My Friend Peter

By Wang Lulu

(From World Knowledge, February 2018.Translation: Lu Qiongyao)

Borrowing Books

Thirty years ago, I was a teacher in a university located in the southern Netherlands. And I always loved going to the library.At this particular one, most of the books were stored on open shelves; there was no need to check the index and no need to fill out a slip.

It felt like all sorts of books were welcoming me with open arms. The only problem was, since Dutch people boasted the world’s highest average height, their book shelves were also as high as their people. And the books I wanted to borrow were very often stored on the mid to upper part of the shelves, beyond my reach, so I had no choice but to look around and try to find someone to help me.

There stood a typical Dutch guy with big muscles, strawberryblonde hair and green eyes leaning against a bookshelf leafing through a magazine, who was so tall that I had to look up to him.If I looked straight ahead I could only see up to the third button of his jacket. The timing was perfect when he closed the magazine in his hand to reach for a new one. I seized this opportunity and asked him to come help me by fetching several books from the bookshelf in the next hall.

He was a bit taken aback before he followed cheerfully and helped me solve my book problem.

Misunderstandings

That’s how we got to know each other. The second time we met,he said his name was Peter, and asked me my name, and which university I was studying in.

I said my name was Lulu, and that he should have asked at which university I taught.

As it turned out he was a second-year student of University of Limburg, Netherlands,majoring in economics. That’s why he thought I was a student as well. Only after knowing him for a while did I discover that there was a good reason why he thought I didn’t look like a university teacher.

According to Peter’s account of when we first met, I looked like a hungry baby crying for milk as I asked him to get a book from the shelf. He didn’t understand why I had to sit there pouting my lips and didn’t just come out with it directly.

This was really insulting, so I retorted, “Well, you were all absorbed in your magazine at that moment in the reading room,while I, a stranger and foreigner,needed to drag you away to another hall to help me get a book.If I didn’t play cute and act all flirty what would make you willing help me?

Peter replied, “I see. But LuLu,what you did might have had the opposite effect.”

So I asked him modestly what else I could have done.

Peter said he was actually not a typical Dutchman, who might have agreed to help me that day simply out of the goodness of his heart, but definitely would not have had anything to do with me afterwards. Peter’s father once ran a sugarcane farm in the Dutch colony of Indonesia, and fell in love with an Indonesian Chinese,so his father knew quite a lot about Chinese women’s habits and had passed his knowledge on to Peter. If a Dutchman not in the know like he was saw me acting girly, he would definitely ask me seriously, “Are you two years old?What’s with the little girly-girl act?”

借書

三十年前，我來到荷蘭南部一所大學教書，逛圖書館就像劉姥姥逛大觀園似的，樂得找不著北。藏書大多是開架的，不用查索引、填借書單，各種圖書，琳瑯滿目，近在咫尺，唾手可得。可惜，荷蘭人的平均身高占世界首位，這兒的書架，欺負俺個矮，俺想借的書都串通一氣，躲在書架的中上層，不讓俺碰。我只好左顧右盼，尋找幫忙的。

在一個報刊書架前面，我看到一位翻閱雜志的男人。典型的荷蘭人，肌肉發達，紅發綠眼，身高入云，我不得不仰視，平視只能看到他上衣的第三個扣子。恰巧在這個節骨眼上，他合上手中的雜志，要換新的。我伺機出動，請他跟我走一程，幫我從旁邊大廳里的書架上，取下幾本書。

他愣了一下，欣然前往，幫我解決了借書“高大上”的問題。

錯判

就這樣，我倆認識了。第二次見面，他說自己叫彼得，進而問我叫什么，在哪所大學讀書。

我說，小的叫露露，不過，你應該問我在哪所大學教書。

原來，他在荷蘭林堡省大學上二年級，讀經濟學，就以為我也還沒畢業呢。和他交往一段時間之后，我才知道，他認為自己有確鑿的證據，證明我不像大學老師。

彼得說，我倆第一次見面時，我請他幫忙從書架上拿書，那就好好說唄，干嗎偏要嘟嘟著個嘴，像嬰兒饑腸轆轆，管媽媽要鮮奶午餐似的？

我哪里受得了這等奇恥大辱，反問道，當時他正在閱覽室聚精會神地看雜志，我一個陌生人，還是外國人，要把他拽到另一個大廳，幫我從書架上取書，不嘟個嘴、發個嗲、撒個嬌、賣個萌，他能助人為樂嗎？

彼得說，原來如此，露露呀，你那樣做會適得其反。

我虛心請教道，怎樣才能四兩撥千斤呢？

彼得說，他屬于荷蘭的另類。那天，要是碰上一般的荷蘭人，他們也許會出于好心，助我一臂之力，但肯定不會再搭理我，更不會和我交往。彼得的父親，在前荷屬印尼殖民地，經營過甘蔗農場，愛上當地一位印尼女華僑，所以，他父親見怪不怪，彼得捎帶腳地繼承家族的優秀傳統。不過，沒有他特殊身世的荷蘭男人，一看到我撒嬌，保證厲言正色地提醒我，你不是耳朵后面還濕了吧唧（翻譯成中文是：乳臭未干）的小毛孩兒，別跟我來這一套。

Bicycle Repairs

One day I went to the library to borrow a book and had a flat tire on the way. I called Peter and asked him to come help me right away.

Before long he came to the scene with a small box in his hand.He asked me to move my bike to a quiet place away from traffic and people, then handed me the box on which was written “tire repair kit,” and turned to leave.

I called after him: “Where are you going? Why aren’t you helping me repair the flat tire?”

