第5章 Vitalizing the Talk 赋予演讲生命力
RIGHT AFTER THE First World War, I was in London working with Lowell Thomas, who was giving a series of brilliant lectures on Allenby and Lawrence of Arabia to packed houses. One Sunday I wandered into Hyde Park to the spot near Marble Arch entrance where speakers of every creed, color, and political and religious persuasion are allowed to air their views without interference from the law. For a while I listened to a Catholic explaining the doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope, then I moved to the fringes of another crowd, intent upon what a Socialist had to say about Karl Marx. I strolled over to a third speaker, who was explaining why it was right and proper for a man to have four wives! Then I moved away and looked back at the three groups.
Would you believe it? The man who was talking about polygamy had the fewest number of people listening to him! There was only a handful. The crowds around the other two speakers were growing larger by the minute. I asked myself why? Was it the disparity of topics? I don't think so. The explanation, I saw as I watched, was to be found in the speakers themselves. The fellow who was talking about the advantages of having four wives didn't seem to be interested in having four wives himself. But the other two speakers, talking from almost diametrically opposed points of view, were wrapped up in their subjects. They talked with life and spirit. Their arms moved in impassioned gestures. Their voice, rang with conviction. They radiated earnestness and animation.
Vitality, aliveness, enthusiasm—these are the first qualities I have always considered essential in a speaker. People cluster around the energetic speaker like wild turkeys around a field of autumn wheat.
How do you acquire this vital delivery that will keep the attention of your audience? In the course of this chapter I will give you three sovereign ways to help you put enthusiasm and excitement into your speaking.
FIRST/ CHOOSE SUBJECTS YOU ARE EARNEST ABOUT
In Chapter Three was stressed the importance of feeling deeply about your subject. Unless you are emotionally involved in the subject matter you have chosen to talk about, you cannot expect to make your audience believe in your message. Obviously, if you select a topic that is exciting to you because of long experience with it, such as a hobby or recreational pursuit, or because of deep reflection or personal concern about it (as, for instance, the need for better schools in your community), you will have no difficulty in talking with excitement. The persuasive power of earnestness was never more vividly demonstrated to me than in a talk made before one of my classes in New York City more than two decades ago. I have heard many persuasive talks, but this one, which I call the Case of Blue Grass vs. Hickory Wood Ashes, stands out as a kind of triumph of sincerity over common sense.
A top-flight salesman of one of the best-known selling organizations in the city made the preposterous statement that he had been able to make blue grass grow without the aid of seeds or roots. He had, according to his story, scattered hickory wood ashes over newly plowed ground. Presto! Blue grass had appeared! He firmly believed that the hickory wood ashes, and the hickory wood ashes alone, were responsible for the blue grass.
Commenting on his talk, I genfiy pointed out to him that his phenomenal discovery would, if true, make him a millionaire, for blue grass seed was worth several dollars a bushel. I also told him that it would make him the outstanding scientist of all history. I informed him that no man, living or dead, had ever been able to perform the miracle he claimed to have performed: no man had ever been able to produce life from inert matter.
I told him that very quietly, for I felt that his mistake was so palpable, so absurd, as to require no emphasis in the refutation. When I had finished, every other member of the course saw the folly of his assertion; but he did not see it, not for a second. He was in earnest about his contention, deadly in earnest. He leaped to his feet and informed me that he was not wrong. He had not been relating theory, he protested, but personal experience. He knew whereof he spoke. He continued to talk, enlarging on his first remarks, giving additional information, piling up additional evidence, sincerity and honesty ringing in his voice.
Again I informed him that there was not the remotest hope in the world of his being right or even approximately right or within a thousand miles of the troth. In a second he was on his feet once more, offering to bet me five dollars and to let the U.S.Department of Agriculture settle the matter.
And do you know what happened? Several members in the class were won over to his side. Many others were beginning to be doubtful. If I had taken a vote I am certain that more than half of the businessmen in that class would not have sided with me.I asked them what had shaken them from their original position. One after another said it was the speaker's earnestness, his belief, so energetically stated, that made them begin to doubt the common sense viewpoint.
