实情之一：害怕当众说话并不是个别现象。一份来自大学里的调查指出，演讲课有百分之八九十的学生，刚上课的时候都会感到上台的恐惧。在我的成人班里，在课程刚开始的时候，登台恐惧的比例还要高，几乎是百分之百。Fact Number One:You are not unique in your fear of speaking in public. Surveys in colleges indicate that eighty to ninety per cent of all students enrolled in speech classes suffer from stage fright at the beginning of the course. I am inclined to believe that the figure is higher among adults at the start of my course, almost one hundred per cent.
实情之二：某种程度的登台恐惧感是有利的，我们天生有应付来自环境的挑战的能力。因此，当你感到自己脉搏加快、呼吸急促时，不要紧张。这是你身体对外来刺激保持警觉的反应，这是它为即将到来的行动作准备，假如这种生理上的准备是适度的，你会因此而想得更快，说得更流畅，常常会比普通情况之下说得更为精辟有力。Fact Number Two:A certain amount of stage fright is useful! It is nature's way of preparing us to meet unusual challenges in our environment. So, when you notice your pulse beating faster and your respiration speeding up, don't become alarmed. Your body, ever alert to external stimuli, is getting ready to go into action. If these physiological preparations are held within limits, you will be capable of thinking faster, talking more fluently, and generally speaking with greater intensity than under normal circumstances.
实情之三：很多职业演讲者都坦白地说，他们从来没有完全祛除登台时的恐惧。几乎每一次讲演前，都会感到害怕，而且会持续到说最开始的几句话里。要想当赛马，不当驮马，这些演讲者必须经历这样的磨炼。有些演讲者常自诩“像黄瓜一般的冰凉”，其实是像黄瓜一般的皮厚，不过倒也沁人心脾得像黄瓜一样。Fact Number Three:Many professionally speakers have assured me that they never completely lose all stage fright. It is almost always present just before they speak, and it may persist through the first few sentences of their talk. This is the price these men and women pay for being like race horses and not like draft horses. Speakers who say they are "cool as a cucumber" at all times are usually as thick-skinned as a cucumber and about as inspiring as a cucumber.
实情之四：你害怕当众说话的主要原因，只是因为你不习惯。罗宾生教授在《思想的酝酿》一书中说：“恐惧都衍生于无知与不确定。”对多数人来说，当众说话是一个不能确定的因素，于是不免产生焦虑和恐惧。特别是新手，面对一连串复杂而陌生的情境，当众说话要比学打网球或驾驶汽车困难得多。只有练习、练习再练习，通过不断练习，才能把不确定的因素变得单纯而轻松。你会发现，只要有了讲演成功的经验以后，就不会觉得当众说话是一种痛苦，而是一种快乐了。Fact Number Four:The chief cause of your fear of public speaking is simply that you are unaccustomed to speak in public. "Fear is misbegotten of ignorance and uncertainty," says Professor Robinson in The Mind in the Making. For most people, public speaking is an unknown quantity, and consequently one fraught with anxiety and fear factors. For the beginner, it is a complex series of strange situations, more involved than, say, learning to play tennis or drive a car. To make this fearful situation simple and easy: practice, practice, practice. You will find, as thousands upon thousands have, that public speaking can be made a joy instead of an agony merely by getting a record of successful speaking experiences behind you.
这是杰出的演讲家、著名的心理学家艾伯特·爱德华·威格恩的故事，我一直把它当做一种鼓励。他说在他读中学时，一想到被要求起立作五分钟的讲演，他就感到非常的害怕。The story of how Albert Edward Wiggam, the prominent lecturer and popular psychologist, overcame his fear, has been an inspiration to me ever since I first read it. He tells how terror-struck he was at the thought of standing up in high school and delivering a five-minute declamation.
他这样描述：“当讲演的日子要到时，我就病了。只要一想到那可怕的事情，血就直冲脑门，脸颊发烧，只有跑到学校后边去，把脸贴在冷凉的砖墙上，以便褪去脸上涌起的绯红。As the day approached, he writes, "I became positively ill. Whenever the dreadful thought occurred to me, my whole head would flush with blood and my cheeks would burn so painfully that I would go out behind the school building and press them against the cold brick wall to try to reduce their surging blushes. It was the same way with me in college.
