馬克吐溫的演講策略.doc

馬克吐溫的演講策略想必大家都感受過大段大段背誦演講稿的痛苦吧？美國著名幽默小說家馬克吐溫其實(shí)也曾有過類似的經(jīng)歷，他是怎么解決的呢？ When he first began his speaking career, Mark Twain recalled1), he used a fullpage of notes to keep him from2) getting mixed up3). He would write down thebeginning of key sentences, to take him from one point to another and to keep himfrom skipping4). Sometimes, for an evenings lecture, he would write and memorize11 key beginnings. The plan failed. Twain would remember the sentences all right,but forget their order. He would have to stop, consult5) his notes, and thereby spoil6)the spontaneous7) effect of the whole speech. Twain then decided to memorize notonly key sentences, but also the first letter of each sentence. However, this methoddidnt work either. Not even when he cut the number of letters to 10 and inked themon his fingernails. "I kept track of8) the fingers for a while," he wrote in his essay, "then I lost it, and after that I was never quite sure which finger I had used last." He considered licking off9) the inked letters as he went along. As a result, peoplenoticed he seemed more interested in his fingernails than his subject. One or twolisteners would even come up afterwards and ask what was wrong with his hands. Mark Twain tried several ways of making speeches, but all failed. Then his greatidea came that its hard to visualize10) letters, words and sentences, but picturesare easy to recall. They take root11) in the mind easily. Especially if you draw themyourself. Twain was no artist, mind you12), but that didnt stop him. "In two minutesI made six pictures with a pen," he said, "and they did the work of the 11 keysentences, and did it perfectly." Having once drawn the pictures, he found he could throw them away. He discovered that, having once made a series of drawings, hecould recall their image at will13). The pictures were not so good, but they got thejob done. From that day, Twain was able to speak without notes, and this method neverfailed him. Each part of his speech would be represented14) by a picture. He woulddraw them and put them in a row15), then look at them and throw them away. Whenthe time came to speak, there was the row of images sharply in his mind. 馬克吐溫回憶說，當(dāng)他剛開始他的演講生涯時(shí)，他用滿滿一頁的筆記來讓自己避免混亂。他會(huì)把所有關(guān)鍵句子的開頭寫下來，使他能從一點(diǎn)講到另一點(diǎn)，而不會(huì)有所遺漏。有時(shí)，為某一個(gè)晚上的演講，他會(huì)寫下并記住11個(gè)關(guān)鍵句的開頭。這個(gè)方法失敗了。吐溫會(huì)準(zhǔn)確無誤地記住句子，但卻忘了它們的順序。他不得不停頓一下，看看草稿，因此也就破壞了整個(gè)演講的自然效果。后來，吐溫決定，不僅要記憶關(guān)鍵句子，還要記住每個(gè)句子的首字母。然而，這個(gè)方法也不奏效。即便他把字母的數(shù)量減少到10個(gè)，并用墨水寫在他的指甲上也不行。 “我只能暫時(shí)記得指甲上的內(nèi)容，”他在一篇文章中寫道，“然后就忘了，之后我就不確定我剛用過哪個(gè)手指了?！?他曾經(jīng)考慮過隨著演講的進(jìn)行，舔掉用墨水寫的字母。結(jié)果，人們注意到他似乎更感興趣的是他的指甲而不是他演講的主題。有一兩個(gè)聽眾甚至?xí)谘葜v結(jié)束后，走上前來詢問他的手怎么了。 馬克吐溫嘗試了幾種演講的方法，但都失敗了。然后他的偉大想法產(chǎn)生了使字母、單詞和句子形象化是很難的，但圖畫卻容易回想起來。它們很容易在腦中扎根。特別是自己親手畫下來的時(shí)候。請(qǐng)注意，吐溫并不是藝術(shù)家，但這并沒有妨礙他?！皟煞昼妰?nèi)，我就用鋼筆畫了6幅圖，”他說，“而它們相當(dāng)于11個(gè)關(guān)鍵句，而且效果好極了?！币坏┊嬐炅藞D畫，他就發(fā)現(xiàn)可以把它們?nèi)拥揭慌?。他發(fā)現(xiàn)，一旦他畫完了一系列的草圖，就可以隨意回想起它們的圖像。盡管它們畫得并不好，但確實(shí)管用。 從那天起，吐溫就可以脫稿演講了，而且這種方法從未令他失望過。他演講的每一個(gè)部分都用一幅圖來表示。他會(huì)把圖畫出來排成一排，然后看一看就丟掉。當(dāng)他演講的時(shí)候，成排圖像就清晰地呈現(xiàn)在他的腦海里。Vocabulary 1. recall v. 回想，記起 2. keep sb. from doing sth.: 防止某人干某事 3. mix up: 混合，混淆 4. skip v. 遺漏，跳躍 5. consult v. 參考，參閱 6. spoil vt. 損壞，破壞 7. spontaneous adj. 自然的 8. keep track of: 記清 9. lick off: 舔掉 10. visualize vt. 形象化，想像 11. take root: 生根，扎根 12. mind you: 注意 13. at will: 隨意，任意 14. represent v. 表現(xiàn)，代表 15. in a row: 成一排，連續(xù)