Well, in the face of that display of credulity I had to write the Department of Agriculture. I was ashamed, I told them to ask such an absurd question. They replied, of course, that it was impossible to get blue grass or any other living thing from hickory wood ashes, and they added that they had received another letter from New York asking the same question. That salesman was so sure of his position that he sat down and wrote a letter, too!
This incident taught me a lesson I'll never forget. If a speaker believes a thing earnestly enough and says it earnestly enough, he will get adherents to his cause, even though he claims he can produce blue grass from dust and ashes. How much more compelling will our convictions be if they are arrayed on the side of common sense and truth!
Almost all speakers wonder whether the topic they have chosen will interest the audience. There is only one way to make sure that they will be interested: stoke the fires of your enthusiasm for the subject and you will have no difficulty holding the interest of a group of people.
A short time ago, I heard a man in one of our classes in Baltimore warn his audience that if the present methods of catching rock fish in Chesapeake Bay were continued the species would become extinct. And in a very few years! He felt his subject. It was important. He was in real earnest about it. Everything about his matter and manner showed that. When he arose to speak, I did not know that there was such a creature as a rock fishin Chesapeake Bay. I imagine that more of the audience shared my lack of knowledge and lack of interest.But before the speaker finished, all of us would probably have been willing to sign a petition to the legislature to protect the rock fish by law.
Richard Washburn Child, the former American Ambassador to Italy, was once asked the secret of his success as an interesting writer. He replied: “I am so excited about life that I cannot keep still. I just have to tell people about it.” One cannot keep from being enthralled with a speaker or writer like that.
I once went to hear a speaker in London; after he was through, one of our party, Mr. E. F. Benson, a well-known English novelist, remarked that he enjoyed the last part of the talk far more than the first. When I asked him why, he replied: “The speaker himself seemed more interested in the last part, and I always rely on the speaker to supply the enthusiasm and interest.”
Here is another illustration of the importance of choosing your topics well.
A gentleman, whom we shall call Mr. Flynn, was enrolled in one of our classes in Washington, D.C. One evening early in the course, he devoted his talk to a description of the capital city of the United States. He had hastily and superficially gleaned his facts from a booklet issued by a local newspaper. They sounded like it—dry, disconnected, undigested. Though he had lived in Washington for many years, he did not present one personal instance of why he liked the city. He merely recited a series of dull facts, and his talk was as distressing for the class to hear as it was agonizing for him to give.
A fortnight later, something happened that touched Mr. Flynn to the core: an unknown driver had smashed into his new car while it was parked on the street and had driven away without identifying himself. It was impossible for Mr. Flynn to collect insurance and he had to foot the bill himself. Here was something that came hot out of his experience. His talk about the city of Washington, which he laboriously pulled out sentence by sentence, was painful to him and his audience; but when he spoke about his smashed-up car, his talk welled up and boiled forth like Vesuvius in action. The same class that had squirmed restlessly in their seats two weeks before now greeted Mr. Flynn with a heartwarming burst of applause.
As I have pointed out repeatedly, you cannot help but succeed if you choose the right topic for you. One area of topics is sure-fire: talk about your convictions! Surely you have strong beliefs about some aspect of life around you. You don't have to search far and wide for these subjects—they generally lie on the surface of your stream of consciousness, because you often think about them.
Not long ago, a legislative hearing on capital punishment was presented on television. Many witnesses were called to give their viewpoints on both sides of this controversial subject. One of them was a member of the police department of the city of Los Angeles, who had evidently given much thought to this topic. He had strong convictions based on the fact that eleven of his fellow police officer, had been killed in gun battles with criminals. He spoke with the deep sincerity, of one who believed to his heart's core in the righteousness of his cause.
The greatest appeals in the history of eloquence have all been made out of the depths of someone's deep convictions and feelings. Sincerity rests upon belief, and belief is as much a matter of the heart and of warmly feeling what you are saying as it is of the mind and coldly thinking of what to say. “The heart has reasons that the reason does not know.” In many classes I have had frequent occasions to verify Pascal's trenchant sentence. I remember a lawyer in Boston who was blessed with a striking appearance and who spoke with admirable fluency, but when he finished speaking people said: “Clever chap.” He made a surface impression because there never seemed to be any feeling behind his glittering facade of words. In the same class, there was an insurance salesman, small in stature, unprepossessing in appearance, a man who groped for a word now and then, but when he spoke there was no doubt in any of his listeners' minds that he felt every word of his talk.
