The Answer Is No /by Naguib Mahfouz
https://www.sabri.org/The-Answer-No.htm
Tap-àn Sī M̄ | 答案是毋
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1. Góa ē lâi thê-chhin
Sin hāu-tiúⁿ kàu-ūi ê tōa siau-sit thoân phiàn choân hāu. Yi sī tī lú-lāu-su pān-kong-sek thiaⁿ tio̍h hit-ê siau-sit, hit-sî yi tng-teh tùi hit-ji̍t ê khò chò chòe-āu kiám-cha. Bô khó-lêng siám-khui mài hām kî-thaⁿ lāu-su khì kā i chiok-hō, mài hām i ak-chhiú. Yi kui-sin ka-lún-sún, m̄-koh che sī bô-ta-ôa ê tāi-chì.
"In lóng o-ló i ê châi-chêng," yi ê chi̍t-ê tông-sū án-ne kóng. "In mā kóng i chin giâm-keh."
Chit-chióng tāi-chì chóng-sī ū khó-lêng hoat-seng, taⁿ tú-tio̍h ah. Yi ê súi bīn hoán-pe̍h, o͘-sek tōa ba̍k-chiu khòaⁿ tio̍h sîn-sîn.
Tán sî-kan kàu, lāu-su pâi chi̍t-lia̍t, chhēng-chhah chéng-chê, lâi kàu i ê pān-kong-sek. I khiā tī pān-kong-toh āu-bīn, chiap-kiàn chiah-ê lâm-lâm lú-lú. I ê sin-châi tiong-téng, lio̍h-á tōa-kho͘, bīn îⁿ-îⁿ, phīⁿ kau-kau, ba̍k-chiu phok-phok; tē-it hāng khòaⁿ tio̍h ê sī i he cha̍t koh chhàng ê téng-tûn-chhiu, phòng kah ná kâm-pho ê hái-éng. Yi ê ba̍k-chiu tèng tī i heng-chêng, hiòng chêng kiâⁿ. Phiah-khui i ê gán-sîn, yi kā chhiú chhun chhut-lâi. Yi boeh kóng siáⁿ hó? M̄-koh, yi kan-ta tiām-tiām, siáⁿ ōe to bô kóng. Yi hòⁿ-kî, i ê ba̍k-chiu piáu-sī siáⁿ? I he chho͘-chho͘ ê chhiú tēⁿ tiâu yi ê, koh chhut chi̍t-ê chho͘-chho͘ ê siaⁿ, "To-siā." Yi iu-iu ngá-ngá oa̍t-sin, kiâⁿ khui.
Yi thàu-kòe ta̍k-kang ê khang-khòe lâi bē-kì-tit chhau-hoân, m̄-koh yi khòaⁿ khí-lâi pēng bô hó. Kúi-ā ê cha-bó͘ phōaⁿ kóng, "Sió-chiá ê sim-chêng bô hó." Tán yi tńg kàu tī Pyramids Lō͘ khí-thâu ê yin tau, Yi ōaⁿ-saⁿ, chē lo̍h-lâi hām lāu-bú tâng-chê chia̍h-pn̄g. "Tāi-chì hó bô?" lāu-bú án-ne mn̄g, ná khòaⁿ yi ê bīn.
"Badran, Badran Badawi," yi kán-tan kóng. "Lí ē-kì-tit i bô? I hông phài-lâi chò goán hāu-tiúⁿ."
"Chin ê oh!"
Jiân-āu, keng-kòe chi̍t-khùn ê tiām-chēng, yi kóng, "He kin-pún to bô tiōng-iàu -- He sī chá tō bē-kì-tit ê lāu kò͘-sū."
