爱华网美国纽约州立大学水牛城分校退休华裔物理学荣誉教授林良多(Duo-Liang Lin)曾在美国《华盛顿邮报》上发表了一首英文诗《APOEM FOR THEWEST》（《写给西方的诗》），最近（2011年1月）先后被搜狐（2011年1月12日）、新浪（2011年1月13日）等国内门户网站及其他一些媒体转载，引发了广大中国网友的热情关注与热评。
这首诗的文学水平，姑且不论（当然我可以作一个初步的评价，单纯就艺术水平而言，不能算是一首艺术性很强的诗歌），我想这首诗歌之所以受到大家关注，主要是因为这种“东西方对话”中所表达出来的爱国主义与民族主义感动了读者，引发了大家的心理共鸣。因此，这首诗的成功之处在于它的言说内容，而非言说方式与技巧，或许这恰好给我们的诗人们提醒了在创作时重视诗歌思想内容的重要性。这也正是作为一个诗歌爱好者与研究者的我所感兴趣的地方。但是正当我带着浓厚的兴趣去查找诗歌的相关背景的时候，却有了两个意外的发现。
那就是：1、这首诗歌的作者不是林良多(Duo-LiangLin)！2、这首诗歌的题目也不是《你们究竟要我们怎样生存？》！这个信息的来源是丁子江先生的博客（http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_476f3a70010090zk.html），那篇博文的题目是《那首“致西方的诗”作者究竟是谁？》。根据丁先生的说法，这首诗实际出自某论坛的一名网友之笔。它为公众所熟悉,是因为一名做网络新闻的朋友,在北京某论坛的一次临时发言上,朗读了它，并受到热评。丁先生还联系到林良多教授，认真进行了考证，林良多先生回邮告诉他，诗不是他写的，自己也在探寻这首诗歌的原作者。根据丁先生博文，诗歌原文如下：
A POEM FOR THE WEST
When We were called Sick man of Asia, We were called ThePeril.
When We are billed to be the next Superpower, We are called Thethreat.
When We were closed our doors, You smuggled Drugs to OpenMarkets.
When We Embrace Freed Trade, You blame us for Taking away yourjobs.
When We were falling apart, You marched in your troops andwanted your "fair share".
When We were putting the broken pieces together again, "FreeTibet" you screamed, "it was an invasion!"
So, We Tried Communism, You hated us for being Communists
When We embrace Capitalism, You hate us for being Capitalist.
When We have a Billion People, you said we were destroying theplanet.
When We are tried limited our numbers, you said It was humanrights abuse.
When We were Poor, You think we are dogs.
When We Loan you cash, You blame us for your debts.
When We build our industries, You called us Polluters.
When we sell you goods, You blame us for global warming.
When We buy oil, You called that exploitation and Genocide.
When You fight for oil, You called that Liberation.
When We were lost in Chaos and rampage, You wanted Rules of Lawfor us.
When We uphold law and order against Violence, You called thatViolating Human Rights.
When We were silent, You said you want us to have FreeSpeech.
When We were silent no more, You say we wereBrainwashed-Xenophoics.
Why do you hate us so much? We asked.
"No," You Answered, "We don't hate You."
We don't Hate You either,
But Do you understand us?
"Of course We do," You said,
"We have AFP, CNN and BBCs..."
What do you really want from us?
Think Hard first, then Answer...
Because you only get so many chances,
Enough is Enough, Enough Hypocrisy for this one world.
We want One World, One Dream, And Peace On Earth.
- This Big Blue Earth is Big Enough for all of Us.
查找2011年1月12日搜狐新闻（搜狐新闻注明消息来自新华网），新闻《你们究竟要我们怎样生存？》之下所附的英文原作却有细微差别，主要表现在标题上，上述诗歌标题为《APOEM FOR THE WEST》，而此处标题则改为《What Do You Really Want fromUs?》。所附原作如下：
《What Do You Really Want from Us?》
When we were the sick man of Asia, we were called the yellowperil.
When we are billed to be the next superpower, we are called thethreat.
When we closed our doors, you smuggled drugs to open markets.
When we embrace free trade, you blame us for taking away yourjobs.
When we were falling apart, you marched in your troops andwanted your fair share.
When we tried to put the broken pieces back together again,
free Tibet you screamed, It was an invasion!
When tried communism, you hated us for being communist.
When we embrace capitalism, you hate us for being capitalist.
When we have a billion people, you said we were destroying theplanet.
When we tried limiting our numbers, you said we abused humanrights.
When we were poor, you thought we were dogs.
When we loan you cash, you blame us for your national debts.
When we build our industries, you call us polluters.
When we sell you goods, you blame us for global warming.
When we buy oil, you call it exploitation and genocide.
When you go to war for oil, you call it liberation.
When we were lost in chaos and rampage, you demanded rules oflaw.
When we uphold law and order against violence, you call itviolating human rights.
When we were silent, you said you wanted us to have free speech.
When we are silent no more, you say we arebrainwashed-xenophobes.
“Why do you hate us so much﹖”we asked.
“No,” you answered, “we don't hate you.”
We don't hate you either, but, do you understand us?
“Of course we do, ”you said, “We have AFP, CNN and BBC's ……”
What do you really want from us?
Think hard first, then answer, Because you only get so manychances.
Enough is enough, enough hypocrisy for this one world.
We want one world, one dream, and peace on earth.
This big blue earth is big enough for all of us.
两则消息均言诗歌来自“近日”的美国《华盛顿邮报》，但看两则消息的发表时间，丁子江先生的博文发表于2008年4月26日，而搜狐新闻发表的时间则为2011年1月12日。另一个与搜狐新闻一样将诗歌题目引述为《你们究竟要我们怎样生存？》的新浪新闻，发表的时间则为2011年1月13日。“近日”难道跨度之大，大到近三年之久？因时间仓促，笔者尚未查考《华盛顿邮报》，故尚未确定《华盛顿邮报》发表该诗歌的确切日期，但是有几点已经搞清楚了：
1、《你们究竟要我们怎样生存？》的作者不是林良多！
2、《你们究竟要我们怎样生存？》的题目应该是《写给西方的诗》！
3、所谓“近日”应该是在三年前的2008年！
呜呼！这不得不让我们满带疑惑又小心翼翼地问：
——难道这又是一次媒体的炒作吗？