It is almost a hundred years since Abraham Lincoin's assassination in the presidential box of Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., but the deep sincerity of his life and his words still lives with us. As far as knowledge of law is concerned, scores of other men of his time outstripped him. He lacked grace, smoothness, and polish. But the honesty and sincerity of his utterances at Gettysburg, Cooper Union, and on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, have not been surpassed in our history.
You may say, as one man once did, that you have no strong convictions or interests. I am always a little surprised at this, but I told this man to get busy and get interested in something. “What, for instance?” he asked. In desperation I said, “Pigeons.” “Pigeons?” he asked in a bewildered tone. “Yes,” I told him, “pigeons. Go out on the square and look at them, feed them, go to the library and read about them, then come back here and talk about them.” He did. When he came back there was no holding him down. He started to talk about pigeons with all the fervor of a fancier. When I tried to stop him he was saying something about forty books on pigeons and he had read them all. He gave one of the most interesting talks I have ever heard.
Here is another suggestion: Learn more and more about what you now consider a pretty good topic. The more you know about something the more earnest and excitedly enthusiastic you will become. Percy H. Whiting, the author of the Five Great Rules of Selling, tells salesmen never to stop learning about the product they are selling. As Mr. Whiting says, “The more you know about a good product, the more enthusiastic you become about it.” The same thing is true about your topics—the more you know about them, the more earnest and enthusiastic you will be about them.
SECOND/ RELIVE THE FEELINGS YOU HAVE ABOUT YOUR TOPIC
Suppose you are telling your audience about the policeman who stopped you for going one mile over the speed limit. You can tell us that with all the cool disinterestedness of an onlooker, but it happened to you and you had certain feelings which you expressed in quite definite language. The third-person approach will not make much of an impression on your audience. They want to know exactly how you felt when that policeman wrote out that ticket. So, the more you relive the scene you are describing, or recreate the emotions you felt originally, the more vividly you will express yourself.
One of the reasons why we go to plays and movies is that we want to hear and see emotions expressed. We have become so fearful of giving vent to our feelings in public that we have to go to a play to satisfy this need for emotional expression.
When you speak in public, therefore, you will generate excitement and interest in your talk in proportion to the amount of excitement you put into it. Don't repress your honest feelings; don't put a damper on your authentic enthusiasms. Show your listeners how eager you are to talk about your subject, and you will hold their attention.
THIRD/ ACT IN EARNEST
When you walk before your audience to speak, do so with an air of anticipation, not like a man who is ascending the gallows. The spring in your walk may be largely put on, but it will do wonders for you and it gives the audience the feeling that you have something you are eager to talk about. Just before you begin, take a deep breath. Keep away from furniture or from the speaker's stand. Keep your head high and your chin up. You are about to tell your listeners something worthwhile, and every part of you should inform them of that clearly and unmistakably. You are in command, and as William James would say, act as if you are. If you make an effort to send your voice to the back of the hall, the sound will reassure you. Once you begin making gestures of any kind, they will help to stimulate you.
This principle of “warming up our reactivity,” as Donald and Eleanor Laird describe it, can be applied to all situations that demand mental awareness. In their book Techniques for Efficient Remembering, the Lairds point to President Theodore Roosevelt as a man who “breezed through life with a bounce, vigor, dash, and enthusiasm which became his trademark. He was absorbingly interested, or effectively pretended he was, in everything he tackled.” Teddy Roosevelt was a living exponent of the philosophy of William James: “Act in earnest and you will become naturally earnest in all you do.”
Above all, remember this: acting in earnest will make you feel earnest.