Chia̍h-pá liáu, yi lī-khui khì chheh-pâng hioh-khùn chi̍t-ē, chiah koh kái chi̍t-kóa liān-si̍p phō͘-á. Yi í-keng oân-choân bē-kì-tit i ah. Bô, bô oân-choân. Ná ū khó-lêng oân-choân bē-kì-tit i? I tú lâi kā yi pó͘-si̍p sò͘-ha̍k ê sî, yi 14 hòe. Si̍t-chāi kóng, iáu-bōe móa 14. I ke yi put-chí 25 hòe, hām yin lāu-pē tâng-nî. Yi bat án-ne kā lāu-bú kóng, "I ê gōa-piáu lám-nōa, m̄-koh i chin gâu kái-soeh tāi-chì." Yin lāu-bú bat án-ne kóng, "Lán bô kè-kàu i ê gōa-piáu; tiōng-iàu ê sī i án-chóaⁿ kái-soeh tāi-chì."
I sī chi̍t-ê chhù-bī ê lâng, yi hām i chò-hóe-liáu bē-bái, mā ùi i ê tì-sek tit-tio̍h hó-chhù. Iá, tāi-chì sī án-nóa hoat-seng ê neh? In-ūi thian-chin, yi bô chù-ì tio̍h i ê hêng-ûi ê kái-piàn, tì-sú bô jīm-hô thê-hông. Jiân-āu, ū chi̍t-kang, yin lāu-pē khì yin a-ko͘ ê chín-só͘, kan-ta i hām yi lâu tī chhù nih. Yi chi̍t-sut-á to bô hoâi-gî chit-ê yi kā khòaⁿ-chò khè-pē ê cha-po͘-lâng. Chū án-ne, tāi-chì sī án-nóa hoat-seng ê? Tī yi bô ài-chêng, bô io̍k-bōng ê chêng-hêng hā, hit-ê tāi-chì hoat-seng ah. Yi tī kiaⁿ-hiâⁿ tiong mn̄g i, ná ē án-ne ah, iá i kā kóng, "Bián kiaⁿ, mā bián siong-sim. Mài kā pa̍t-lâng kóng, tán lí nî-hòe kàu, góa ē lâi kā lí thê-chhin."
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1. 我會來提親
新校長到位 ê 大消息傳遍全校. 她是 tī 女老師辦公室聽著彼个消息, 彼時她 tng-teh 對彼日 ê 課做最後檢查. 無可能閃開莫和其他老師去 kā 伊祝賀, 莫和伊握手. 她規身交懍恂, 毋過這是 bô-ta-ôa ê 代誌.
"In 攏 o-ló 伊 ê 才情," 她 ê 一个同事 án-ne 講. "In mā 講伊真嚴格."
這種代誌總是有可能發生, 今拄著 ah. 她 ê 媠面反白, 烏色大目睭看著神神.
等時間到, 老師排一列, 穿插整齊, 來到伊 ê 辦公室. 伊徛 tī 辦公桌後面, 接見 chiah-ê 男男女女. 伊 ê 身材中等, 略仔大箍, 面圓圓, 鼻勾勾, 目睭 phok-phok; 第一項看著 ê 是伊 he cha̍t koh 聳 ê 頂唇鬚, 膨甲 ná kâm-pho ê 海湧. 她 ê 目睭釘 tī 伊胸前, 向前行. 避開伊 ê 眼神, 她 kā 手伸出來. 她欲講啥好? 毋過, 她干焦恬恬, 啥話 to 無講. 她好奇, 伊 ê 目睭表示啥? 伊 he 粗粗 ê 手捏牢她 ê, koh 出一个粗粗 ê 聲, "多謝." 她優優雅雅越身, 行開.
她透過逐工 ê 工課來袂記得操煩, 毋過她看起來並無好. 幾若 ê 查某伴講, "小姐 ê 心情無好." 等她轉到 tī Pyramids 路起頭 ê 姻兜, 她換衫, 坐落來和老母同齊食飯. "代誌好無?" 老母 án-ne 問, ná 看她 ê 面.
"Badran, Badran Badawi," 她簡單講. "你會記得伊無? 伊 hông 派來做阮校長."
"真 ê oh!"
然後, 經過一睏 ê 恬靜, 她講, "He 根本 to 無重要 -- 彼是早 tō 袂記得 ê 老故事."
