当然，不是说你有资格谈的话题就一定会引起听众的兴趣。比如说，我是一个“自己动手”的忠实实践者，那我确实有资格谈谈洗盘子的事。可是我并不热衷于此，事实上是我一点都不愿去想它，你能肯定我能把这个题目讲好吗？但是，我却听过家庭主妇们——也就是家庭主管们——把这个题目说得精彩极了。她们心里或者对永远洗不完的盘子有股怒火，或者发现了新方法可以处理这恼人的工作。不管怎样，她们对这个题材来劲。所以，她们可以就洗盘子的题目说得津津有味。Not all topics that you and I have earned the right to talk about make us excited. For instance, as a do-it-yourself devotee, I certainly am qualified to talk about washing dishes. But somehow or other I can't get excited about this topic. As a matter of fact, I would rather forget about it altogether. Yet I have heard housewives-household executives, that is give superb talks about this same subject. They have somehow aroused within themselves such a fury of indignation about the eternal task of washing dishes, or they have developed such ingenious methods of getting around this disagreeable chore, that they have become really excited about it. As a consequence, they have been able to talk effectively about this subject of washing dishes.
有个简单的问题可以帮你确认你认为合适的题目，是否适合当众谈论。你问问自己，如果有人站起来直言反对你的观点，你会不会有百分之百的信心激烈地为自己辩护？如果你会，你的题目一定就适合。Here is a question that will help yon determine the suitability of topics you feel qualified to discuss in public: if someone stood up and directly opposed your point of view, would you be impelled to speak with conviction and earnestness in defense of your position? If you would, you have the right subject for you.
1926年，我曾到瑞士的日内瓦参加国际联盟第七次大会。后来我对当时的情形记了笔记。最近，我无意间又翻到这些笔记。以下是其中的一段：“在三四个死气沉沉的演讲者读完自己的手稿之后，加拿大的乔治·佛斯特爵士上台发言。我看到他没有携带任何纸张或字条，不禁大为欣赏。他专注于他要讲的事情上，常常通过手势来强调他的观点。他很热切地想让听众了解他心中珍藏的那些理念。这种渴望很坦白，一如窗外澄明的日内瓦湖。我在教学上一直倡导的那些法则，在他的讲演里完美无遗地得到了展现。”Recently, I came across some notes I had written in 1926 after I had visited the Seventh Session of the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Here is a paragraph: "After three or four lifeless speakers read their manuscripts, Sir George Foster of Canada took the floor. With immense satisfaction I noted that he had no papers of notes of any kind. He gestured almost constantly. His heart was in what he was saying. He had something he very much wanted to get across. The fact that he was earnestly trying to convey to the audience certain convictions that he cherished in his own heart was as plain as Lake Geneva outside the windows. Principles I have been advocating in my teaching were beautifully illustrated in that talk."
我常会想起乔治爵士的讲演。他真诚，热心。而唯有对所选的题目是真心所感、真心所想时，才会有如此的显露。福胜·J.辛主教，是美国最具震撼力的演讲家。他从早年生活中也学到了这样一课。I often recall that speech by Sir George. He was sincere; he was earnest. Only by choosing topics which are felt by the heart as well as thought out by the mind will this sincerity be made manifest. Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, one of America's most dynamic speakers, learned this lesson early in life.
他在《此生不虚》一书里写道：“我被选出参加学院里的辩论队。在圣母玛丽亚辩论的前一晚，我们的辩论教授把我喊到办公室里去责骂了一顿。I was chosen for the debating team in college, he wrote in his book, Life Is Worth Living "and the night before the Notre Dame debate, our professor of debating called me to his office and scolded me.
“‘你真是饭桶！本院有史以来还没有一个演讲者比你更差劲！’ 'You are absolutely rotten. We have never had anybody in the history of this college who was a worse speaker than yourself. '
“‘那，’我说，想替自己辩解，‘我既是这样的饭桶，干吗还挑我参加辩论队？’ 'Well,' I said, trying to justify myself, 'if I am so rotten why did you pick me for the team?'
