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从林心等人住的酒店，可以清晰地望见petronastowers---蜘蛛侠阿兰·罗伯特攀援过的、世界最高的双塔楼，大马的骄傲。这大楼里有马来西亚最昂贵的精品店和东南亚最大的古典音乐厅。在这儿，有银子是不愁花不出去的，只怕你没有！夜晚的双子楼像两只巨型水晶玉米，肩并肩傲视着满城的灯火辉煌，是吉隆坡夜景的华彩乐段。与此同时，酒店后面的小巷子里挤着低矮的贫民窟，是这座城市藏污纳垢的角落。马路边、过街天桥上、繁华闹市区，到处是衣衫褴褛、伸着手乞讨的人。富也罢，穷也罢，人们在吉隆坡都没有安全感。
到处是车，到处在堵车。在吉隆坡的马路上，车不让车、不让人，人也不让车。大家越是互不相让，路上就越是堵得厉害；越是堵得厉害，人们就越是互不相让。大马人的想法儿是：我不挤进去，别人就会挤进来。现代社会就是这幺残酷！
在岛国生活的五年，林心这个地道的北方人已经完全习惯了闷热潮湿的热带天气。因为环境的清洁整齐，她并不觉得怎样令人厌烦。而在吉隆坡，这天气却显出了城市的肮脏和无序，让人只觉得心浮气躁，总想喝杯冰咖啡压压肝火。
这次一共来了七个人，除了林心，还有june、richard、alfred、siewying和另外一对年轻夫妇。conference有无数个分会场，来了总有上千人。林心想richard老马识途，就跟定了他。alfred好像也是同样想法儿。这三人于是马不停蹄地从一处分会场转到另一处分会场。
林心这才意识到toastmasters有多火。richard说明年要去美国参加toastmasterinternationalconference。alfred也很兴奋。他现在的目标已经从dtm提高到在internationalconference上拿奖了。
晚餐大家跟着richard去了个小吃店，点了黑胡椒螃蟹。siewying旁若无人地捡了个最大的，放在自己的盘子里。richard看了她一眼，说了声：isee.然后转头问alfred多少年没回大马了。alfred说：自从移民去澳洲，就再也没回来过。今年已经整整十八年了。
林心听了想：他是高中时移民的，就算那年十七吧，他今年也最多三十五。这人真显老！
“你以后还打算回来吗？”那对年轻夫妇的丈夫问。
alfred坚决地摇摇头说：“在马来西亚，华人的日子并不好过。这是马来人的国家，政府特别向着马来人。forexample，所有的公司必须保留百分之三十的股份，让马来人来买，就算是私人企业也是这样。”
richard听了冷笑着说：“不过即使这样，马来人持有的股份还是连百分之二十也没有。”
alfred点头说：“马来人懒惰！从过去就懒，一直懒到今天！仗着自然资源多，把树上的果子摘下来就能吃饱，根本就不努力工作！还生一大堆的孩子，越生越穷！”
林心早晨搭巴士去mrt车站，常常看到一个漂亮的马来姑娘，卷曲的黑发，细腰丰臀，一双大而媚的黑眼睛。她把这个美女吹嘘给kokwai、joanne听，二人异口同声地说：一生孩子马上成aunti！
林心公司的同事全部是华人。来了马来人应聘，人事部总是找个堂皇的理由把人家打发了。只招华人这个不成文的规定，大家都心知肚明，可是没有人会说出来给自己找麻烦。
june很快地转了话题，谈起了明天的日程。大家吃完螃蟹，又聊了一会儿，richard提议去喝杯咖啡，他知道一家店里的咖啡特别好喝。
于是一行人结了帐跟着richard走。路上要穿过一条小巷子，只容两个人并排，richard领头，林心和alfred不觉殿了后。林心没想到今天会走这幺多路，一个劲儿地懊悔穿了双细根凉鞋，这时脚已经生疼。走在这条坑坑洼洼的小路上，开始有点重心不稳。
“你没事吧？”alfred问。
“没事儿。脚有点儿疼。”林心有点不好意思地说。
“下次别穿这幺高的鞋了！”alfred看着她的脚说。
很突然地，林心的腰被一条肌肉结实的手臂紧紧箍住了。她吃惊地侧头去看alfred。他只是看着前方，很坚决地说：“这段路不好走，我扶着你。”
两人都沉默了。林心感觉到alfred手掌的大和热。
喝了咖啡，才八点多，june说累了，要回酒店去了。林心和siewying和她同房，也只得随着她回去。一进门，june就瘫在椅子里，从随身的小包里摸出一堆药来，请siewying给倒了杯水，仰头把药吞下去。
“june，你没事儿吧？”siewying和林心都小心地问。
june闭着眼睛喘了口气说“没事，休息一下子就好了。”<!--[ifgtemso9]><xml><w:worddocument><w:view>normal</w:view><w:zoom>0</w:zoom><w:trackmoves/><w:trackformatting/><w:donotshowrevisions/><w:donotprintrevisions/><w:donotshowcomments/><w:donotshowinsertionsanddeletions/><w:donotshowpropertychanges/><w:punctuationkerning/><w:validateagainstschemas/><w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:saveifxmlinvalid><w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:ignoremixedcontent><w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext><w:donotpromoteqf/><w:lidthemeother>en-us</w:lidthemeother><w:lidthemeasian>zh-cn</w:lidthemeasian><w:lidthemecomplexscript>x-none</w:lidthemecomplexscript><w:compatibility><w:breakwrappedtables/><w:snaptogridincell/><w:wraptextwithpunct/><w:useasianbreakrules/><w:dontgrowautofit/><w:splitpgbreakandparamark/><w:enableopentypekerning/><w:dontflipmirrorindents/><w:overridetablestylehps/><w:usefelayout/></w:compatibility><m:mathpr><m:mathfontm:val="cambriamath"/><m:brkbinm:val="before"/><m:brkbinsubm:val="--"/><m:smallfracm:val="off"/><m:dispdef/><m:lmarginm:val="0"/><m:rmarginm:val="0"/><m:defjcm:val="centergroup"/><m:wrapindentm:val="1440"/><m:intlimm:val="subsup"/><m:narylimm:val="undovr"/></m:mathpr></w:worddocument></xml><![endif]--><!--[ifgtemso9]><xml><w:latentstylesdeflockedstate="false"defunhidewhenused="true"defsemihidden="true"defqformat="false"defpriority="99"latentstylecount="267"><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="0"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"qformat="true"name="normal"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="9"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"qformat="true"name="heading1"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="9"qformat="true"name="heading2"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="9"qformat="true"name="heading3"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="9"qformat="true"name="heading4"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="9"qformat="true"name="heading5"