卡耐基演講·四、持之以恒

學習任何新事物，譬如法文、高爾夫球和當眾演講，從來不會穩(wěn)定保持直線進步的。這個過程更像一波一波的浪潮，突起突止，一動一靜，有時候甚至進一步，退兩步，以至于喪失了許多已經(jīng)取得的成績。這種停滯甚至衰退的現(xiàn)象，為心理學家所認知和了解，被稱之為“學習曲線中的高原地帶”。那些學習如何有效講演的學員，也同樣會在這個“高原”上受阻，時間從數(shù)周到數(shù)月。有時候費盡心機也無法跨越，意志薄弱者往往絕望而最終放棄。那些富有膽識的勇敢者會堅持不懈，他們持之以恒地努力訓練，直到有一天他們忽然發(fā)現(xiàn)，幾乎在一夜之間，奇跡發(fā)生了，他們的說話技巧一日千里，如同飛機從高原起飛了，充滿了力量和信心。When we learn any new thing, like French or golf or speaking in public, we never advance steadily. We do not improve gradually. We do it by waves, by abrupt starts and sudden stops. Then we remain stationary a time, or we may even slip back and lose some of the ground we have previously gained. These periods of stagnation, or retrogression, are well known by all psychologists: they have been named "plateaus in the curve of learning". Students of effective speaking will sometimes be stalled, perhaps for weeks, on one of these plateaus. Work as hard as they may, they cannot seem to get off it. The weak ones give up in despair. Those with grit persist, and they find that suddenly, almost overnight, without knowing how or why it has happened, they have made great progress. They have lifted from the plateau like an airplane. Abruptly they have acquired naturalness, force, and confidence in their speaking.

也許你會如同本書所描述的那樣，最初面對聽眾時，常常會感到一些心理上的恐懼，一些頭腦上的沖擊，一些精神上的緊張。即使經(jīng)歷過無數(shù)次公開演出的大音樂家，也會有相同的感覺。著名音樂家帕德列夫斯基每當坐在鋼琴前時，總是緊張地摸弄著袖口。而一旦開始彈奏，所有的恐懼則如八月陽光里的迷霧，瞬間就消逝得無影無蹤了。You may always, as has been stated elsewhere in these pages, experience some fleeting fear, some shock, some nervous anxiety, the first few moments you face an audience. Even the greatest musicians have felt it in spite of their innumerable public appearances. Paderewski always fidgeted nervously with his cuffs immediately before he sat down at the piano. But as soon as he began to play, all of his audience fear vanished quickly like a mist in August sunshine.

你也會經(jīng)歷同樣的經(jīng)驗，但只要你能堅韌不拔，過不了多久，包括初期的恐懼在內(nèi)的種種問題就都會一掃而光。在開始了最初的幾句話后，你就能完全控制住自己的情緒，就會自信而愉快地面對聽眾講下去。His experience will be yours. If you will but persevere, you will soon eradicate everything, including this initial fear; and that will be initial fear, and nothing more. After the first few sentences, you will have control of yourself. You will be speaking with positive pleasure.

有一次，一位希望學習法律的年輕人寫信向林肯求教。林肯回答他說：“如果你已下定決心想成為一名律師，事情已成功了一半……但要時時刻刻記住，自己必勝的決心，比任何事情都重要?！監(jiān)ne time a young man who aspired to study law wrote to Lincoln for advice. Lincoln replied, "If you are resolutely determined to make a lawyer of yourself, the thing is more than half done already... Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing."

