“完全的准备”难道就是背下演讲词？对于这个问题，我得断然说声“不”。为了保护自己的形象，以免在听众面前脑中一片空白，许多讲演者一头栽进记忆的陷阱里。一旦犯了这种毛病，便会不可救药地浪费时间进行这样的准备，而那只会毁掉整个演讲。By "perfect preparation" do I mean that you should memorize your talk? To this question I give back a thunderous NO. In their attempts to protect their egos from the dangers of drawing a mental blank before an audience, many speakers fall headlong into the trap of memorization. Once a victim of this type of mental dope addiction, the speaker is hopelessly bound to a time-consuming method of preparation that destroys effectiveness on the platform.

资深的美国新闻评论家，H.V.卡特波恩还在哈佛大学读书时，参加过一次讲演竞赛。他选了一则短篇故事，题为《先生们，国王》。然后把它逐字背诵，并预讲了数百次。比赛那天，他刚说出题目《先生们，国王》，脑子里就变成空白一片；岂止是空白，它压根儿就变黑了。他吓得差点儿蒙了，绝望之下，只得用自己的话来讲这个故事。可当评审把第一名颁给他的时候，他简直就不敢相信。从那天起，H.V.卡特波恩就不再去读或者背任何一篇讲稿，这就是他在广播事业里成功的秘诀。他只记些笔记，然后自然地对听众说话，绝不去用讲稿。When H. V. Kaltenborn, the dean of American news commentators, was a student at Harvard University, he took part in a speech contest. He selected a short story entitled" Gentlemen, the King." He memorized it word for word and rehearsed it hundreds of times. The day of the contest he announced the title, "Gentlemen, the King." Then his mind went blank. It not only went blank; it went black. He was terrified. In desperation he started telling the story in his own words. He was the most surprised boy in the hall when the judges gave him first prize. From that day to this, H. V. Kaltenborn has never read nor memorized a speech. That has been the secret of success in his broadcasting career. He makes a few notes and talks naturally to his listeners without a script.

写出讲稿并且去背下来，不但浪费时间、精力，而且容易导致失败。我们一生说话都是自然而然的事，从没有费心去推敲字眼。我们随时都在思考着，等到思想明澈时，言语便像我们呼吸的空气一样，不知不觉地自然流出。The man who writes out and memorizes his talks is wasting his time and energy, and courting disaster. All our lives we have been speaking spontaneously. We haven't been thinking of words. We have been thinking of ideas. If our ideas are clear, the words come as naturally and unconsciously as the air we breathe.

温斯顿·丘吉尔也是很辛苦才学到这一课的。年轻时，丘吉尔也要写讲稿、背讲稿。直到有一天，他在英国国会上背诵他的讲稿时，思路突然中断，脑海里一片空白。他尴尬极了，同时也感到了羞辱。他把上一句重复一遍，可是依然什么也想不起来，脸也变成了猪肝色。他颓然坐下。从那以后，丘吉尔再也不背讲稿了。Even Winston Churchill had to learn that lesson the hard way. As a young man, Churchill wrote out and memorized his speeches. Then one day, while delivering a memorized talk before the British Parliament, he stopped dead in his mental tracks. His mind went blank. He was embarrassed, humiliated! He began his last sentence all over again. Again his mind went blank and his face scarlet. He sat down. From that day to this, Winston Churchill has never attempted to deliver a memorized talk.

我们如果逐字背下演讲词，面对听众的时候，很容易就会因为紧张而遗忘。即使没有忘记，恐怕讲起来也是呆板的。为什么呢？因为它不是来自我们内心的，只是出于记忆而已。私下与别人交谈时，我们总是一心想着要说的事，然后就直接说出来了，并未特别去留心词句。既然一直都是这么做的，现在又为什么要改呢？如果我们非要写讲稿、背演讲词，就很可能重蹈凡斯·布须内的覆辙。If we memorize our talk word for word, we will probably forget it when we face our listeners. Even if we do not forget our memorized talk, we will probably deliver it in a mechanical way. Why? Because it will not come from our hearts, but from our memories. When talking with people privately, we always think of something we want to say, and then we go ahead and say it without thinking of words. We have been doing that all our lives. Why attempt to change it now? If we do write out and memorize our talks, we may have the same experience that Vance Bushnell had.

