伴着轻快的音乐,头顶玫瑰花雨,喧闹的宾客欢声笑语,而披红戴金的新娘却只能一脸严肃,穿戴整齐的新郎也是面无表情,几乎让人怀疑他们是否在庆祝人生最高兴的时刻,但这就是巴基斯坦的传统。
美式发音 适合泛听
There was a wedding this week in the family—the 1)NPR family. Sajid Mahmood, who manages our bureau in Islamabad, married off his sister-in-law.
Twenty-five-year-old Rukhsana Gul, who is one of 10 sisters, wed 27-year-old Mehran Shahzad, who works in the security detail that 2)escorts the prime minister. A police band, made up of his colleagues, 3)heralds the groom’s arrival, 4)wending its way down a rubble-strewn alleyway crowded with wedding goers. Children 5)dart among the musicians, diving for 6)fluttering five-rupee notes tossed into the air by the groom’s all-male 7)entourage.
The 8)jaunty music contrasts with the almost expressionless face of the groom, as he walks through a shower of rose petals. Pakistan’s conservative culture requires a sense of restraint, even on the most joyous occasions.
Awaiting Mehran’s arrival, the bride is equally reserved. But she’s also wearing 10 pounds of heavy 9)crimson and gold material that make up her heavily beaded bridal gown. She barely moves in the 100-degree heat. An industrial fan provides little relief on the 10)sweltering rooftop where Rukhsana is perched statue-like. But she 11)stoically says being on display for the throng of guests is what being a Pakistani bride is all about.
本周,我们电台的大家庭举行了一个婚礼——电台在伊斯兰堡办事处的经理沙吉·迈哈姆特的小姨出嫁。
家中十姐妹之一的25岁的茹珊娜·居尔,与27岁的马冉·沙扎结婚。马冉在总理护卫队工作。一支由新郎的同事组成的警察乐队,沿着挤满婚礼来宾的碎石小巷行进,宣布新郎的到来。小孩子在乐队中穿梭,争抢伴郎队伍抛向空中的五卢比钞票。
新郎步行穿过玫瑰花雨,轻松的音乐与他近乎毫无表情的脸形成鲜明对比。巴基斯坦保守的文化传统要求人们克制自己的情绪,即使是在最高兴的场合亦如此。
同样矜持寡言的新娘在等待着马冉的到来,但她还穿着10磅重,用镶满小珠子的金色和深红色面料做的沉重新娘礼服,在华氏100度(约37.8摄氏度)的高温里,她几乎无法动弹。茹珊娜像雕像一样坐在酷热的房屋顶层,一架工业用的风扇并不能让她感到多少凉意。但她坦然地说,坐在这里让大群客人观看是作为一名巴基斯坦新娘应该要做的事。
“The bride should stand out,” Rukhsana says, arranging her hands, which are covered in tattoos of red 12)henna. A thin gold ring wider than a silver dollar dangles from her nose. “This is our tradition,” she says. But the 13)veneer drops like melting 14)mascara. Actually, she admits, “I don’t usually wear makeup at all—or a nose ring.” As for the clothes, “I wish I could rip them off,” she laughs.
In this sex-segregated celebration, women assemble on one roof and men gather across the street on another—where they eat first. I find the groom 15)cloistered in a sitting room of a neighbor’s house, surrounded by male relatives. His aspirations on his wedding day are for children yet unborn.
“I want to spend a lot of time with my children, give them a good education and maybe a little better life than my own,” Mehran says.
16)Pragmatism is also at work on these occasions, although it’s out of public view. A formal contract awards Rukhsana roughly $3,500 in gold, and 500 square yards of land, in case, her family says, the marriage doesn’t work.
But as giddy children swarm, and guests dine on a simple Pakistani feast under colored splash canopies, it is the promise of a joyful future, and the unbroken cycle of life, that 17)abides.
茹珊娜说:“新娘应该引人注目。”她摆弄着她的手,上面刺满了红色的花纹,一个比银币宽的薄金环在她的鼻下悬荡。“这是我们的风俗习惯”,她说。但她的妆像融化的睫毛膏一样滴下来。事实上,她承认:“通常我一点化妆品都不用,也不带鼻环。”而对于身上的这套服装,“我真想将它扯掉。”她笑着说。
在这个男女隔离的庆祝活动中,妇女集中在一个房顶上,男人们则在街对面的另一个房顶上聚集,在那里他们会比女性先吃。我发现新郎藏在邻居的客厅中,由男性亲戚包围着。在结婚这天,他为未出生的孩子们许下了强烈的愿望。
“我希望花大量时间与我的孩子们在一起,让他们接受好的教育,或许过上比我好一点的生活,”马冉说。
即使在这种时刻,也要讲求实际,虽然具体细节他人并不知晓。一份正式合同让茹珊娜得到大约价值3500美元的金子,以及500平方码(约418平方米)的土地。她的家人说,这是以防万一婚姻破裂。
当活蹦乱跳的小孩子们聚在一起喧闹,客人们在色彩斑斓的帐篷下吃着简单的巴基斯坦宴席时,婚礼是对美好未来的承诺,是生命生生不息的延续。
