双语畅销书《我是马拉拉》第20章:谁是马拉拉?(2)
The time of year I prayed Most was during exams.
It was the one time when my friends and I did all five prayers a day like my mother was always trying to get me to do.
那是我和我的朋友们唯一会做完整五次祷告的时候，就像我的母亲以前经常要求我做的那样。I found it particularly hard in the afternoon, when I didn't want to be dragged away from the TV.
我发现下午的祷告最难坚持，因为我不想被迫放弃正在看的电视节目。
At exam time I prayed to Allah for high marks though our teachers used to warn us, 'God won't give you marks if you don't work hard.
考试期间，我会向阿拉祈求高分，但老师常警告我们：“如果你们不用功，真主不会赐给你们高分。God showers us with his blessings but he is honest as well.'
真主会降福在我们身上，但他也是刚正不阿的。”So I studied hard too.
所以我还是会努力念书。Usually I liked exams as a chance to show what I could do.
通常，我喜欢把考试视为一个验证自己能力的机会。But when they came round in October 2012 I felt under pressure.
但在2012年的10月，这些“机会”变成了压力。I did not want to come second to Malka-e-Noor again as I had in March.
我不希望3月份的情形重演，输给玛丽克·努尔，屈居第二。Then she had beaten me by not just one or two marks, the usual difference between us, but by five marks!
然而这次，她竟然一举多出我五分！I had been taking extra lessons with Sir Amjad who ran the boys' school.
为准备这次考试，我下了苦功。考试之前，我请男子学校部的主管阿姆杰德先生帮我额外补课。The night before the exams began I stayed up studying until three o'clock in the morning and reread an entire textbook.
考试的前一天，我熬夜学习到凌晨三点，把整本教科书全部复习了一遍。The first paper, on Monday, 8 October, was physics.
第一科考试，是在10月8日，星期一，科目是物理。I love physics because it is about truth, a world determined by principles and laws – no messing around or twisting things like in politics, particularly those in my country.
我钟爱物理，因为它关乎真理，是一个由原理与定律所掌管的世界，既不杂乱无章，也不像政治那样会扭曲、变形——好比那些发生在我们国家的事情一样。