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="9"qformat="true"name="heading6"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="9"qformat="true"name="heading7"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="9"qformat="true"name="heading8"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="9"qformat="true"name="heading9"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="39"name="toc1"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="39"name="toc2"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="39"name="toc3"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="39"name="toc4"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="39"name="toc5"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="39"name="toc6"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="39"name="toc7"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="39"name="toc8"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="39"name="toc9"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="35"qformat="true"name="caption"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="10"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"qformat="true"name="title"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="1"name="defaultparagraphfont"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="11"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"qformat="true"name="subtitle"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="22"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"qformat="true"name="strong"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="20"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"qformat="true"name="empha"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="59"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"name="tablegrid"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"unhidewhenused="false"name="placeholdertext"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="1"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"qformat="true"name="nospacing"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="60"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"name="lightshading"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="61"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"name="lightlist"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="62"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"name="lightgrid"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="63"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"name="mediumshading1"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="64"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"name="mediumshading2"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="65"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"name="mediumlist1"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="66"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"name="mediumlist2"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="67"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"name="mediumgrid1"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="68"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"name="mediumgrid2"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="69"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"name="mediumgrid3"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="70"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"name="darklist"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="71"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"name="colorfulshading"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="72"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"name="colorfullist"/><w:lsdexceptionlocked="false"priority="73"semihidden="false"unhidewhenused="false"name="colorfulgrid"/><w:lsdexcep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