第一次世界大战刚结束，我就到伦敦，和罗维尔·托马斯共事。他当时正在为阿拉伯的阿伦比和劳伦斯发表一连串精彩绝伦的演讲，听众连连爆满。有一个星期天，我散步走进海德公园。在公园的大理石拱门入口附近，各种思想、种族、政治、宗教信仰的演讲者都可以畅所欲言，不受法律的干预。我先是听了一位天主教徒解释教皇无谬论，然后我又向前走，听到一位社会主义者在谈论卡尔·马克思主义。后来我又走到第三个演讲者那里，他正在阐释一个男人应该有4个妻子才算恰当！然后我站在远处，观察那三群人。
反正信不信由你，那个鼓吹一夫多妻制的家伙听众是最少的，屈指可数。另外两个演讲者身边的人群却越来越多。我问自己这是为什么？难道是因为不同的题目吗？我想不是。我观察后认识到，问题出在三位演讲者身上。那位大谈娶4个老婆如何好的家伙，自己却不像有兴趣讨4个老婆的样子；而另外两个演讲者，却针对所有对立的观点来阐释观点，沉浸在自己的演讲中。他们在拼命地演讲，舞动双臂做着激烈的手势，声音高昂而充满信念，散发出无穷的热情与活力。
生命力、活力及热情——这三种因素我一直认为是演讲者首先必须具备的条件。人们聚集在生龙活虎的演讲者四周，就像野雁围着秋天的麦田旋转。
那么，怎样才能做到这种富有活力的演讲，牢牢地吸引听众的注意力呢？本章将教你3个妙方，帮助你将自己的热情和激情融入演讲中。
一、选择熟悉的话题
在第三章一再强调，对自己的演讲题目要有深刻的感受。除非你对这个题目有特别的偏爱，否则别想让听众相信你。道理很简单，如果你对这个题目有实际接触和经验，对它充满了热情，或者是你已经对题目做过深入思考，有个人的关注（例如你的社区需要更好的学校），那你就会满腔热情，不愁演讲时不会热心了。我至今还记得20多年前的一场演讲，因为演讲者的热诚而造成的说服力现在还鲜明地呈现在我的眼前，还没有一场演讲比它更精彩的。我听过很多令人心服的演讲，可是这个被我称之为“兰花和山胡桃木灰”的演讲实例，却因为以热诚战胜常识而独树一帜。
原来，纽约一家极具知名度的销售公司，有一位极优秀的销售员提出了一个反常的观点，说他已经能够使“兰花”在既无花种、又无草根的情况下生长。据说他曾将山胡桃木灰撒在新犁过的地里，然后兰花在眨眼间便长出来了！所以他坚信山胡桃木灰——而且只有山胡桃木灰——才是兰花草长出来的原因。
评论时，我温和地向他指出，如果他这种非凡的发现是真的，将使他在一夜之间暴富，因为兰花的种子价值不菲，而且这项发现还将使他成为人类历史上杰出的科学家。但是我告诉他，事实上没有一个人曾经完成，或有能力完成这个奇迹——从无机物中培植出生命。
这个错误是如此明显，以至于根本没有必要反驳，所以我平静地告诉了他这些。我说完后，其他学员也看出了他谈话的荒谬之处，但是他却不这么看。他想都没有想，立刻站起来告诉我说他没有错。他对自己的发现极其热衷，甚至到了不可思议的地步，他还大声说没有引用论据，只是陈述了他自己的经验而已。他知道自己在说什么。然后他继续往下说，并扩大了原先的论述，提出了更多的资料，举出了更多的证据，声音中透露出了完完全全的真诚。
我只好再次告诉他，他不可能是正确的，他正确的可能性是零。他马上又站了起来，提出要和我赌5美元，让美国农业部来解答这件事。
你猜想发生了什么？这个班的若干学员站到了他那一边，另外还有许多人犹疑不定。我相信，要是来一次表决的话，这个班有一半以上的商务人士不会同意我的观点。我问他们为什么改变自己最初的观点？他们异口同声地说，是演讲者的热诚和确信使他们对常识产生了怀疑。
