評論
打印
Shadia was engaged to Fareed Fareed was a package that came with the 7UP franchise, the paper factory, the big house he was building, his sisters and widowed mother. Shadia was going to marry them all. She was going to be happy and make her mother happy. Her mother deserved happiness after the misfortunes of her life. A husband who left her for another woman. Six girls to bring up. People felt sorry for her mother. Six girls to educate and marry off. But your Lord is generous: Each of the girls, it was often said, was lovelier than the other. They were clever too: dentist, pharmacist, architect, and all with the best of manners.
莎迪雅和法瑞德訂婚了。法瑞德擁有七喜飲料的經銷權，紙廠，他為他的姐姐和寡婦媽媽建了一所大房子。莎迪雅要和他們所有人結婚。她會很快樂，也要讓她媽媽很快樂。她的媽媽在經歷了人生的不幸以后，值得擁有幸福。她的丈夫離開了她，和另一個女人在一起了。媽媽讓六個女兒受教育，結婚。但是主是慷慨的，人們常說，她的女兒一個賽一個的可愛。她們都很聰明，牙醫、藥劑師、建筑師，并且都很有禮貌。
We are just back from looking at the house. Fareed's turn again to talk. "It's coming along fine, they're putting the tiles down…"
“我們剛剛看完房子回來。”法瑞德又接回了電話“房子進展得很順利，他們正在貼瓷磚。”
That's good, that's good, "her voice strange from not talking to anyone all day.
“那好，那好。”因為一整天沒有和任何人說話，她的聲音聽起來怪怪的。
The bathroom suites. If I get them all the same colour for us and the girls and Mama, I could get them on a discount. Blue, the girls are in favour of blue, "his voice echoed from one continent to another. Miles and miles.
我們的衛浴套裝。如果我給我們倆，還有媽媽和姐姐們都買相同的顏色，我就能夠獲得折扣。并且都很有禮貌。藍色的，姐姐們喜歡藍色的，”他聲音的回音從遙遠的另一個大陸傳了過來。
Blue is niceyes, better get them all the same colour,
“藍色很好，可以的，都買相同的顏色吧。”
He was building a block of flats, not a house. The ground-floor flat for his mother and the girls until they married, the first floor for him and Shadia. When Shadia had first got engaged to Fareed, he was the son of rich man. A man with the franchise for 7UP and the paper factory which had a monopoly in ladies 'sanitary towels. But Fareed's father died of a heart attack soon after ngagement party (five hundred guests at the Hilton). Now Shadia was going to marry the rich man himself.
他正在建造一座公寓樓，不是一所房子。第一層給他的媽媽，還有那些沒結婚的姐妹們準備的，第二層是他和莎迪雅住的。當莎迪雅剛和法瑞德訂婚時，他還是一個有錢人的兒子。他的父親擁有七喜飲料的經銷權，紙廠專門生產女性衛生巾。但是法瑞德的父親在訂婚典禮之后，死于突發性心臟病（當時有500多名賓客在希爾頓酒店）。現在，莎迪雅要和自己變成有錢人的男人結婚了。
There was no time to talk about her course on the telephone, no space for her anxieties. Fareed was not interested in her studies. He had said, "I'm very broad-minded to allow you to study abroad. Other men would not have put up with this…" It was her mother who was keen for her to study, to get a postgraduate degree from Britain and then have a career after she got married. "This way, "her mother had said, "you will have your in-laws'respect. They have money but you will have a degree. Don't end up like me. I left my education to marry your father and now…
在電話里，法瑞德沒有時間詢問她的課程，也沒有時間了解她的焦慮。法瑞德對她的學習一點都不感興趣。他曾經說：“我能夠讓你去國外讀書是非常開明的。其他的男人是不會允許的。”莎迪雅的媽媽對她的學習十分上心，希望她在英國獲得研究生學歷，并且婚后仍舊擁有她自己的事業。她媽媽說：“這樣，你就會得到夫家人的尊重，他們有錢但你有學歷。不要像我這樣，沒有念完書就和你爸爸結婚了，而現在……”
