《在云端》乔治·克鲁尼教你演讲增加说服力

　　your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you're carrying a backpack. I want you to feel the straps on your shoulders. Feel 'em? Now I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life. Start with the little things, the things on shelves and in drawers the knick-knacks, the collectibles. Feel the weight as that adds up. Then you start adding larger stuff - clothes, table-top appliances, lamps, linens, your TV... The backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. And you go bigger. Your couch, bed, your kitchen table. Stuff it all in there. Your car, get it in there. Your home, whether it's a studio apartment or a two-bedroomed house. I want you to stuff it all into that backpack. Now try to walk. It's kind of hard, isn't it? This is what we do to ourselves on a daily basis. We weigh ourselves down until we can't even move. And make no mistake moving is living. Now, I'm gonna set that backpack on fire. What do you want to take out of it? Photos? Photos are for people who can't remember. Drink some ginkgo and let the photos burn. In fact, let everything burn and imagine waking up tomorrow with nothing. It's kind of exhilarating, isn't it?

　　【词组讲解】make no mistake

　　这是一个口语的说法，是Make no mistake about it!的缩略，意思是You can be certain.“毫无疑问、不容置疑”

　　除了类比和比喻，还有小小的噱头之外，犀利的对比和承上启下的过度同样很重要。《在云端》的乔治·克鲁尼继续讲优秀的商务演讲技能教给你。

　　这就是我，如何开始自己一天的生活。不过这次有点不同，继续跟上我的步伐。现在给了你一个新的包裹。不一样的是这次我要你把人放进去。从点头之交的熟人开始，朋友的朋友，办公室里头的同事。接着是能够分享你最隐私秘密的人，表兄弟姐妹，三姑六婆，叔叔伯伯，兄弟姐妹，父母双亲，最后轮到你的丈夫、妻子，你的男友或者女友。你把他们放到包裹里去。安啦，不会让你放火焚人。只是再叫你掂掂重量。毫无疑问，你的人际牵绊是生命中最沉重的组成部分。感觉到肩膀上深深勒下去的感觉了么?所有的那些让步争执、欺瞒迁就勒紧了你。你没必要背着重重的包袱。为什么不放下来呢?有些动物生来就要背负彼此，成为天长地久、至死不渝的象征——所谓的牛郎织女，白头鸳鸯。我们却不是这种动物。越是行动缓慢，越是早地迎接死亡。我们不是什么鸳鸯。我们是鲨鱼。

　　This is how I start every day of my life. Now, this is gonna be a little difficult, so stay with me. You have a new backpack. Only this time, I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office. And then the people you trust with your most intimate secrets - your cousins, your aunts, your uncles, your brothers, your sisters, your parents, and finally your husband, your wife, your boyfriend or your girlfriend. You get them into that backpack. Don't worry. I'm not gonna ask you to light it on fire. Feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake, your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. Do you feel the straps cutting into your shoulders? All those negotiations and arguments, and secrets and compromises. You don't need to carry all that weight. Why don't you set that bag down? Some animals were meant to carry each other, to live symbiotically for a lifetime - star-crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not those animals. The slower we move, the faster we die. We are not swans. We're sharks.

　　【词组讲解】star-crossed lovers

　　这个词组能够直译成“灾星恋人”，有点像我们所说的“命中注定的冤家”，出自莎士比亚《罗密欧与朱丽叶》，因而常被人用来形容天造地设却有巨大外力阻隔的恋人。看字面上又有星星二字，很容易让人想到牛郎织女星吧?历史上的“灾星恋人”除了罗密欧与朱丽叶外，每个民族也都有各自的苦命恋人，咱中国就有最著名的梁祝咯。在现代文化中，更有美剧《吸血鬼猎人巴菲》中的女主角巴菲同吸血鬼Angel被誉为是最悲剧的灾星恋人，而电影方面詹姆斯·卡梅隆的《泰坦尼克号》、《阿凡达》的两对男女主角都属于这类。