既然这样，我只好给农业部写了一封信。我对他们说，问这样幼稚的问题很不好意思。他们当然回答说，要使兰花或其他东西从山胡桃木灰里长出来，是根本不可能的。他们还说收到了另一封同样的信，原来那位销售员真的很相信他自己的发现，因此也给农业部写了信。
这件事给了我一个永难忘记的启发——如果演讲者真的确信某件事，并充满热情地谈论它，便能让人们相信，即使是宣称自己能从尘土和灰烬中培植出兰花也没有关系。既然这样，如果我们大脑中归纳、整理出来的信念是正确的常识和真理，那该会多么令人信服啊！
几乎所有的演讲者都会对自己选择的题目能否引起听众的兴趣心存疑虑。其实，要让人们对你的题目感兴趣，方法很简单：激发你自己对题目的狂热之情，就不愁没有办法激发人们的兴趣。
不久前，我们巴尔的摩培训班的一位学员警告人们，说如果继续用现在捕捞奇沙比克湾石鱼的方法捕石鱼的话，这里的石鱼将会绝迹。他真的非常关注这个问题，因为这件事很重要。他的一言一行无不表明了这一点。在他讲话之前，我并不知道在奇沙比克湾有什么石鱼，我想大多数听众也所知甚少，而且也不怎么感兴趣。可是，由于他表现得如此热切，他还没有讲完，我们都愿意联名，向立法机关请求立法保护石鱼。
有人曾问美国前驻意大利大使理查·华胥本·乔尔德，作为一个意趣无穷的作家，他成功的秘诀是什么？他回答说：“我非常热爱生命，所以不能静止不动。我只是觉得必须告诉人们这点罢了。”每个人都会被这样的演讲者或作家情不自禁地吸引。
我有一次在伦敦听人演讲，演讲完后，我的一个同伴本森先生评论说，这场演讲的最后一部分比第一部分更精彩。本森先生是位知名的英国小说家。我问他为什么，本森先生回答说：“演讲者自己对最后一部分的兴趣似乎更大一些，而我一向都很注重演讲者的热情和兴趣。”
这里还有一个例子，说明了选择演讲题目的重要性。
有一位先生，我们姑且叫他弗莱恩先生，参加了我们在华盛顿的训练班。在课程开始的一天晚上，他要介绍首都华盛顿。他从一家地方报纸发行的一本小册子里匆匆忙忙地搜集了一些资料，然后为我们演讲。虽然他在华盛顿住了许多年，但却没有举出一个亲身经历来说明他为什么喜欢这个地方，所以听起来十分的枯燥、无序而生硬。他只是一味地陈述一连串枯燥无趣的事实，大家听了不舒服，他自己也很别扭。
但是在两个星期后发生了一件事情让他感触极深：他刚买的新车停放在路边上，被人开车撞坏了，并且驾车逃逸。弗莱恩先生不可能要求保险理赔，只得自掏腰包。这件事来自他的亲身经历。当他介绍华盛顿时语言枯燥，让自己和听众都很难受。当他说起自己的车被撞坏时，却讲得十分真切，滔滔不绝，好似维苏威火山爆发。两星期前，大家听他的演讲时还觉得枯燥无味，现在却发出了热烈的掌声。
我一再指出，如果演讲题目选好了，想不成功也很难。比如谈自己的信念这种题目，就很容易吸引听众！你对自己的生活必然会有强烈的信仰，因此你不必再四处寻找，它们通常就在你的意识当中，你时常都会想到它们。
不久以前，电视台播出了立法委员就死刑举行的听证会。许多证人出席了这次会议，对这个问题提出正反两方面的意见。其中一个证人是洛杉矶警员，他显然对这个议题很有想法。他有11位警察同事都死于和罪犯的搏斗中，所以他曾对这个问题再三思考，产生了需要死刑的强烈信念。他饱含真情地说出了自己的理由，引起了听证会上人们的轰动。
历来最伟大的雄辩都来自于演讲者的强烈信念和感觉。真诚是建立在信仰之上的，而信仰则出自内心当中对自己所要说的话题的热爱，出于头脑的冷静思考。“心灵会拥有连理性都不知晓的理性。”我在许多班上都曾见证了帕斯卡这句犀利的话。我记得有一位波士顿律师，他仪表出众，说话畅达，但是他演讲完了之后大家都说：“好一个精明的家伙。”原来，他给人一种虚浮的表面印象，在他漂亮词句的背后人们看不到一点真的情感。同一个班上有一个保险公司的推销员，个子很小，长得毫不起眼，说话当中还不时停下来思索接下来该说什么。可是当他演讲时，没有人怀疑不是出自他的真心。
