of schools, who sat behind towering piles of files surrounded by hangers-on drinking tea. ‘What kind of school is this?’ asked the official, laughing at his application. ‘How many teachers do you have? Three! Your teachers are not trained. Everyone thinks they can open a school just like that!’

父親去辦註冊時，情況更加糟糕。在苦等了數個小時後，他終於被帶到負責官員的辦公室裏。官員藏身在桌上堆積如山的文件後面，幾個攀權附勢的人坐在一旁喝着茶。“這是什麼學校？”官員拿着父親的申請表，嗤之以鼻地問道：“你們有幾個老師？才三個！你們的老師沒有受過訓練。人人都以爲自己可以隨隨便便就開所學校！”

The other people in the office laughed along, ridiculing him. My father was angry. It was clear the superintendent wanted money. Pashtuns cannot stand anyone belittling them, nor was he about to pay a bribe for something he was entitled to. He and Hidayatullah hardly had money to pay for food, let alone bribes. The going rate for registration was about 13, 000 rupees, more if they thought you were rich. And schools were expected to treat officials regularly to a good lunch of chicken or trout from the river. The education officer would call to arrange an inspection then give a detailed order for his lunch. My father used to grumble, ‘We’re a school not a poultry farm.’

辦公室裏其他人都笑了，並揶揄他。父親很生氣。很顯然，那個官員想收紅包。普什圖人最不能接受的就是被其他人歧視，父親也不會爲了他本來就應該得到的東西額外付費。他和希達亞圖拉連飯錢都快沒了，更別說拿錢行賄。註冊費一般的行情大約是一萬三千盧比，如果官員們覺得你很有錢，就會要得更多。學校也不得不定期請官員們吃全雞大餐，或是去河裏撈鱒魚招待他們。教育官員不時打電話來約督察的時間，然後明確告訴你他午餐要吃什麼。父親總會嘟囔着說：“我們是學校，又不是養雞場。”