食飽了, 她離開去冊房歇睏一下, 才 koh 改一寡練習簿仔. 她已經完全袂記得伊 ah. 無, 無完全. 那有可能完全袂記得伊? 伊拄來 kā 她補習數學 ê 時, 她 14 歲. 實在講, 猶未滿 14. 伊加她不止 25 歲, 和姻老爸同年. 她捌 án-ne kā 老母講, "伊 ê 外表荏懶, 毋過伊真 gâu 解說代誌." 姻老母捌 án-ne 講, "咱無計較伊 ê 外表; 重要 ê 是伊按怎解說代誌."
伊是一个趣味 ê 人, 她和伊做伙了袂䆀, mā ùi 伊 ê 智識得著好處. Iá, 代誌是按怎發生 ê neh? 因為天真, 她無注意著伊 ê 行為 ê 改變, 致使無任何提防. 然後, 有一工, 姻老爸去姻阿姑 ê 診所, 干焦伊和她留 tī 厝 nih. 她一屑仔 to 無懷疑這个她 kā 看做契爸 ê 查埔人. 自 án-ne, 代誌是按怎發生 ê? Tī 她無愛情, 無慾望 ê 情形下, 彼个代誌發生 ah. 她 tī 驚惶中問伊, 那會 án-ne ah, iá 伊 kā 講, "免驚, mā 免傷心. 莫 kā 別人講, 等你年歲到, 我會來 kā 你提親."
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1.
The important piece of news that the new headmaster had arrived spread through the school. She heard of it in the women teachers' common room as she was casting a final glance at the day's lessons. There was no getting away from joining the other teachers in congratulating him, and from shaking him by the hand too. A shudder passed through her body, but it was unavoidable.
"They speak highly of his abilities," said a colleague of hers. "And they talk too of his strictness."
It had always been a possibility that might occur, and now it had. Her pretty face paled, and a staring look came to her wide black eyes.
When the time came, the teachers went in single file, decorously attired, to his open room. He stood behind his desk as he received the men and women. He was of medium height, with a tendency to portliness, and had a spherical face, hooked nose, and bulging eyes; the first thing that could be seen of him was a thick, puffed-up mustache, arched like a foam-laden wave. She advanced with her eyes fixed on his chest. Avoiding his gaze, she stretched out her hand. What was she to say? Just what the others had said? However, she kept silent, uttered not a word, What, she wondered, did his eyes express? His rough hand shook hers, and he said in a gruff voice, "Thanks." She turned elegantly and moved off.
She forgot her worries through her daily tasks, though she did not look in good shape. Several of the girls remarked, "Miss is in a bad mood." When she returned to her home at the beginning of the Pyramids Road, she changed her clothes and sat down to eat with her mother. "Everything all right?" inquired her mother, looking her in the face.
"Badran, Badran Badawi," she said briefly. "Do you remember him? He's been appointed our headmaster."
"Really!"
Then after a moment of silence, she said, "It's of no importance at all - it's an old and long-forgotten story."
After eating, she took herself off to her study to rest for a while before correcting some exercise books. She had forgotten him completely. No, not completely. How could he be forgotten completely? When he had first come to give her a private lesson in mathematics, she was fourteen years of age. In fact, not quite fourteen. He had been twenty-five years older, the same age as her father. She had said to her mother, "His appearance is a mess, but he explains things well." And her mother had said, "We are not concerned with what he looks like; what's important is how he explains things."
He was an amusing person, and she got on well with him and benefited from his knowledge. How, then, had it happened? In her innocence she had not noticed any change in his behavior to put her on her guard. Then one day he had been left on his own with her, her father having gone to her aunt's clinic. She had not the slightest doubts about a man she regarded as a second father. How, then, had it happened? Without love or desire on her part the thing had happened. She had asked in terror about what had occurred, and he had told her, "Don't be frightened or sad. Keep it to yourself and I'll come and propose to you the day you come of age."
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