第一次世界大战前，我在125号街青年基督协会所教授的课程已经有了改变，不再是当年的样子。每年都有新观念加入课程，旧思想被淘汰出去。但是，有一点一直没有改变，那就是每个学生至少站起来在同学面前讲演一次（很多时候都是两次）。为什么呢？因为不当众说话，谁也不可能学会在众人面前讲演。就好像一个人不下水，就一定学不会游泳一样。你就算把有关当众讲演的著作都读遍，包括本书，却依旧开不了口，那也是没有用的。本书只是指引，你得进行实践才行。The course I gave in the 125th Street YMCA before World War I has been changed almost beyond recognition. Every year new ideas have been woven into the sessions and old ones cast away. But one feature of the course remains unchanged. Every member of every class must get up once, and in the majority of cases, twice, and give a talk before his fellow members. Why? Because no one can learn to speak in public without speaking in public any more than a person can learn to swim without getting in the water. You could read every volume ever written about public speaking-including this one-and still not be able to speak. This book is a thorough guide. But you must put its suggestions into practice.
当有人问萧伯纳是怎样学得气势逼人地当众演讲时，他说：“我是以自己学会溜冰的方法来做的——我固执地一个劲儿地让自己出丑，直到习以为常。”年轻时，萧伯纳是伦敦最胆小的人之一，常常在走廊里徘徊20分钟或更多的时间，才能鼓起勇气去敲开别人的屋门。他承认很少有人像他这样仅仅因为胆小而痛苦，或者深深地为它感到羞耻。When George Bernard Shaw was asked how he learned to speak so compellingly in public, he replied:I did it the same way I learned to skate-by doggedly making a fool of myself until I got used to it. As a youth, Shaw was one of the most timid persons in London. He often walked up and down the Embankment for twenty minutes or more before venturing to knock at a door. "Few men," he confessed, "have suffered more from simple cowardice or have been more horribly ashamed of it".
后来，他不经意地使用了最好、最快、最有效的方法来克服羞怯、胆小和恐惧。他决心把弱点变成自己最强劲的资本。他加入一个辩论学会，只要伦敦有公众讨论的聚会，他都去参加。萧伯纳全心投入到社会主义运动中，四处讲演，如此他把自己变成20世纪上半叶最有自信心、最出色的演讲家之一。Finally, he hit upon the best and quickest and surest method ever yet devised to conquer timidity, cowardice, and fear. He determined to make his weak point his strongest asset. He joined a debating society. He attended every meeting in London where there was to be a public discussion, and he always arose and took part in the debate. By throwing his heart into the cause of socialism, and by going out and speaking for that cause, Gorge Ternary Shaw transformed himself into one of the most confident and brilliant speakers of the first half of the twentieth century.
说话的机会随处都有，不妨去参加一些组织，从事一些需要讲话的职务。在聚会里站起身来，说上两句，即使只是附议也好。开会时，千万别躲在角落里。说话吧！去教教主日学吧！或做个童子军领队，或加入任何团体，让自己有机会活跃地参加各种聚会。你只要往自己周围瞧瞧便会发现，没有哪种工作和生活是不需要开口说话的，甚至住宅小区里的活动也一样。如果你不去说，就永远也不知道自己会有怎样的进步。Opportunities to speak are on all sides. Join organizations and volunteer for offices that will require you to speak. Stand up and assert yourself at public meetings, if only to second a motion. Don't take a back seat at departmental meetings. Speak up! Teach a Sunday School class. Become a Scout leader. Join any group where you will have an opportunity to participate actively in the meetings. You have but to look around you to see that there is scarcely a single business, community, political, professional, or even neighborhood activity that does not challenge you to step forward and speak up. You will never know what progress you can make unless you speak, and speak, and speak again.
“这些我都明白。”一个年轻的商务主管对我说，“可是我总是犹豫，害怕学习的艰难考验。”I know all about that, a young business executive once said to me, "but I hesitate to face the ordeal of learning."
“什么艰难考验？”我说，“快把这种想法丢掉。你怎么从来不用一种正确的精神——征服性的精神——来想学习呢。”Ordeal! I replied. "Put that thought out of your mind. You've never thought of learning in the right-the conquering-spirit."
“那是什么精神？”他问。What spirit is that? he asked.
“冒险精神呀，”我告诉他说。接着我对他谈起一些借当众说话而能获得的成功，同时使个性因此也开朗起来的事例。The spirit of adventure, I told him, and I talked to him a little about a path to success, through public speaking, and the warming up, the unfolding, of one's personality.
“我要试试，”最后他说，“我要投身到这项冒险中。”I'll give it a try, he finally said. "I'll head into this adventure."
在你继续阅读此书并将书中所需求的付诸实践的时候，你也是在冒险。你会发现，在这项冒险中，你的自我引导力和敏锐的观察力会帮助你。你会发现这项冒险会改变你，从内到外。As you read on in this book, and as you put its principles into practice, you, too, will be heading into adventure. You will find it is an adventure in which your power of self-direction and your vision will sustain you. You will find it is an adventure that can change you, inside and out.
