卡耐基演讲·1.人性的谈话

有一次，我要巴黎的美国商人以“成功之道”为题作讲演。他们大多数人都只列举一大串抽象的东西，空谈什么勤奋工作、持之以恒或者树立远大抱负的大道理。I once asked a group of American businessmen in Paris to talk on "How to Succeed." Most of them merely listed a lot of abstract qualities and gave preachments on the value of hard work, persistence, and ambition.

因此，我终止了他们的讲话：“我们都不想听别人说教，没有谁会喜欢。要记住，必须让我们感到愉快和有趣，要不然，你说什么我们都不会注意。同时也要记住，世上最有趣的事情，无非都是那些精致典雅，妙语连珠的趣闻轶事。所以，请讲你所认识的两个人的故事，告诉我们为什么一个会成功，而另一个却失败。我们会很高兴去听这样的故事，同时也会因此而获益匪浅。”So I halted this class, and said something like this, "We don't want to be lectured to. No one enjoys that. Remember, you must be entertaining or we will pay no attention whatever to what you are saying. Also remember that one of the most interesting things in the world is sublimated, glorified gossip. So tell us the stories of two men you have known. Tell why one succeeded and why the other failed. We will gladly listen to that, remember it, and possibly profit by it."

这班里有个学员，他总是觉得要提起自己的兴趣或激发听众的兴趣真的很难。可是这天晚上，他利用“人性故事”的建议，向我们讲了大学里两个同窗的故事。一个小心谨慎，锱铢必较，比如买衬衫，他一定要分别在城里不同的店里买衬衫，并制表显示哪一件最经得起洗熨，穿得最久，通过这样的方式来使每一块钱的投资得到最大程度的利用。工学院毕业后，他自视清高，不甘愿像别的毕业生那样从基层开始做起。因此三年后同学聚会，他仍旧在画他的衬衫洗熨表，仍旧在等待特别的好差事降临。结果，他什么也没有等到。从那时候起，过了四分之一个世纪，那人满腹怨恨与不满，仍旧待在一个小职位上。There was a certain member of that course who invariably found it difficult to interest either himself or his audience. This night, however, he seized the human interest suggestion and told us of two of his classmates in college. One of them had been so conservative that he had bought shirts at the different stores in town, and made charts showing which ones laundered best, wore longest, and gave the most service per dollar invested. His mind was always on pennies; yet, when he was graduated - it was an engineering college - he had such a high opinion of his own importance that he was not willing to begin at the bottom and work his way up, as the other graduates were doing. Even when the third annual reunion of the class came, he was still making laundry charts of his shirts, while waiting for some extraordinarily good thing to come his way. It never came. A quarter of a century has passed since then, and this man, his satisfied and soured on life, still holds a minor position.

接着我们的学员又讲了另一个同学的故事：现在这个同学已经超越了当初对自己的期望。他极易与人相处，大家都喜欢他。虽然他有万丈雄心，有志成就大事业，却踏实地从绘图员开始做起。不过，他总在寻找着机会。当时，纽约世界博览会正处在计划阶段，他知道那里需要工程方面的人才，所以便辞去费城的职务，搬往纽约。他与人合伙，马上搞起了承包工程的业务，承揽了很多电话公司的业务，最后，他也终因此被“博览会”高薪延聘。The speaker then contrasted with this failure the story of one of his classmates who had surpassed all expectations. This particular chap was a good mixer. Everyone liked him. Although he was ambitious to do big things later, he started as a draftsman. But he was always on the lookout for opportunity. Plans were then being made for the New York World's Fair. He knew engineering talent would be needed there, so he resigned from his position in Philadelphia and moved to New York. There he formed a partnership and engaged immediately in the contracting business. They did considerable work for the telephone company, and this man was finally taken over by that concern at a large salary.

我这儿所写下的东西，仅仅是那位讲演者所讲说的一个简单的概述。他本身的讲述中还有许多逗人而充满人情味的细节，使他的讲演妙趣横生。他不停地说着，说着——这个人平时是找不到东西来讲三分钟讲演的——而这次，等他结束时，吃惊地发现，足足讲了十分钟。由于讲得太精彩了，大家还似乎都觉得太短了，余意未尽。这是他讲演的第一次胜利。I have recorded here only the bare outline of what the speaker told. He made his talk interesting and illuminating with a score of amusing and human interest details. He talked on and on - this man who could not ordinarily find material for a three-minute speech - and he was surprised to learn, when he stopped, that he had held the floor on this occasion for ten minutes. The speech had been so interesting that it seemed short to everyone. It was his first real triumph.

每个人都可以在这个事例中得到一些感悟。本身很平淡的讲演如果其中能富含人性的趣味故事，也能引人入胜。讲演者应该只简要地提出重点，然后就用具体的事例作为例证。这样构建的讲演，肯定可以吸引听众的注意。Almost everyone can profit by this incident. The average speech would be far more appealing if it were rich with human interest stories. The speaker should attempt to make only a few points and to illustrate them with concrete cases. Such a method of speech building can hardly fail to get and hold attention.

当然，这种人情趣味材料最丰富源泉，正是自己的生活背景。不要因为觉得不该谈论自己，便踌躇着不敢述说自己的经验。只有在一个人满怀敌意、狂妄自大地谈论自己的时候，听众才会起讨厌。否则，听众对讲演者述说的亲身经历是有很大的兴趣的。亲身经历是抓住他人注意力最有效、最可靠的方法，千万不要忽视这一点。Of course, the richest source of such human interest material is your own background. Don't hesitate to tell us about your experiences because of some feeling that you should not talk about yourself. The only time an audience objects to hearing a person talk about himself is when he does it in an offensive, egotistical way. Otherwise, audiences are tremendously interested in the personal stories speakers tell. They are the surest means of holding attention; don't neglect them.