卡耐基演講·一、選擇自己熟悉的主題

我們一再強調(diào)，對自己的題目要有深刻的感受，這極為重要。除非對這個題目有特別偏愛的情感，否則就別想聽眾會相信你。道理很簡單，如果你對題目有實際的接觸與經(jīng)驗，對它充滿熱誠——像對某種嗜好或消遣的追求等；或者你因為已經(jīng)對題目有過深思和有著個人的關(guān)注（比如認為在自己的社區(qū)里建設(shè)一個好的學(xué)校很有必要），因而滿腔熱情，那么就不愁講演時會不熱心了。二十多年前的一場講演，因為熱誠而造成的說服力現(xiàn)在還鮮明地呈現(xiàn)在我的眼前。我聽過很多令人心服的講演，可是這一個——我稱它是“蘭草對山胡桃木灰”的案例，卻獨樹一幟，成為真誠戰(zhàn)勝常識的絕佳例子。In Chapter Three was stressed the importance of feeling deeply about your subject. Unless you are emotionally involved in the subject matter you have chosen to talk about, you cannot expect to make your audience believe in your message. Obviously, if you select a topic that is exciting to you because of long experience with it, such as a hobby or recreational pursuit, or because of deep reflection or personal concern about it (as, for instance, the need for better schools in your community), you will have no difficulty in talking with excitement. The persuasive power of earnestness was never more vividly demonstrated to me than in a talk made before one of my classes in New York City more than two decades ago. I have heard many persuasive talks, but this one, which I call the Case of Blue Grass vs. Hickory Wood Ashes, stands out as a kind of triumph of sincerity over common sense.

紐約一家極具知名度的銷售公司里，有個一流的銷售員提出反常的論調(diào)，說他已經(jīng)能夠使“蘭草”在無種子、無草根的情形之下生長。他將山胡桃木的灰燼撒在新犁過的土地里，然后一眨眼間蘭草便出現(xiàn)了！所以，他堅決相信山胡桃木灰——而且只有山胡桃木灰是蘭草生長的原因。A top-flight salesman of one of the best-known selling organizations in the city made the preposterous statement that he had been able to make blue grass grow without the aid of seeds or roots. He had, according to his story, scattered hickory wood ashes over newly plowed ground. Presto! Blue grass had appeared! He firmly believed that the hickory wood ashes, and the hickory wood ashes alone, were responsible for the blue grass.

評論時，我溫和地對他指出，他這種非凡的發(fā)現(xiàn)如果是真的，將使他一夜之間成為巨富，因為蘭草的種子價值不菲，而且這項發(fā)現(xiàn)還會使他成為人類歷史上一位極杰出的科學(xué)家。但事實上，沒有一個人——不論他是生是死——曾經(jīng)完成，或有能力完成這個奇跡：沒有人能從無機物里培植出生命。Commenting on his talk, I gently pointed out to him that his phenomenal discovery would, if true, make him a millionaire, for blue grass seed was worth several dollars a bushel. I also told him that it would make him the outstanding scientist of all history. I informed him that no man, living or dead, had ever been able to perform the miracle he claimed to have performed: no man had ever been able to produce life from inert matter.

這個錯誤是如此的明顯，根本沒有必要作什么反駁，所以我平靜地告訴他這些。其他同學(xué)也是這么看的，唯獨他自己不這么看。他連想都沒有想，立刻站起來告訴我，他沒有錯。他對自己的發(fā)現(xiàn)熱衷到有點不可思議，大聲說他還沒有引用論據(jù)，只是陳述了經(jīng)驗而已。所以，他繼續(xù)往下說，擴大了原先的論述，提出更多的資料，舉出更多的證據(jù)，他的聲音透露出真誠。I told him that very quietly, for I felt that his mistake was so palpable, so absurd, as to require no emphasis in the refutation. When I had finished, every other member of the course saw the folly of his assertion; but he did not see it, not for a second. He was in earnest about his contention, deadly in earnest. He leaped to his feet and informed me that he was not wrong. He had not been relating theory, he protested, but personal experience. He knew whereof he spoke. He continued to talk, enlarging on his first remarks, giving additional information, piling up additional evidence, sincerity and honesty ringing in his voice.

我只好再次告訴他：他不可能是正確的，他正確的概率等于零。馬上他又站了起來，提議跟我賭五塊錢，讓美國農(nóng)業(yè)部來解決這件事。Again I informed him that there was not the remotest hope in the world of his being right or even approximately right or within a thousand miles of the truth. In a second he was on his feet once more, offering to bet me five dollars and to let the U.S.Department of Agriculture settle the matter.

