卡耐基演講·1.講出生命對自己的啟示

訴說生命的啟示，絕不會沒有人愿意聽的。但是經(jīng)驗告訴我，很不容易讓人接受這個觀點——他們極力避開個人經(jīng)歷，認(rèn)為太瑣碎、太局限。他們寧愿上天入地扯些一般概念或者哲學(xué)理論?？上焐系叵碌目諝庀”?，平凡的我們無法呼吸。我們渴望新聞，他們卻給我們社論。我們不反對聽社論，但是得由有這權(quán)力的人來說——報紙的編輯或發(fā)行者。因此，還是談?wù)勆鼘δ愕膯⑹景?，我自然會成為你的忠實聽眾。Speakers who talk about what life has taught them never fail to keep the attention of their listeners. I know from experience that speakers are not easily persuaded to accept this point of view-they avoid using personal experiences as too trivial and too restrictive. They would rather soar into the realms of general ideas and philosophical principles, where unfortunately the air is too rarefied for ordinary mortals to breathe. They give us editorials when we are hungry for the news. None of us is averse to listening to editorials, when they are given by a man who has earned the right to editorialize an editor or publisher of a newspaper. The point, though, is this: Speak on what life has taught you and I will be your devoted listener.

據(jù)說，愛默生常常喜歡傾聽人們的談話——不論對方身份多么卑微，因為他覺得自己從任何人身上都可以學(xué)到東西。恐怕我聽過的談話，比任何人都多。老實說，一個講演者敘述生命給他的教導(dǎo)時，不管經(jīng)驗是多么的瑣碎、多么的微不足道，我都從不感覺枯燥乏味。It was said of Emerson that he was always willing to listen to any man, no matter how humble his station, because he felt he could learn something from every man he met. I have listened to more adult talks, perhaps, than any other man west of the Iron Curtain, and I can truthfully say that I have never heard a boring talk when the speaker related what life had taught him, no matter how slight or trivial the lesson may have been.

現(xiàn)在針對這一點來作一個說明：幾年前，我們的一位教師替紐約市立銀行資深的官員開了當(dāng)眾說話的課程。這種團體里的人事情多得不能分身，常常感到要充分準(zhǔn)備（或做好他們心目中認(rèn)為的準(zhǔn)備）很難。其實他們一直都在思考，有著自己的思想，形成個人的信念，從自身的角度去看待問題，走過的路為他們積累了原始的經(jīng)驗——他們已經(jīng)積累了40年的談話材料，但是他們中的有些人就是不知道這點。To illustrate: Some years ago, one of our instructors conducted a course in public speaking for the senior officers of New York City banks·. Naturally, the members of such a group, having many demands upon their time, frequently found it difficult to prepare adequately, or to do what they conceived of as preparing. All their lives they had been thinking their own individual thoughts, nurturing their own personal convictions, seeing things from their own distinctive angles, living their own original experiences. They had spent forty years storing up material for talks. But it was hard for some of them to realize that.

一個星期五，一位來自上區(qū)銀行的先生——我們就叫他杰克遜先生吧——來到訓(xùn)練班，有45個人參加了這次訓(xùn)練。來之前，他離開辦公室，在報攤上買了一份《弗貝》雜志。在前往上課所在地聯(lián)邦儲備銀行的地鐵上，他找了一篇題為《十年成功秘訣》的文章來閱讀。他之所以讀它，倒不是因為對它特別感興趣，而是想找點談話的資料，以便上課的時候作為他的講話內(nèi)容。One Friday a certain gentleman connected with an uptown bank-for our purposes we shall designate him as Mr. Jackson-found four-thirty had arrived, and what was he to talk about? He walked out of his office, bought a copy of Forbes' Magazine at a newsstand, and in the subway coming down to the Federal Reserve Bank where the class met, he read an article entitled, "You Have Only Ten Years to Succeed". He read it, not because he was interested in the article especially, but because he had to speak on something to fill his quota of time.

一小時后，他站起身來，準(zhǔn)備把這篇文章講得妙趣橫生，讓大家都稱贊他講得不錯。An hour later, he stood up and attempted to talk convincingly and interestingly on the contents of this article.

結(jié)果呢？這樣的結(jié)果沒有別的可能。What was the result, the inevitable result?

他并沒有把閱讀到的東西消化，沒有在里面吸收到“想要說”的東西?！跋胍f”形容得很準(zhǔn)確，他真的只是“想要”而已。他想從文章里發(fā)掘一些有深度的內(nèi)容來談，可是除了引用以外并沒有什么內(nèi)涵，他的整個儀態(tài)和音調(diào)明顯地透露出這一點。像這樣的情況，他怎么可能期望聽眾比他自己更感動呢？他不斷地提及那篇文章，說作者是怎么樣講的，可是沒有提到自己是怎么樣想的。在他的演講里，《弗貝》雜志讓我們了解了很多，遺憾的是杰克遜先生自己的東西卻太少。He had not digested, had not assimilated what he was trying to say. "Trying to say"-that expresses it precisely. He was trying. There was no real message in him seeking for an outlet; and his whole manner and tone revealed it unmistakably. How could he expect the audience to be any more impressed than he himself was? He kept referring to the article, saying the author said so and so. There was a surfeit of Forbes' Magazine in it, but regrettably little of Mr. Jackson.

他講演完畢，老師說：“杰克遜先生，我們對你講的那位作者并不感興趣——不知他是何方神圣，他也不在這兒，我們也見不著他。我們倒是對你和你的觀點有興趣。告訴我們你是怎么想的吧，不要談別人怎么講。把更多的杰克遜先生放在演講里，下星期再用同樣的題目進行講演好嗎？把那篇文章再讀一遍，問問自己是否同意作者的論點。如果是，以你自己的觀察經(jīng)驗來論證。你如果不同意，告訴我們?yōu)槭裁?。就讓這篇文章成為一個引子，引出你自己的講演?！盇fter he finished his talk, the instructor said, "Mr. Jackson, we are not interested in this shadowy personality who wrote that article. He is not here. We can't see him. But we are interested in you and your ideas. Tell us what you think, personally, not what somebody else said. Put more of Mr. Jackson in this talk. Would you take this same subject next week? Read this article again, and ask yourself whether you agree with the author or not. If you do, illustrate the points of agreement with reservations from your own experience. If you don't agree with him, tell us why. Let this article be the starting point from which to launch your own talk."

杰克遜先生把那篇文章重讀以后，發(fā)現(xiàn)自己一點也不同意里面的觀點。他從記憶里搜尋事例來反駁，并以自己身為銀行主管的經(jīng)驗，來詳盡闡述論證自己的觀點。他的第二次講演，充滿了根據(jù)他自身背景所得的理念，不再是翻抄雜志文章的內(nèi)容，他給我們的是自己礦場里的礦石，自己鑄幣廠里鑄制的錢幣。你想一想，哪一場講演能給班上同學(xué)更強烈的印象？Mr. Jackson reread the article and concluded that he did not agree with the author at all. He searched his memory for examples to prove his points of disagreement. He developed and expanded his ideas with details from his own experience as a bank executive. He came back the next week and gave a talk that was full of his own convictions, based on his own background. Instead of a warmed-over magazine article, he gave us ore from his own mine, currency coined in his own mint. I leave it to you to decide which talk made a stronger impact on the class.