Baraheen Ashrafi thought Sept. 11, 2001, would be a day to remember -- she was expecting to be induced into labor.
911事件发生前，巴拉希恩•阿什拉菲(Baraheen Ashrafi)曾以为2001年9月11日将是一个值得记住的日子──她将在那一天催产生孩子。
但首先，她丈夫必须去上早班。穆罕默德•乔杜里(Mohammad Chowdhury)是世贸双子座北楼顶层"世界之窗"饭店(Windows on the World)的一名宴会服务员。当天，一家英国金融公司从早餐开始开会，一直要开一整天。
But first, her husband had to work the morning shift. Mohammad Chowdhury was a banquetwaiter at Windows on the World, the restaurant atop the north tower, and a British financial firm was having a daylong meeting that started with a breakfast.
乔杜里是孟加拉国人，当时39岁，他再也没有回到在皇后区伍德赛德有着三间卧室的家。两天之后，阿什拉菲诞下一子，取名法尔哈德(Farqad)。而原本以为会是儿子生日的那一天却成了丈夫的祭日。
她说，每年的这一天我们的纪念方式就是多念一点古兰经，10周年也不会有什么不同。阿什拉菲说，对我们来说，对我的孩子们来说，每天都是这样。每天我们都感觉家里有个人不在了，对我们来说，每天都是9月11日。
Mr. Chowdhury, a 39-year-old native of Bangladesh, never returned to their three-bedroom apartment in Woodside, Queens. Two days later, Mrs. Ashrafi gave birth to a son -- Farqad. And the day she thought would be her son's birthday became her husband's death anniversary.
恐怖袭击的次年，阿什拉菲把家搬到了俄克拉荷马州埃德蒙，那里离她的姐姐更近一点儿。从一定程度上讲，是为了远离那个让她心碎的纽约。除了今年马上就10岁的法尔哈德外，她还有个女儿叫法赫娜(Fahina)，10月份就16岁了。
她说，那里有太多的记忆，我去哪都没有丈夫的陪伴。当时，我无法接受。10年前事情发生的时候，我想，失去了他，今后的日子我该怎么过？然而，时间过得这么快。
They commemorate the day with a few extra prayers from the Quran, and the 10th anniversary will be no different, she says. 'For us, for my kids, it's an everyday matter,' said Mrs. Ashrafi. 'Every day we are feeling that one person is missing from our family. Every day is Sept. 11 for us.'
有时孩子们会央求她搬回纽约去。当有人说法尔哈德与那个他从未谋面的父亲简直是一个模子刻出来的，他会眉开眼笑。阿什拉菲回忆起法尔哈德对父亲的渴望在小学一年级时变得非常强烈。阿什拉菲哽噎着说，他会躺在地板上，假装自己快死了，然后说，"看，我和爸爸一样死掉了"，他想抱抱自己的父亲、摸摸他、亲亲他。
亲戚朋友劝她再婚或是找个男朋友。她则对他们说，我的生命中不想再要别人，孩子们可以叫我爸爸或妈妈，我既当爹又当妈。对此，法尔哈德回嘴道，不，你永远也当不了我爸爸。
The year after the terror attacks, Mrs. Ashrafi moved her family -- besides Farqad, who turns 10 this year, she has a daughter Fahina, who turns 16 in October -- to Edmond, Okla., to be closer to her sister. And partly to get away from a New York that haunted her.
S. Mitra Kalita
'There are too many memories there,' she said. 'Everywhere I go, I have to go without my husband. At the time, I couldn't accept that. When it happened 10 years ago, I was thinking, 'How will I survive the rest of my life without him?' And yet time has gone by so fast.'
The children beg her sometimes to move back to New York. Farqad beams when someone says he looks just like the man he never met. Mrs. Ashrafi recalls the boy's longing grew intense in first grade. 'He'd lie down on the floor and pretend that he was dying and say, 'Look, I am dead like my daddy,' ' Mrs. Ashrafi said, her own voice choking. 'He wanted to hold his father, touch him, kiss him.'
Friends and family ask her to remarry or find a boyfriend. 'I don't want anybody else in my life,' she tells them. 'The children can call me Daddy and Mommy. I am both.' To that, Farqad responded, 'No, you can never be my daddy.'
S. Mitra Kalita
- restaurant [´restərɔnt]
n.饭店，菜馆 (初中英语单词) - financial [fi´nænʃəl] a.金融的，财政的 (初中英语单词)
- apartment [ə´pɑ:tmənt] n.一套房间 (初中英语单词)
- missing [´misiŋ] a.缺掉的；失踪的 (初中英语单词)
- terror [´terə] n.恐怖；惊骇 (初中英语单词)
- partly [´pɑ:tli] ad.部分地；不完全地 (初中英语单词)
- haunted [´hɔ:tid] a.常出现鬼的，闹鬼的 (初中英语单词)
- survive [sə´vaiv] vt.幸存；残存 (初中英语单词)
- pretend [pri´tend] v.假装；借口；妄求 (初中英语单词)
- banquet [´bæŋkwit] n.宴会，盛宴 (高中英语单词)
- everyday [´evridei] a.每日的，日常的 (高中英语单词)
- longing [´lɔŋiŋ] n.&a.渴望(的) (高中英语单词)
- intense [in´tens] a.强烈的；紧张的 (高中英语单词)
- waiter [´weitə] n.侍者，服务员 (英语四级单词)
- anniversary [,æni´və:səri] n.周年纪念(日) (英语四级单词)
- commemorate [kə´meməreit] vt.纪念 (英语六级单词)
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