卡耐基演讲·说明情况的演讲

一次，有个人把美国参议院调查委员会搞得坐立不安，如坠雾中，可能你听到的演说者就常常说这样，此人是政府高级官员，但却只一味不停的说着，说着，含混不清地说，绝不把自己的意思讲清楚。他毫无重点，暧昧不明，整个委员会的困惑与进俱增。最后，一位委员——北卡罗莱纳州的参议员小撒姆尔·詹姆士·厄文，好不容易逮着机会说了几句话——却字字含意深刻。PROBABLY YOU OFTEN have heard speakers like one who once made a United States Senate investigating committee squirm with annoyance. He was a high-ranking government official, but he did not know any better than to talk on and on, vaguely, without ever making his meaning clear. He was pointless and obscure, and the committee's confusion mounted by the moment. Finally one of its members, Samuel James , Jr., speaking as the senior Senator from North , got a chance to say a few words-and they were telling ones.

他说，这位官员令他想起家乡的一个做丈夫的人，这个丈夫通知律师，说要把妻子休掉，不过他却承认她很漂亮，是个好厨子，也是个模范母亲。He said the official reminded him of a husband he knew back home. The husband notified his lawyer he wanted to divorce his wife, although he conceded she was beautiful, a fine cook, and a model mother.

“那为何还要休掉她？”他的律师问。They why do you want to divorce her? his lawyer asked.

“因为她总是说个不停，”丈夫答。Because she talks all the time, the husband replied.

“她都说些什么呢？”What does she talk about?

“就是这个讨厌呀，”丈夫说，“她从来没说清楚过。”That's the trouble, the husband answered, "she never says!"

许许多多的演说者——男的女的，也就是这个讨厌，听者根本不知道他们在提些什么，他们从来就说不清楚，也从来没有把意思讲明白过。This is the trouble, too, with many speakers, both women and men. Their hearers don't know what such speakers are talking about. They never say. They never make their meaning clear.

在上节里，你才得了套公式，可以做简短的讲演而有效地获致听众的行动。现在，我要给你一些法子，帮助你在向听众说明时，能把自己的意思表达清楚。In Chapter Seven, you received a formula for making short talks to get action from your listeners. Now, I am going to give you methods to help make your meaning clear when you set out to inform, and not motivate, your listeners.

每天，我们要做说明性的谈话的时间很多，象提出说明或指示，提出解释和报告。每星期在各地对听众所做的各种类型的讲演中，说明的演说仅次于说服或获致行动的演说。清楚说话的能力，其实还应先于打动听众去行动的能力。欧文·D.杨是美国工业巨子之一，他也强调当今之世清晰的表达能力的必要：We make informative talks many times every day: giving directions or instructions, making explanations and reports. Of all the types of talks given every week to audiences everywhere, the talk to inform is second only to the talk to persuade or get action. The ability to speak clearly precedes the ability to move others to action. Owen D. Young, one of America's top industrialists, emphasizes the need for clear expression in today's world:

当一个人扩大了让人们了解自己的能力时，他也开展了自己的用处。当然，在我们的社会里，那便是最简单的事情，人们亦应彼此合作，因而，他们首先必须相互了解。语言是了解的主要传递媒介，所以我们必须学会使用它，不是粗略地，而是精确地。As one enlarges his ability to get others to understand him. he opens up to that extent his opportunity for usefulness. Certainly in our society, where it is necessary for men even in the simplest matters to co-operate with each other, it is necessary for them first of all to understand each other. Language is the principal conveyor of understanding, and so we must learn to use it, not crudely but discriminatingly.

本节中有些建议，可以让你清晰而精确地使用语言，使听众能毫无困难地了解你，陆德威·魏根斯坦曾说：“凡是可以想到的事情，都是可以清楚地思考的。而凡是可以说出口的事，也都可以清楚地讲述。”In this chapter are some suggestions to help you see language so clearly and discriminately that your audience will have no difficulty understanding you. "Everything that can be thought at all," said Ludwig Wittgenstein, "can be thought clearly. Everything that can be said, can be said clearly."