“我在读大学时还是这样。有一次，我小心地背下一篇演讲词的开头：‘亚当斯与爱德华已经不再是……’。但当我面对听众，脑袋里轰地一下，几乎不知身在何处了。勉强挤出开场白：‘亚当斯与杰斐逊已经过世……’然后再也说不出一句话，因此便鞠躬……在如雷的掌声中沉重地回到座位上。校长站起来说：‘唔，爱德华，我们听到这则悲伤的消息真是震惊，不过现在我们会尽量地节哀的。’接着是哄堂大笑。我真想以死解脱，不过那次只是病了几天。On one occasion, I carefully memorized a declamation beginning, 'Adams and Jefferson are no more.' When I faced the audience, my head was swimming so I scarcely knew where I was. I managed to gasp out the opening sentence, stating that ,' Adams and Jefferson have passed away.' I couldn't say another word, so I bowed ... and walked solemnly back to my seat amid great applause. The president got up and said, 'Well, Edward, we are shocked to hear the sad news, but we will do our best to bear up under the circumstances.' During the uproarious laughter that followed, death would surely have been a welcome relief. I was ill for days afterward.
“活在这世上，我最不敢期望做到的，便是当个大众演讲家。”Certainly the last thing on earth I ever expected to become was a public speaker."
但是，1896年——他离开大学一年后，丹佛掀起一场关于“自由银币铸造”问题的政治运动。他认为“自由银币人士”布莱安及其徒众的建议犯了错误，承诺空洞，于是十分愤怒，因此当了手表做盘缠，回到家乡印第安纳州。然后他自告奋勇，就健全的币制发表演讲。听众席上有不少是老同学。“刚开始，”他写道，“大学里‘亚当斯和杰斐逊’的演讲那一幕又掠过我的脑海，恐惧快要让我窒息了，我讲话结巴，我几乎都要从讲台上逃走了。不过，就如区安西·德普常说的那样，听众和我都勉强撑过绪论部分，然后这小小的成功增添了我的勇气，我就继续往下说了自以为大约15分钟的光景。其实，我说了一个半钟头，这让我惊异极了。A year after he left college, Albert Wiggam was in Denver. The political campaign of 1896 was raging over the issue of Free Silver. One day he read a pamphlet explaining the proposals of the Free Silverites; he became so incensed over what he considered the errors and hollow promises of Bryan and his followers, that he pawned his watch for enough money to get back to his native Indiana. Once there, he offered his services to speak on the subject of sound money. Many of his old school friends were in the audience. "As I began," he writes, "the picture of my Adams and Jefferson speech in college swept over me. I choked and stammered and all seemed to be lost. But, as Chauncey Depew often said, both the audience and I managed somehow to live through the introduction; and encouraged by even this tiny success, I went on talking for what I thought was about fifteen minutes. To my amazement, I discovered I had been talking an hour and a half!
“结果，在以后的几年里，我是令全世界最感吃惊的人，竟然会把当众演讲当成自己吃饭的行当。As a result, within the next few years, I was the most surprised person in the world to find myself making my living as a professional public speaker.
“我终于体会到威廉·詹姆斯说的‘成功的习惯’是什么意思了。”1 knew at first hand what William James meant by the habit of success."
艾伯特·爱德华·威格恩终于认识到，要克服当众说话那种天翻地覆的恐惧感，最稳妥的方法是以获取成功的经验做后援。Yes, Albert Edward Wiggam learned that one of the surest ways of overcoming the devastating fear of speaking before groups is to get a record of successful experiences behind you.
你要当众说话，产生一定程度的恐惧是自然的，但同时你也要学会凭借适度的登台恐惧，使你说得更好。You should expect a certain amount of fear as a natural adjunct of your desire to speak in public, and you should learn to depend on a limited amount of stage fright to help make you give a better talk.
即使登台的恐惧一发而不可收拾，造成了心灵滞塞、言语不畅、肌肉痉挛无法控制，因而严重影响到你说话的能力，也没有必要绝望。这些症状在初学者中很常见，只要你多下工夫，就会发现这种恐惧很快会减少到适当的程度，这时它就是一种助力，而不是一种阻力了。If stage fright gets out of hand and seriously curtails your effectiveness by causing mental blocks, lack of fluency, uncontrollable tics, and excessive muscular spasm, you should not despair. These symptoms are not unusual in beginners. If you make the effort, you will find the degree of stage fright soon reduced to the point where it will prove a help and not a hindrance.
