卡耐基演讲·做好讲演前的准备工作

多年以前，有两个人一同参加了我在纽约的一个训练班。一个是哲学博士，在大学里任教当教授，温文儒雅；一个是街旁的一名流动小贩，年轻的时候曾在英国海军待过的，豪爽而粗鲁。但很奇怪的是，在这个演讲训练班的学习过程中，那位流动摊贩的演讲，却远比这位大学教授更能吸引人。这是为什么呢？这位大学教授以漂亮的词汇发言，台风温文儒雅，讲话条理清楚，但是，其中缺少了讲演的一个重要的元素：具体化。他的谈话太不明确，太过空泛了，而那位流动摊贩正好相反。他开口之后，就立即抓住了问题的核心，内容很明确，而且具体、实在，加上他充沛的男子汉活力以及新奇的词句，使他的演讲十分吸引人。MANY YEARS AGO, a Doctor of Philosophy and a rough-and-ready fellow who had spent his youth in the British Navy were enrolled in one of our classes in New York. The man with the degree was a college professor; the ex-tar was the proprietor of a small side-street trucking business. His talks were far better received by the class than those given by the professor. Why? The college man used beautiful English. He was urbane, cultured, refined. His talks were always logical and clear. But they lacked one essential - concreteness. They were vague and general. Not once did he illustrate a point with anything approaching a personal experience. His talks were usually nothing more than a series of abstract ideas held together by a thin string of logic.On the other hand, the trucking firm proprietor's language was definite, concrete, and picturesque. He talked in terms of everyday facts. He gave us one point and then backed it up by telling us what happened to him in the course of his business. He described the people he had to deal with and the headaches of keeping up with regulations. The virility and freshness of his phraseology made his talks highly instructive and entertaining.

我举这个例子，不是因为它代表着大学教授或流动摊贩的典型，而是因为它可以说明只有说话具体而且明确的人才具备吸引别人兴趣的能力。I cite this instance, not because it is typical of college professors or of men in the trucking business, but because it illustrates the attention-compelling power of rich, colorful details in a talk.

这里有四种能够保证受众注意力的方法，如果你遵循这四个步骤准备你的演讲，你就能很好地调动听众的积极性。There are four ways to develop speech material that guarantees audience attention. If you follow these four steps in your preparation you will be well on the way to commanding the eager attention of your listeners.