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One Friday afternoon, as everyone was ready to leave the room after Linear Models, she gathered her courage and spoke to Bryan. He had spots on his chin and forehead, was taller than her, restless, as if he was in hurry to go somewhere else. He put his calculator back in its case, his pen in his pocket. She asked him for his notes, and his blue eyes behind his glasses took on the blankest look she had ever seen in her life. What was all the surprise for? Did he think she was an insect? Was he surprised that she could speak?
周五下午，在线性模型课下课后，当所有人都准备下课离开教室时，莎迪雅鼓足勇气对布莱恩说话。他下巴和前额上有一些污点，他比她高很多，显得焦躁不安，好像有急事要去其他地方似的，他把计算器放回包里，钢笔放回口袋中。她问他借笔记时，他的眼镜片后面的一双蓝眼睛露出了极度的茫然，她还从来没有见过如此茫然的表情。为什么如此惊讶？难道他认为他是一只昆虫？难道他诧异于她会说话？
A mumble for a reply, words strung together. So taken aback, he was. He pushed his chair back under the table with his foot.
他回答得很含糊，所有的话都黏在了一起。他就是这样。他用脚把椅子推到了桌子下面。
Pardon?
“你说什么？”
He slowed down, separated each word.h' have them for ye on Monday."
他把每句话都分开来，慢慢说道，“我下周一给你带来。”
Thank you. She spoke English better than he did! How pathetic. The whole of him was pathetic. He wore the same shirt every blessed day. Grey and white stripe.
“谢谢。”她的英语说得比他好！多么的可怜，他整个人都是如此的可怜。他竟然每天都穿同一件衬衫，那件灰白条子的衬衫。
On the weekends, Shadia never went out of the halls, and, unless someone telephoned long-distance from home, she spoke to no one. There was time to remember Thursday nights in Khartoum: a wedding to go with Fareed, driving in his red Mercedes. Or the club with her sister, sitting by the pool drinking lemonade with ice, the waiters all dressed in white. Here, in this country's weekend of Saturday and Sunday, Shadia washed her clothes and her hair.
周末的时候，莎迪雅几乎很少出去，除了偶尔接到从家里打来的电话，她几乎和谁都不说话。有时想起在喀土穆的某个周四的晚上，和法瑞德开着他的红色奔驰车一起去参加婚礼。或者和她的妹妹一起去俱乐部，坐在泳池边一起喝加冰的柠檬味汽水，侍者们都穿着白色衣服。而在这里，在这个国家的周末，莎迪雅能做的就只有洗衣服、洗头发。
On the weekends, she made a list of the money she had spent: the sterling enough to keep a family alive back home. Yet she might fail her exams after all that expense, go back home emptyhanc-without degree. Guilt was cold like the fog of this city. It came from everywhere. One day she forgot to pray in the morning. She reached the bus stop and then realized that she hadn't prayed. That morning folded out like the nightmare she sometimes had, of discovering that she had gone out into the street without any clothes.
周末时，她把她的花费列了一张清单，如果在她自己的国家，这些英国货币足够养活一个家庭。但是，在花费了这么多钱后，她很有可能会考试失败，最后两手空空，连个学位都没有地回到家里。罪恶感就像这个城市的雾一样，到处都是。有一天，她早上忘记了祷告。她到公交车站的时候才想起来。那个早上就像她经常会梦到的噩梦一样，在梦里，她什么都没穿地走在街上。
In the evening, when she was staring at multidimensional scaling, the telephone in the hall rang. She ran to answer it. Fareed's cheerful greeting: "Here, Shadia, Mama and the girls want to speak to you." His mother's endearments: "They say it's so cold where you are…"
晚上的时候，她凝视着多维尺度分析，走廊里的电话响了。她跑去接电话。电话里传来了法瑞德欢快的问候：“喂，莎迪雅，妈妈和姐姐们想要和你说话。”电话里传来了妈妈亲切的问候：“听他们说，你那里很冷…………”