林肯是過來人，深深體味個中道理。終其一生，他所受過的正規(guī)教育，總共不超過一年時間。至于書本，林肯有一次說，他曾步行至50英里以外去借書讀！在他的小木屋里，柴火總是燃燒到天亮，他通常是就著火光來勤奮讀書的。小木屋的木頭間有裂縫，林肯常常將書塞在那里，清晨天一亮，他一骨碌從樹葉床上爬起來，揉著眼睛，取出書開始狼吞虎咽地讀起來。Lincoln knew. He had gone through it all. He had never, in his entire life, had more than a total of one year's schooling. And books? Lincoln once said he had walked and borrowed every book within fifty miles of his home. A log fife was usually kept going all night in the cabin. Sometimes he read by the light of that fife, There were cracks between the logs in the cabin, and Lincoln often kept a book sticking there. As soon as it was light enough to read in the morning, he rolled over on his bed of leaves, rubbed his eyes, pulled out the book and began devouring it.

有時候，他會走上二三十英里去聽人演講，回到家里，他就到處練習演講——在田間，在樹林里，在雜貨店聚集的人群前，他加入新沙龍和春田的辯論學會，討論當時的種種時政問題。但是他卻在女性面前表現(xiàn)得很害羞，當他追求瑪麗·陶德時，總是坐在走廊上沉默寡言，靜靜地看著她一個人表演。然而就是這個人，窮讀不休，勤練不輟，努力將自己塑造成一名演講家，進而與當時最杰出的雄辯家道格拉斯參議員進行辯論，一決雌雄；也就是這個人，在蓋茨堡，在第二次總統(tǒng)就職演講中崇論宏議，冠絕古今。He walked twenty and thirty miles to hear a speaker and, returning home, he practiced his talks everywhere in the fields, in the woods, before the crowds gathered at Jones' grocery at Gentryville; he joined literary and debating societies in New Salem and Springfield, and practiced speaking on the topics of the day. He was shy in the presence of women; when he courted Mary Todd he used to sit in the parlor, bashful and silent, unable to find words, listening while she did the talking. Yet that was the man who, by faithful practice and home study, made himself into the speaker who debated with the most accomplished orator of his day, Senator Douglas. This was the man who, at Gettysburg, and again in his second inaugural address, rose to heights of eloquence that have rarely been attained in all the annals of mankind.

想想自己曾經(jīng)歷過的種種艱難挫折與令人心酸的奮斗歷程，與林肯相比，不過是九牛一毛，但是林肯卻說：“如果你已下定決心想成為一名律師，事情已經(jīng)成功了一半……”Small wonder that, in view of his own terrific handicaps and pitiful struggle, Lincoln wrote, "If you are resolutely determined to make a lawyer out of yourself, the thing is more than half done already."

白宮總統(tǒng)辦公室墻上懸掛著一幅林肯的畫像?！懊慨斘乙龀鰶Q定時，”羅斯?？偨y(tǒng)說，“尤其是那些復雜的一時難以處理的事情，譬如一些利益相沖突的事情，我會抬頭看著林肯，假想他在相同的情況之下處于我的位置時會采取什么行動。這聽來也許很荒唐，但卻是千真萬確的，這樣做使我的問題變得容易解決多了。”An excellent picture of Abraham Lincoln hangs in the President's office in the White House. "Often when I had some matter to decide," said Theodore Roosevelt, "something involved and difficult to dispose of, something where there were conflicting rights and interest, I would look up at Lincoln, try to imagine him in my place, try to figure out what he would do in the same circumstances. It may sound odd to you, but, frankly, it seemed to make my troubles easier of solution."

為什么不試試羅斯福的方法呢？如果你消沉沮喪，想放棄成為一名成功的演講者的努力時，問問自己，他在這樣的情形下會怎么辦？你是知道他會怎么做的。在競選參議院席位敗于史蒂芬·道格拉斯之手以后，他依然殷切地告誡自己的擁護者們，不可以“在一百次挫折之后即告放棄”。Why not try Roosevelt's plan? Why not, if you are discouraged and feeling like giving up the fight to make a more effective speaker of yourself, why not ask yourself what he would do under the circumstances? You know what he would do. You know what he did do. After he had been beaten by Stephen A Douglas in the race for the U.S. Senate, he admonished his followers not to "give up after one or one hundred defeats."