凡斯是马黎波欧艺术学校的毕业生，世界最大的保险公司之一的衡平人寿保险公司的副总裁。多年前，被要求在西弗吉尼亚州的“白磺泉”召开的“衡平人寿”代表会议中发表演讲，有来自全美的2000名“衡平人寿”代表参加这次会议。当时，他从事人寿保险的行业才两年，可是已经非常成功，所以就安排他去作20分钟的讲演。Vance was a graduate of the Beaux Arts School in Paris, and later became vice-president of one of the largest insurance companies in the world-the Equitable Life Assurance Society. Years ago, he was asked to address a conference of two thousand Equitable Life representatives from all over America at a meeting in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. At that time, he had been in the life insurance business for only two years, but he had been highly successful, so he was scheduled to make a twenty-minute talk.

凡斯很高兴，他知道这是一次提高身价的好机会。然而，不幸的是，他把演讲词写下来背。他在镜子面前演练了40次，把一切仔细准备好：每句词语，每个手势，每个表情，甚至怎样上台和回来的细节。真是恰到好处，完美无瑕了，他想。Vance was delighted to do so. He felt it would give him prestige. But, unfortunately, he wrote out and memorized his talk. He rehearsed forty times in front of a mirror. He had everything down pat: every phrase, every gesture, every facial expression. It was flawless, he thought.

可是，当他站起来要讲演的时候，面对着2000名听众，他忽然感到害怕了。他只说了：“我在本计划里的职位是……”脑子里就只剩下一片空白。慌乱之中，他后退了两步，想要重新开始，可是脑子里依然空白一片。于是再退后两步，企图重新开始，依然没有用。讲台有四尺高，后边没有栏杆，和墙隔有两米宽的距离。所以，当他第四次重复刚才的表演的时候，他掉下了讲台，消失到隔缝里去了。听众哄堂大笑，笑得人仰马翻，有的还跌出椅子，滚到走道上。衡平人寿保险公司做这种滑稽表演的，前无古人，后无来者。让人拍案叫绝的是，听众还真以为这是特意安排的助兴节目。“衡平人寿”里的老前辈们，现在还津津乐道他的演出。However, when he stood up to deliver his address, he was terrified. He said,"My part in this program is ..." His mind went blank. In his confusion, he took two steps backward and tried to start all over again. Again, his mind went blank. Again he took two steps back and tried to start. He repeated this performance three times. The platform was four feet high; there was no railing at the back; and there was a space five feet wide between the back of the platform and the wall. So, the fourth time he stepped back, he toppled backwards off the platform and disappeared into space. The audience howled with laughter. One man fell off his chair and rolled in the aisle. Never before nor since in the history of the Equitable Life Assurance Society has anyone ever given such a comic performance. The astonishing part of the story is that the audience thought it was really an act. The old-timers of the Equitable Life are still talking about his performance.

可是凡斯·布须内自己呢？他亲口对我说，那是他一生中最没面子的一次。他觉得羞愧难当，因此写了辞呈。但是凡斯的上司说服了他，把辞呈撕了，并帮助他重建自信。而凡斯在这次经历以后，成了公司里数一数二的演讲高手。不过，他再也不去背讲稿了。我们应该以此为鉴，以免再干出这样愚蠢可笑的事情。But what about the speaker, Vance Bushnell? Vance Bushnell himself told me it was the most embarrassing occasion of his life. He felt so disgraced that he wrote out his resignation.Vance Bushnell's superiors persuaded him to tear up his resignation. They restored his self-confidence; and Vance Bushnell, in later years, became one of the most effective speakers in his organization. But he never memorized a talk again. Let us profit by his experience.

我听说过很多人背讲稿，却不记得有谁把讲稿扔进纸篓以后，不能说得更生动、更有效果、更富人性。扔掉讲稿，或许会忘掉几点，说起来散乱些，但至少显得更有人情味。I have heard countless scores of men and women try to deliver memorized talks, but I don't remember even one speaker who wouldn't have been more alive, more effective, more human, if he had tossed his memorized talk into the waste basket. If he had done that, he might have forgotten some of his points. He might have rambled, but at least he would have been human.

林肯说过：“我不喜欢听刀削式的、枯燥无味的讲演。当我听人讲演时，我喜欢看他像在跟蜜蜂搏斗一样去讲话。”他喜欢听一个演讲者自在、随意、激情澎湃地演讲。背讲稿，是绝不会表现得像在跟蜜蜂拼命似的。Abe Lincoln once said," I don't like to hear a cut and-dried sermon. When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees." Lincoln said he wanted to hear a speaker cut loose and get excited. No speaker ever acts as if he were fighting bees when he is trying to recall memorized words.