【英语中国】中国“老李”给奥巴马堵漏支招

While an answer to the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to baffle experts in the U.S., a man in the Chinese province of Sichuan claims to have a solution-and believes the White House is listening.

Chinese media in recent days have been celebrating the story of Li Liangzheng, a resident of Sichuan's provincial capital Chengdu, who received an email 'response' from President Barack Obama to his proposed solution to the environmental disaster, which experts believe is sending as much as 40,000 new barrels of crude oil gushing into the Gulf each day.

According Sichuan News Net, the provincial government site that first wrote about the exchange, Old Li, as the report calls him, became concerned about the gulf spill after seeing repeated reports on TV of the failed efforts to stop it. The report doesn't say what Old Li's professional background is--it describes him as an ordinary citizen--but says he realized one day that the methods being attempted were failing because they had failed to equalize pressure around the well. So he devised a solution that involves securing a large lid over the leak that he said would address the problem (the report is short on details, and Old Li couldn't immediately be reached to elaborate).

Old Li struggled with how to convey his proposal to the U.S. president, Sichuan News Net says. He tried posting open letters in some public forums, before learning that one can send an email to the president on the White House website.

'Obama wrote back, and Old Li was very excited,' Sichuan News Net says.

The website posted the English text of Obama's email, and, well, for anyone a bit familiar with the very 'net savvy White House, it looks an awful lot like an automated response. The email is addressed to 'Dear Friend,' and outlines how 'the Gulf is the heartbeat of the region's economic life' and offers a number of websites that explain the government's handling of the disaster.

But that hasn't stopped Old Li, and the local media, from taking it to heart. 'The end of the letter was actually signed 'Barack Obama,'' Old Li said, according to the report. 'I hope this letter can be kept forever,' Li said.

Some Chinese Web users commenting on the story have questioned whether it was actually a personal response. Others have said they liked that the U.S. government appeared to be considering the thoughts of the people, and compared it favorably to what happens when people send suggestions to the Chinese government. 'The reply rate actually far exceeded our complaints bureau, so give due respect,' remarked one commenter. Another wrote: 'Try sending letters to the township government. See how it responds.'

At the very least, Li's story and the subsequent news coverage is a bit of pleasant PR for the U.S. president at a time when critics are vociferously expressing discontent with his leadership on the matter. The report, for example, stresses the president's quick response, which arrived just five days after Old Li emailed him.

More broadly, Chinese media have played the story of America's environmental woes prominently--a possible counterbalance to what some Chinese see as unfair treatment of its own environmental problems. A recent piece in the state-run China Daily newspaper, for example, urges Chinese leaders to learn lessons from America, which it says has proven unable to protect its own waters.

China narrowly avoided becoming the culprit of another potential environmental disaster recently after a coal-carrying ship ran aground in the Great Barrier Reef, but leaked only a small amount of oil from its damaged hull. The ship safely left Australian waters late last month, but Australian authorities have charged two men in connection with the ship's grounding, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

But America's environmental concerns seem to outweigh China's at the moment. And Old Li, for one, is eager to help.

'America is very far from us,' he said, according to Sichuan News Net. 'But the environment is very close.'

Brian Spegele

虽然美国的专家们仍找不出遏制墨西哥湾原油泄漏的好方法，但中国四川省的一名男子却宣称他有解决这一问题的办法，而且他相信白宫正在倾听他的想法。

中国媒体近日一直在宣扬四川成都居民李良正的故事，他解决墨西哥湾漏油事故的建议，获得了美国总统奥巴马(Barack Obama)以电子邮件形式作出的“回应”。专家们认为，这场事故正导致每天有可能多达40,000桶原油泄漏到墨西哥湾中。

据四川省政府网站四川新闻网报导，“老李”(报导这样称呼李良正)看到电视上不断报导说阻止墨西哥湾原油泄漏的努力屡屡失灵，开始对此次漏油事故担心起来。报导没有提及老李的专业背景，只是将他描绘为一个普通公民，但报导说老李有一天意识到，目前采用的堵漏方法之所以失败，是因为油井内外压力不等。所以他设计了一个解决方案，设想用一个巨大的盖子将漏油点盖上(报导没有介绍老李所提解决方案的细节，记者也无法立即联系到他)。

四川新闻网说，如何将自己的建议提交给美国总统却让老李犯难了。他曾试图在一些公众论坛上给奥巴马发公开信，后来了解到可以在白宫的网站上给美国总统发电子邮件。

四川新闻网的报导说，“奥巴马回信了，老李很激动。”

四川新闻网刊登了奥巴马回信的英文原文，不过，任何了解一点白宫行事方式的人都看得出，这份电子邮件很可能是电脑自动回复的。邮件所写的收信人是“亲爱的朋友”，信件概述了墨西哥湾为何是它所处地区经济生活的核心，该邮件还提供了众多介绍美国政府处理墨西哥湾漏油事故工作的网站。

但这并未阻挡老李和四川当地媒体感到欢欣鼓舞。报导援引老李的话说，这封信的末尾确实签着“Barack Obama”。老李说希望能永远保存这封信。

一些中国网民在评论此事时质疑说，这真是奥巴马本人写的回信吗？也有人说，他们欣赏的是美国政府似乎正考虑人民的想法，这些人还顺便将此事与老百姓向中国政府提建议后所遭遇到的情况相对比。一位网民评论道：回复速度远远超过我们的信访办，所以值得尊敬。另一位网民写道：试着给市政府写信，看它如何回复。

至少，老李的故事以及随后的媒体报导对奥巴马来说多少是一件公关乐事，眼下批评人士正在大声发泄他们对奥巴马在处理墨西哥湾漏油一事上领导不力的不满。比如，四川新闻网的报导就强调，奥巴马对老李的建议迅速作出了回复，老李向奥巴马发出邮件五天后就收到了回信。

中国媒体一直在大量报导美国的这次环境灾难，这可能是要弥补在一些中国人看来它们对本国环境问题报导不充分的缺憾。比如国营报纸《中国日报》(China Daily)最近的一篇报导就敦促中国领导人从美国此次事故中吸取教训，报导说此事证明美国无力保护自己的水域。

中国最近差一点就成了另一桩潜在环境灾难的肇事者，此前中国一艘运煤船在澳大利亚的大堡礁海域搁浅，所幸船只只从受损的船体处泄漏了少量石油。虽然这艘船上月底安全驶离了澳大利亚水域，但据澳大利亚广播公司(Australian Broadcasting Corp.)说，澳政府已经起诉了两名与此次船只搁浅事故有关的人。

但此刻美国的环境问题似乎超过了中国的环境问题，就拿老李来说，他便急于助美国一臂之力。

四川新闻网援引老李的话说，美国很远，但环保却离我们很近。

Brian Spegele关键词：奥巴马  原油泄漏   四川