“That day， Haji Ali taught me the most important lesson I’ve ever learned in my life，” Mortenson says. “We Americans think you have to accomplish everything quickly. We’re the country of thirty-minute power lunches and two-minute football drills. Haji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea， to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects. He taught me that I had more to learn from the people I work with than I could ever hope to teach them.”
Three weeks later， with Mortenson 26）demoted from 27）foreman to spectator， the walls of the school had risen higher than the American’s head and all that remained was putting on the roof.
…
【曆盡艱辛，1997年8月初，科爾飛學校竣工。葛瑞格·摩頓森帶著妻子塔拉和不滿一歲的女兒阿蜜拉·摩頓森重返科爾飛參加開學典禮。隨行的人還有中亞協會（Central Asia Institute，簡稱CAI）理事珍妮弗·威爾森和茱莉亞·柏格曼等。珍妮弗和茱莉亞花了好幾個月的時間收集書籍，準備幫科爾飛建一所圖書館。學校的每間教室裏都放了幾十張全新的桌椅，地上還鋪了地毯，免得冬天時孩子們的腳受凍。有史以來頭一次，科爾飛的孩子們可以坐在堅固的教室裏，開始每天固定的學習……】
Jahan and her classmate Tahira， the Korphe School’s rst two female graduates， had come to Skardu together， as two of the CAI’s rst harvest of scholarship students. And on his last day in Skardu， when Mortenson stopped by with Jahan’s father， Twaha， to inquire about the girls’ progress， Jahan took pride in preparing tea for him herself， as her grandmother Sakina had so often done. While Mortenson sipped the Lipton Tea， brewed， not from handfuls of torn leaves and 28）rancid 29）yak milk， but from tap water and bags bought in Skardu’s 30）bazaar， he wondered what Sakina would have made of it. He imagined she would prefer her paiyu cha. Of her granddaughter， he was certain， she would be very proud. 31）Courtesy of the CAI， both Jahan and Tahira were taking a full complement of classes at the private Girls’ Model High School， including English grammar， formal 32）Urdu， Arabic， physics， economics， and history.
Tahira told Mortenson that once she graduated， she planned to return to Korphe and teach alongside her father， Hussein. “I’ve had this chance，” she said. “I think every girl of the Braldu deserves the chance to come downside at least once. Then their life will change. I think the greatest service I can perform is to go back and insure that this happens for all of them.” Jahan， who had come to Skardu planning to become a simple health worker and return to Korphe， was in the process of revising her goals upward. “Before I met you， Dr. Greg， I had no idea what education was，” Jahan said， relling his teacup. “But now I think it is like water. It is important for everything in life.”
“What about marriage？” Mortenson asked， knowing that a nurmadhar’s daughter would always be 33）in demand， especially a pretty girl of seventeen， and a Balti husband might not support his 34）brash young wife’s ambitions.
“Don’t worry， Dr. Greg，” Twaha said， laughing in the 35）rasping fashion that he’d inherited from Haji Ali. “The girl has learned your lesson too well. She has already made it clear she must finish her studies before we can even discuss marrying her to a suitable boy. And I agree. I will sell all my land if necessary so she can complete her education. I owe that to the memory of my father.”
“So what will you do？” Mortenson asked Jahan.
“You won’t laugh？” she said.
“I might，” Mortenson teased.
Jahan took a breath and 36）composed herself. “When I was a little sort of girl and I would see a gentleman or a lady with good， clean clothes I would run away and hide my face. But after I graduated from the Korphe School， I felt a big change in my life. I felt I was clear and clean and could go before anybody and discuss anything. And now that I am already in Skardu， I feel that anything is possible. I don’t want to be just a health worker. I want to be such a woman that I can start a hospital and be an executive， and look over all the health problems of all the women in the Braldu. I want to become a very famous woman of this area，” Jahan said， 37）twirling the 38）hem of her 39）maroon silk headscarf around her nger as she peered out the window， searching for the exact word with which to 40）envision her future. “I want to be a...‘Superlady，’ ” she said， grinning 41）de antly， daring anyone， any man， to tell her she couldn’t.