二十五年前，我在澳大利亚阿德莱德参加中国贸易博览会时，认识了当时作为东道主工作人员的Ian，此后的年月里，我们断断续续地保持了往来，他来过中国两次，我也因公又去过两次，差不多又有十年没见面了。最近由于他身体状况不佳，我们又通过电邮，有了一些联系。八月九日我收到他的邮件谈到了澳大利亚公众对北京奥运开幕的盛赞。下面是这封来信的节选：

亲爱的Ruowei：

在澳大利亚，通常情况下，一个特别好的电视节目电视观众达到二百万至二百五十万就不错了。昨晚，将近八百万电视观众观看了奥运会的开幕式。对于中国，这个数也许不算什么，但在澳大利亚，这就是一个相当可观的数字了。比我们以往任何别的节目的收视率都高。中国应该为他们所做的工作而骄傲。我曾经提到过这里的一个无线电台5aa.com.au是一个可以与观众互动的媒体。无数的听众打电话表示开幕式是如此的壮观引人。我也看了，虽然这场活动在我们这儿的时间到之夜两点才结束，但是我还是看完了，说实话，完全是因为整个开幕式的组织太奇妙了，她的艺术性、色彩、文化 – 特别是其表达的方式及达到的效果，这一切，简直令人难以想象！那些大鼓真是不可思议。我把节目都录下来了，而且又看了一遍！

你说过“不管什么评论”，但就澳大利亚人来说，这是一届他们所看到过最好的奥林匹克运动会的开幕式。很多人都说比悉尼奥运会开幕式棒多了。其中提到最多的是希望“同一个世界，同一个梦想”能成为现实，其中不少人说希望这是中国和世界更紧密联系在一起的开始。

最近，在看过这么多的有关中国的节目，很多澳大利亚人想到中国来以便更多的了解中国。

很多参加奥运会的运动员及他们的家属能说的就是中国人民是多么地热情友好。

让我们关注今后8天各项比赛中所表现出的运动员风格。只要有可能，我将尽可能地多看！

......

致以热烈的问候！

Ian

下面是来邮的原文节选（主要是对奥运开幕的评论）：

Dear Ruowei, 

    Normally, for an extremely good program on TV, about two to two and a
half million people watch in Australia. Last night almost 8 million
watched the opening ceremony of the games. Not many people by China's
standards but an enormous viewing audience for Australia. More than
we've ever had for any program before. China should be very, very,
proud of the work they did. The radio station I mentioned in my email
- 5aa.com.au is a talk back station and so many people phoned to say
how spectacular the opening was. I watched it - even though it didn't
finish here until about 2am and I was, quite honestly, amazed at the
fantastic way it was done. The artistry, the colour, the culture - and
how it was portrayed, and the effects were something I could never
have imagined. And those drummers were amazing! I recorded it and have
watched it again!
 
    As you said - no matter what kind of comments - but as far as
Australians are concerned it was the best Olympic Opening they had
ever seen. Most callers put it well in front of the Sydney opening.
The comments that came through so many times was that they hoped that
the slogan One World One Dream would be a reality and most said that
they hoped that this was the beginning of a much more "closeness" with
China and the rest of the world. After seeing so much of China on TV
lately, there are many Australians who want to come to China now and
see more. The sports-people and the parents of those taking part in
the games can only comment on how nice and friendly the people are in
Beijing.

    Let's hope we see plenty of sportsmanship over the next 8 days. I'll
be watching all I can.

……

Warm regards,
 
    Ian.