玛拉拉·尤萨法扎伊

2012年10月11日是第一个“国际女童日”。然而就在这个节日的前两天，巴基斯坦塔利班公然对14岁的少女玛拉拉·尤萨法扎伊进行枪击。这一行为迅速引起国际社会的震惊和谴责，也引发更多人对于女童受教育权的关注。美国前第一夫人劳拉·布什特别撰文声援玛拉拉，并将其比拟成《安妮日记》的作者安妮·弗兰克，号召世人为改善女孩们的世界作出努力。

On Tuesday afternoon, Malala Yousafzai was a 14-year-old girl riding home on a school bus. Now, after a masked gunman apparently boarded her bus, asked for her by name and shot her in the head and neck, she is fighting for her life. Malala was targeted by the Pakistani Taliban because for the past three years she has spoken out for the rights of all girls to become educated. After this 1)despicable shooting, a Taliban spokesman said that his organization considers Malalas 2)crusade for education rights an“3)obscenity” and accused her of “4)propagating”Western culture. If she survives, the group promises to try again to kill her.

周二（即2012年10月9日）下午，14岁的女孩玛拉拉·尤萨法扎伊坐校车回家。忽然间，一名蒙面枪手公然登上校车，喊着名字找她，然后对着她的头部和颈部开枪。她目前仍挣扎于死亡边缘。玛拉拉之所以成为巴基斯坦塔利班的刺杀目标，是因为在过去三年她一直在为所有女孩的受教育权而呼告。这起卑劣的枪击事件发生后，塔利班的一位发言人称，他的组织认为玛拉拉的教育权圣战“污秽犯忌”，并指控她是在“散布”西方文化；如果这次她能幸免于难，他们保证会再干一次将她置于死地。

At age 11, to protest what was happening in her homeland, Malala began to write about her experiences, producing a blog for the BBCs Urdu-language service. She described wearing plain clothes, not uniforms, so that no one would know she was attending school and wrote about how she and other girls “hid our books under our 5)shawls.” Nonetheless, after the Taliban forced the closure of her school, Malala had no choice but to stay home and suspend her education. In another blog entry, she wrote: “Five more schools have been destroyed, one of them was near my house. I am quite surprised, because these schools were closed so why did they also need to be destroyed?” A few weeks later she wrote, “I am sad watching my uniform, school bag and geometry box” and “hurt” because her brothers could go to school while she could not.

Malala had dreamed of becoming a doctor, but recently she became interested in politics and speaking out for the rights of children. In 2011, Malala was a nominee for the International Childrens Peace Prize, which lauded her bravery in standing up for girlseducational rights amid rising 6)fundamentalism at a time when few adults would do the same. Last year, she was awarded Pakistans first National Youth Peace Prize. These are the accomplishments of the young girl who so terrified the Taliban.

7)Condemnations of the attempt on Malalas life have been swift and powerful. The U.S. government called it “8)barbaric” and “cowardly.” Pakistans prime minister said, “Malala is like my daughter, and yours too. If that mind-set prevails, then whose daughter would be safe?” And the Pakistani armys chief general said that the Taliban has “failed to grasp that she is not only an individual, but an icon of courage.”