He turned around surprised,“LuLu, aren’t the Chinese people famous for bike riding?” I replied“Yes.” Then he was even more surprised, “If you can ride a bike,why can’t you repair a tire?” I said, “Well, I spent seven years in Beijing University and wore out two Pheonix bicycles. I’ve had dropped bicycle chains and flat tires many times, and every time the bike broke down, all I needed to do was stand on roadside curb and wait. Before two minutes passed some stranger of the male persuasion would magically appear and stoop down to fix my bike for me without any complaints. So, I never needed to learn how to fix a bike.”

以往關于ET0的驅動要素的研究多采用各站點ET0平均處理的方法，缺點是可能會丟失重要的數據信息。盧愛剛等（2005）在青藏高原及其周邊地區的研究表明，氣候變化與海拔高度關系密切，海拔越高氣候增暖的啟動時間越晚、量級越小。賀潔穎等（2013）研究發現，拉薩市蒸散發與海拔呈顯著的正相關，但隨著海拔高度的遞增，其在不同的高程范圍內的變化趨勢不同。因此，氣象要素對ET0的響應可能會隨著海拔高度而發生改變。因此有必要根據海拔高度對研究區域進行分區，研究不同分區ET0變化的驅動要素。

Peter shook his head with a sigh. He opened the box in his hand and told me, “As long as you follow the instructions, you can’t go wrong.”

I was about to have a hissy fit,but he stayed cool as a cucumber,and reassured me, “Lulu, it’s no use playing the damsel in distress.I’m not going to fall for that.Although I’m not a typical Dutch man, I won’t be at your beck and call anytime you want me to come fix this or that for you either. Can I ask you a question? Do you see me as a good friend, or as a ladder to get your books, or as your bicycle repairman? To think that you are a university teacher. If anyone should get all pouty and cutesycutesy, it should be some na?ve young chick, not a university teacher like you.”

After Peter graduated from university, he went to Southeast Asia to develop his career. We lost contact after that. But he was the first person who ever taught me about European culture. Since then, I’ve tried to straddle the line. To not only exude female beauty in its Chinese manifestation, but also explore the feminine appeal from the European perspective.

I came to realize that, when I acted cute to get Peter to fix my bike, I was making a fool of myself. Because by doing this,I was lowering myself before him, and I was acting like a weak, coddled baby demanding everything to be handed to me on a silver platter. Obviously,Peter and I are both adults, why couldn’t I learn to do what he could? Why did I have to rely on Peter’s kindness? In other words,by being a dependent follower,how could I win Peter’s respect?Where was the gender equality?Without equality, how could we talk about mutual respect, values,love and admiration? Isn’t that where women’s charm comes from?

Dutch people, on seeing a woman acting girly, may ask them, “How old are you that you are crying like a hungry little baby?” French people favor mature women over young girls. Those different ways of expression show how European people view female charm. In their view, forbearance, nobility,maturity, wisdom, valiance and self-reliance are where the real beauty lies.

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(FromWorld Knowledge, February 2018.Translation: Lu Qiongyao)

修車

有一天，我去圖書館借書，半路上，自行車胎爆了。我打電話給彼得，讓他火速趕來幫忙。

不一會兒，他來到現場，手里提溜著一只小盒子。他讓我把自行車搬到僻靜處，躲開來往的行人和車輛，然后把那只小盒子（上面寫著：補胎工具）遞給我，轉頭就要離開事故現場。

他轉過頭來，驚訝道，露露，你們中國人不是以騎自行車世界著名嗎？我說，是呀。他驚訝道，會騎車還不會補輪胎？我說，本小姐在北大讀了七年書，騎壞了兩輛鳳凰牌自行車，掉了無數次鏈子，爆了無數次胎。車一壞，我就往校園內的馬路牙子上一站，不過兩分鐘，就會有陌生的男同學，二話不說，卷起袖子，蹲下來幫我修車，所以，本小姐不用學修車。

彼得搖頭嘆氣之后，把手中的盒子打開，說，按照里面的說明書，照貓畫虎，自己補，保證沒錯。

我急得上躥下跳，他卻無動于衷。不過，他還是給我吃了一顆定心丸：露露呀，你撒嬌沒用，我不會吃你那一套的。我雖然是荷蘭的另類，但不能隨叫隨到，幫你修這補那。斗膽問一句，你是喜歡我這個好朋友呢，還是喜歡我這架借書的梯子，修理自行車的師傅呢？你還是大學老師呢。即便嘟嘟嘴撒嬌賣萌，也應該是我這個小弟弟。

彼得大學畢業之后，到東南亞找工作。我倆失去聯系，但他作為我的啟蒙老師，幫助我了解到歐洲文化的不少方面。我嘗試著雙管齊下，不但以與生俱來的中國價值觀來欣賞女性的美麗，也學著用歐洲人的眼光來發掘女性的魅力。

我慢慢地意識到，先前靠撒嬌讓彼得給我修車，純屬聰明反被聰明誤，丟了西瓜撿芝麻。因為我這樣做，就把自己放到低他一等的位置上，像小孩子一樣，束手無策，軟弱無能，有求于大人。明明彼得一個鼻子兩只眼睛，我也一個鼻子兩只眼睛，他能做的事，我為啥就不能學著做？何必依賴彼得的施舍？再說，仰人鼻息，拾人牙慧，怎能換來彼得的尊重？男女平等從何談起？不平等，哪能相互尊重、珍重、愛戴和愛慕？女人的魅力又從何而來？

荷蘭人管撒嬌的女人叫“耳朵后邊還沒干的嬰兒”，問她們“都多大了，還嘟嘟嘴管媽媽要奶喝”。法國人不待見妙齡女子，更欣賞半老徐娘。這些不同的表達方式，均體現了歐洲人對女性魅力的看法。他們視沉穩豁達、成熟智慧、勇猛精進、自食其力為美。◆