“‘因为你会思想，而不是因为你会讲。’他答道，‘到那边去，从演讲辞中抽出一段把它讲出来。’我把一段话反反复复地讲了一个钟头，他说：‘看出其中的错误了吧？’‘没有。’于是又是一个半钟头。最后，我筋疲力尽了，他说：‘还看不出错在哪里吗？’ 'Because,' he answered, 'you can think; not because you can talk. Get over in that corner. Take a paragraph of your speech and go through it.' I repeated a paragraph over and over again for an hour, at the end of which he said, 'Do you see any mistake in that?' 'No.' Again an hour and a half, two hours, two and a half hours, at the end of which I was exhausted. He said, 'Do you still not see what is wrong?'
“过了这两个半钟头，我找到了问题的关键。我说：‘看出来了，我没有诚意。我根本心不在焉，没有说出真情实感。’”Being naturally quick, after two hours and a half, I caught on. I said, 'Yes. I am not sincere. I am not myself. I do not talk as if I meant it. ' "
就这样，福胜·J.辛主教学得了永生难忘的一课：把自己沉浸在讲演中。因此，他开始让自己对自己的题材热心起来。直到这时，博学的教授才说：“现在你可以讲了！”At this point, Bishop Sheen learned a lesson he always remembered: he put himself into his talk. He became excited about his subject matter. Only then the wise professor said, "Now, you are ready to speak!"
如果我们班上有学员说：“我对什么事都提不起劲来，我过的是平凡单调的生活。”我们受过训练的老师便会问他，闲暇时都做些什么？有人说去看电影，有人说去打保龄球，有人则说种植玫瑰花。其中有一位告诉教师说，他收集火柴盒。老师继续问他这个不寻常的嗜好的一些问题时，他渐渐有精神了。不一会儿，他便指手画脚地描述起自己收藏火柴盒的小房间来。他告诉老师，他几乎藏有世界各国的火柴盒。等他对自己最喜爱的话题有了兴趣以后，老师打断他：“为什么不对我们谈谈这个话题呢？我觉得挺有意思的。”他说，从来没想到还会有人对这些感兴趣！这个人耗费心血，多年孜孜以求的嗜好，他对此几乎已成了一种狂热，而他却否定了它的价值，认为不值一谈。老师真诚地告诉他，要知道一个话题有没有趣味价值，唯一的方法是问自己对它有多感兴趣。后来，他以收藏家的姿态兴高采烈地畅谈了一个晚上。再后来我听说，他去参加各种午餐俱乐部，去讲演有关收集火柴盒的话题，因此获得地方人士的推崇。When a member of one of our classes says, "I don't get excited about anything, I lead a humdrum sort of life," our instructors are trained to ask him what he does in his spare time. One goes to the movies, another bowls, and another cultivates roses. One man told his instructor that he collected books of matches. As the instructor continued to question him about this unusual hobby, he gradually became animated. Soon he was using gestures as he described the cabinets in which he stored his collection. He told his instructor that he had match books from almost every country in the world. When he became excited about his favorite topic, the instructor stopped him, "Why don't you tell us about this subject? It sounds fascinating to me." He said that he didn't think anyone would be interested! Here was a man who had spent years in pursuit of a hobby that was almost a passion with him; yet he was negative about its value as a topic to speak about. This instructor assured this man that the only way to gauge the interest value of a subject was to ask yourself how interested you are in it. He talked that night with all the fervor of the true collector, and I heard later that he gained a certain amount of local recognition by going to various luncheon clubs and talking about match book collecting.
如果希望能迅速而轻易地学会当众说话，这个例子正好可以引出下面的第三条法则。This illustration leads directly to the third guiding principle for those. who want a quick and easy way to learn to speak in public.