林肯在华盛顿福特戏院遇刺几乎有100年了，但是他的一生、他的言辞和真诚情感，却永远留在了我们的记忆里。如果只就法律知识而言，他同时代的许多人都远远超过了他。他缺少优雅、顺畅和精致，但是他在葛底斯堡、古柏联盟和华盛顿国会山上发表演讲的真诚，历史上却无人能够超越。
你可能会说，就像有个学员对我说的，自己没有强烈的信念和兴趣。对此我总是很惊讶。我对他说，让自己忙碌起来，让自己对事情产生兴趣！“对什么事，比如说？”他问我。我告诉他说：“就鸽子吧。”“鸽子？”他有些不明白。“是的！”我告诉他，“就是鸽子。你可以到广场上去看看它们，给它们喂东西，到图书馆去阅读有关鸽子的书，再回来讲你对鸽子的看法。”
他真的这样做了。当他回来演讲时，没有什么能阻止他了。他刚一开始便以养鸟者的狂热来谈鸽子。当我想要他停下来时，他正说到有关鸽子的40本书，他把它们都读了一遍！他作了我曾听过的最有趣味的演讲之一。
我还有一个建议：对自己认为很好的演讲题目，要尽量多了解一些。你对某件事了解越多，便会越热情。《销售的五大法则》的作者帕西·华廷告诉推销员，对自己推销的东西必须有所了解。他说：“对一项优良产品知道得越多，便会对它越热情。”这同样适用于演讲题目——对它们懂得越多，你对它们也就越充满热情。
二、表达自己的真实感受
如果你想告诉听众由于你开车超速，警察把你拦下来的经历，你可以以一个旁观者的身份来讲述。但这事发生在你身上，你会有某种切身感受，这种感受会使你的讲述更加明确。以第三人称的方式表述，是不能给听众留下什么深刻印象的。他们想知道的是，当那个警察开罚单给你时，你是什么感受。所以，你越清楚地描述当时的情形和你当时的感受，你就越能生动逼真地表达自己。
我们去看话剧、电影的原因之一，就是因为我们想要见到或听到感情的表露。我们很害怕当众表露自己的感情，因此去看话剧，以满足这种感情表达的需要。
所以，当众说话时，你就可以根据自己倾注于谈话中的热心程度，来表现自己的热诚与兴趣。不要抑制自己的真挚情感，也不要在自己真实感人的热情上面加个闭气阀。要让听众们看到你对自己谈论的题目有多热诚，你就会抓住他们的注意力。
三、表现出十足的热情
当你走到听众面前准备演讲时，应该表现出对演讲的企盼神态，而不要像一个登上绞刑架的犯人。轻快的步伐也许大部分是假装出来的，但它却能为你创造奇迹，让听众感受到你有东西渴望交流谈论。演讲之前，再深吸一口气。不要靠着讲桌。抬起头，仰起下颚，告诉自己：你现在就要给听众讲一些有价值的事情，因此你全身的每一部分都应该清楚无误地让他们知道这一点。要把自己想象成大权在握，就像威廉·詹姆斯所说的那样，要表现得好像是这样。如果能将你的声音传到大厅的后方，这样的音效会让你更有信心。如果一开始就能使用手势，它们更能令你振奋。
杜纳德和伊林诺·雷尔德把这项法则描述为“预热我们的反应”。它适用于任何需要心灵感觉的场合。在他们的著作《有效记忆的技巧》中，雷尔德夫妇认为西奥多·罗斯福总统是这样一个人：“活泼而愉快地度过了一生，充满了雀跃、活力、冲撞和热情。这些正是他的标记。他总是对自己要处理的一切事情兴趣浓厚，浑然忘我，或者假装得就像这个样子。”罗斯福也的确是威廉·詹姆斯哲学“表现得热烈，你对自己所做的一切自然便会热烈起来”的活生生的阐释者。
总之，要牢牢记住这句话：表现出热切，你就会感受到热切。