近日在某论坛看到一则有趣的贴子：
钱锤书的英语到底什么水平? 从小就听说钱钟书英语多神多神，今天看到几篇钱的文章，觉得他的英语句子过于简单，行文也不顺，妥妥地看出是非母语。不知我的观点是否正确?
字里行间透露出对钱钟书先生英语水平的极度怀疑，给出的理由：1.英语句子简单；2.行文不畅；明显的非母语特征。
这个提问以及评价，顺理成章地激发了本人内心的“八卦”心理。当然针对这种公开话题，其中不乏正向亦或是负面的观点。
书信原文：
My Dear Stuart,
We are overjoyed to receive your generously long letter. Since your reticent Christmas card from Spain, we have been rather worried about you. We thought your indignation at the Fascist terrors might have led you to join the Spanish Republican army after leaving Oxford. In that case, the world would certainly gain a hero, but we might (O horrible thought!) lose a friend. You can imagine our relief upon hearing from you again.
We are deeply sorry to hear about your viva. We hope it will not harm your chances of finding a job. As your favorite Walter Raleigh used to say, "Oxford final schools and the Last Judgement are two examinations, not one." You are right to take the whole thing lightly.
We will be here for another four or five months. My scholarship ends this August, and we plan to sail home in September. Though we have homes spared by shellfire, they have been looted and gutted of all valuables. Our families have taken refuge in bandit-honeycombed mountains. My wife lost her mother, and I have no prospects of finding decent work in China. Still, one's lot is with one's own people; I don't mind roughing it a bit. The revolution of Fortune's wheel might bring us up, as Goethe was fond of saying, "abwarten Sie." You see, I spare my own patriotic heroics.
Yes, my clairvoyant Stuart, I have been working entirely on my own. I have been systematically reading French literature from Villon downwards, having reached the mid-nineteenth century. I have also tackled the German romantics with effort. I am currently reading Taine's novel Graindorge and Novalis's Fragmente. Besides, I have not neglected my studies in English and Chinese. I won't divulge my reading debauches further; this paragraph already resembles a snippet from that model letter of a schoolboy to his parent in Anstey's Vice Versa.
The baby is wonderfully chubby. She already boasts six teeth (each tooth a source of worries and sleeplessness for weeks, both hers and ours). She is very naughty, mutinous, and self-willed — altogether a handful. She will be able to walk a little next month.
You are a disquieting fellow, my dear Stuart. You always give me the impression of some impending catastrophe. Why this sudden "treachery" to your "former interests"? You seem to become disenchanted too easily. Your mind sheds its ideas as frequently as snakes shed their skins. No doubt you will call me smug and incorrigible. Please keep me updated on your latest developments.
My wife sends you her best wishes, to which I add mine. Write to me at your earliest convenience.
Yours ever,
Chung-shu Tchi'ien
P.S. My wife wants me to tell you that the baby takes after her father. She loves nothing more than books — to tear and nibble at, certainly not to read. She has already destroyed a German primer, not to mention countless tradesmen's circulars and booklets. She discards her toys to grab at whatever book we are reading.
一位自称是在美国做英文编辑的中国人，评论道：“这里，我倾向于认为clairvoyant这个词是错用。这个词的意思是「千里眼」，「具有特异的预知未来功能的」，但是这个词在英文里一般被严格限制于特定环境使用，就是在一些高魔设定下，一个人真的有「千里眼」这个功能，才会用这个词来形容他，而一般不被用于写作当中去比喻一个人「聪明」，「别人不用说他就提前明白」。”
可这种说法是错的。clairvoyant并没有严格限定于特定环境使用，也并非说一个人必须有“千里眼”才能用这个词来形容他。
所以，以上的证据说明，clairvoyant 这个词可以是比喻一个人聪明，有智慧。
"Yes, my clairvoyant Stuart, I have been working entirely on my own."
此处，钱锺书先生的意思明显：Stuart 先生，你真是先知（料事如神），我一直完全靠自己完成这件事。因为没有上下文，这件事具体指代什么我们不得而知。事实上，钱锺书当时是在自学法语。翻译成现代话就是“我勒个大曹，你怎么猜到了”, 表达一种惊讶。
可见，idea其实是包含了opinion的意思，所以idea 也可以表达意见，想法，主意；
因此 your version of the chairman' statement 完全没问题。以上是一位在美中国人的对钱先生书信的评价，大家都戏说，“英语不好, 没关系, 你可以去美国做编辑。”
案例：2019 MAMA（2019 M-net亚洲音乐大奖），古力娜扎作为MAMA官方邀请的唯一的中国女明星，在颁奖的时候，由于其英语口音和语速的问题，一致被网友怀疑其英语实力，结果最后说出获奖嘉宾的名字时，大声喊出了一个“穷哈”的名字，在这名叫“穷哈”的嘉宾一脸懵逼的上台领奖之后，网友也对这个叫“穷哈”的嘉宾的真实名字充满了好奇。于是，众多教学博主开始出来“教学”，此处随便找一位抖音21万粉丝的英语教学博主，视频点赞为189万的视频。
教学视频如下：
错误点1：2019 读成了 2090
错误点2：Chung ha “穷哈”
此处的Chung ha （视频里打错字）个人觉得按照英文的音读也是可以的。即使离谱点读成Cheong sam（长衫）的cheong 会粤语的朋友也明显应该听出来，这个音发出来类似“墙” 而不是“穷”。
以上两个案例，让人不禁思考开头我们看到的帖子，究竟钱锺书的英文好不好？或者是不是应该反问自己？那么这一切的原因在哪？自媒体的时代，我们接受的信息无穷无尽，家长朋友选择的主要辅助判断方式就是看“流量”，无可厚非，但选择一个正确的学习途径或方向，远比朝着一个错误方向使劲发力好得多。丧钟究竟为谁而鸣？