阿杰按：
不少朋友都来信抱怨英文作文难写，尤其是出国考试的作文。
下面与各位朋友分享一封阿杰与University of British Columbia 英语教授的调侃信，希望能够对朋友们有所启发(信尾推荐有书一本，对英语提高会比较大)。该信写于去年三八妇女节，由于比较熟，写的比较随便哈！
欢迎各位指正！
My dear and adorable
Happy Women’s Day to you! And to me too. Why? You may wonder. No presence without absence. One could hardly disagree with such a witty Derridean observation. (That’s also the essence of Taoism!) For informed and enlightened minds, we celebrate ourselves on this occasion, simply to better celebrate our counterparts. No we-men’s day, no women’s day! No gentlemanism, no feminism. For those Mr. Winkles, even gentle manism is particularly needed for their rescue, though, more often than not, this audacity might have proved to be disastrous! As a promising Van Winkle with Chinese characteristics, I endure as no exception. That is why I love Shakespeare and gym. The Taming of the Shrew is truly a genius work for domestic resourcefulness!
I am awfully sorry for the much belated response to your greeting, though. In fact, I feel compelled to confess, in my apology, that absence makes the heart grows fonder. My admiration grows steadily with the delay! As I came to your lecture in SISU, I was impressed by your insight and devotion to poetry, and to William Blake above all! Only the noble and aspiring minds choose to guard this guardian of humanity, and human Culture (in Eagleton’s term). In this secularized world of material gains and pains, Culture, or Arts, or Poetry if we prefer, has mutated from Utopian critique, to a way of life, and quite lamentably, has been reduced to arts in gallery. It is thus enormously comforting and encouraging to know there are still some respectable souls for poetic studies!
And William Blake stands unique, for his dedication to nature and truth, to portrait-painting in his representational endeavors. One thing lingering on my mind is his talks with Reynolds, when Blake maintained that “Without Neatness of Execution the Sublime cannot Exist! Grandeur of Ideas is founded on Precision of Ideas”… “…Unless you Consult Particulars you Cannot even Know or See
Romantic poems have long remained my passion, and I enjoy Pope in particular. In a critical light, he touches upon representation and subjectivity, while Blake mainly belongs to the former category (bear with me for my frankness! I, by no means, intend to debase or diminish Blake). I used to recite, in public, some of Pope’s writings, only to start a scene or make a spectacle. Hence my personal distinction rests firmly on my nickname, Alexander Dope, kindly bestowed by my friends of idle personages who also find pleasure in literary reading and poetic reciting.
I am wondering whether you know Chinese or not. The knowledge of Chinese language and culture, however, will surely be an added strength, since there are quite a few poet-painters in Chinese history like Blake, thanks to the hieroglyphical attributes of Chinese language.
As one of your admirers among a huge crowd, I look eagerly forward to reading your latest publications on Blake. By the way, in writing the letter, I really do not bother too much about age and seniority stuff, since friendship is ageless! I shall alsobe much obliged if you would kindly offer me some suggestions in reading the English Romantic poems!
Humbly yours disciple,
Alexander Dope
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