xūróng de tóngshì

Shuō dào fūsè, yìnní huárén pǔbiàn bǐ yìnní běndì rén gèng bái.

Zài qù bàngōngshì túzhōng, wǒ kànjiànle yī wèi tóngshì. Qíguài, jīntiān tā zěnme yī qué yī guǎi de zǒu.

"Fāshēng shénme shìle?" wǒ wèn tā.

"Zuó wǎn huá dǎo le, wǒ bǎ jiǎohuái niǔle," tā huídá.

"Ó, zhēn kělián!" wǒ zhuā zhù tā de shǒu xiǎng fú tā zǒu.

"Bù, bù, bù, bùxíng," tā jùjuéle. Tā kàn wǒ hěn kùnhuò, jiù jiěshì shuō: "Bàoqiàn, biérén kàn wǒmen shǒu lā zhuóshǒu shì bù hǎo de. Tāmen kěndìng yào bǎ nǐ de fūsè hé wǒ de zuò bǐjiào."

Tā shì yìnní běndì rén, wǒ shì yìnní huárén. Wǒ xiàole, fàng kāile tā de shǒu. Míngbáile. Shuō dàodǐ wǒ yěshì yīgè xūróng de nǚhái.

虚荣的同事

说到肤色，印尼华人普遍比印尼本地人更白。

在去办公室途中，我看见了一位 同事。奇怪，今天她怎么一瘸一拐地走。

「发生什么事了？」我问她。

「昨晚滑倒了，我把脚踝扭了，」她回答。

「哦，真可怜！」我抓住她的手想扶她走。

「不，不，不，不行，」她拒绝了。她看我很困惑，就解释说：「抱歉，别人看我们手拉着手是不好的。他们肯定要把你的肤色和我的做比较。」

她 是印尼本地人，我是印尼华人。我笑了，放开了她的手。明白了。说到底我也是一个虚荣的女孩。

my vain colleague

Talking about skin, one of Indonesian-born-Chinese's is generally fairer than that of native Indonesian's.

This morning, on the way to my office, I saw a colleague walking funny.

"What happened?" I asked her.

"I slipped and twisted my ankle last night," she answered.

"Poor you!" I grabbed her hand, intending to help her walk.

"No no no don't," she refused, and upon seeing my baffled face, added: "Sorry, but if people see us hand-in-hand, they'll compare your skin color to mine."

She was native to Indonesia, while I was of Chinese descent. With the understanding of her point, I laughed and dropped her hand. After all, I was also a vain girl.