你知道這時候情況發(fā)生了什么變化？有好幾個學(xué)生都開始相信了他的發(fā)現(xiàn)，還有許多人變得不能確定。我相信要是來一個表決，一半以上的人不會同意我的觀點。我問那些改變主意的人，是什么讓他們改變了自己最初的觀點？他們異口同聲地說是講演者的熱誠和確信讓他們懷疑了自己的常識。And do you know what happened? Several members in the class were won over to his side. Many others were beginning to be doubtful. If I had taken a vote I am certain that more than half of the businessmen in that class would not have sided with me. I asked them what had shaken them from their original position. One after another said it was the speaker's earnestness, his belief, so energetically stated, that made them begin to doubt the common sense viewpoint.

既然這樣，我只得寫信給農(nóng)業(yè)部。我對他們說，問這樣無聊的問題，很不好意思。結(jié)果他們肯定了我的答案，就是要使蘭草或其他的東西從山胡桃木灰里長出來根本沒有可能，他們的回信中還說收到另一封同樣的信。原來那位銷售員真的很相信自己的發(fā)現(xiàn)，因此也馬上給農(nóng)業(yè)部寫了信。Well, in the face of that display of credulity I had to write the Department of Agriculture. I was ashamed, I told them to ask such an absurd question. They replied, of course, that it was impossible to get blue grass or any other living thing from hickory wood ashes, and they added that they had received another letter from New York asking the same question. That salesman was so sure of his position that he sat down and wrote a letter, too!

這件事給我一個重要的啟發(fā)——講演者如果真的確信某件事，并熱切地談?wù)撍隳茏屓藗兿嘈?，即使是宣稱自己能從塵土和灰燼中培植出蘭草也是沒有關(guān)系的。既然這樣，我們頭腦里歸納、整理出來的信念，并且是正確的常識和真理，那該會有怎樣的力量讓人們信服呢！This incident taught me a lesson I'll never forget. If a speaker believes a thing earnestly enough and says it earnestly enough, he will get adherents to his cause, even though he claims he can produce blue grass from dust and ashes. How much more compelling will our convictions be if they are arrayed on the side of common sense and truth!

講演者幾乎都會懷疑選擇的題目會不會引起聽眾的興趣。其實，要讓他們對你的題目感興趣，方法很簡單：點燃自己對題目的狂熱之情，就不怕沒有辦法抓住人們的興趣。Almost all speakers wonder whether the topic they have chosen will interest the audience. There is only one way to make sure that they will be interested: stoke the fires of your enthusiasm for the subject and you will have no difficulty holding the interest of a group of people.

這里有一個實例。不久前，在巴爾的摩聽到一個學(xué)員發(fā)出警示，說如果繼續(xù)使用現(xiàn)在奇沙比克灣捕石魚的方法，石魚將會絕跡，這已經(jīng)要不了多長的時間就可以看到。他非常關(guān)注這件事，因為這已經(jīng)不是一件小事了。他表現(xiàn)得熱切之至。在他講話之前，我和大家一樣本不知道奇沙比克灣里有什么石魚，也就沒有什么興趣。可是，在這個講演者還沒有講完時，恐怕我們大家都愿意聯(lián)名向立法機關(guān)請求立法來保護石魚了。A short time ago, I heard a man in one of our classes in Baltimore warn his audience that if the present methods of catching rock fish in Chesapeake Bay were continued the species would become extinct. And in a very few years! He felt his subject. It was important. He was in real earnest about it. Everything about his matter and manner showed that. When he arose to speak, I did not know that there was such a creature as a rock fish in Chesapeake Bay. I imagine that more of the audience shared my lack of know ledge and lack of interest. But before the speaker finished, all of us would probably have been willing to sign a petition to the legislature to protect the rock fish by law.

有人問前美國駐意大利大使理查·華須本·喬爾德，他是怎樣成為一個意趣無窮的作家的？成功的訣竅是什么？他回答說：“我非常熱愛生命，所以不能靜下來不動。我只是覺得必須告訴人們這點而已。”遇上這樣的講演者或作者，也不由得你要被他吸引了。Richard Washburn Child, the former American Ambassador to Italy, was once asked the secret of his success as an interesting writer. He replied: "I am so excited about life that I cannot keep still. I just have to tell people about it." One cannot keep from being enthralled with a speaker or writer like that.

在倫敦，有一次我和一個著名的英國小說家一起去聽演講，E.F.班生先生評論說，這場講演的最后一部分要比第一部分更為他所欣賞。我問他為什么，他說：“講演者似乎對最后一部分的興趣更大一些，而我一向都是靠講演者為我提供熱情和興趣的。”I once went to hear a speaker in London; after he was through, one of our party, Mr. E. F. Benson, a wellknow English novelist, remarked that he enjoyed the last part of the talk far more than the first. When I asked him why, he replied: "The speaker himself seemed more interested in the last part, and I always rely on the speaker to supply the enthusiasm and interest."

我們在首都華盛頓的訓(xùn)練班有一位先生，大概叫傅零先生吧。剛參加訓(xùn)練時，他從一家報社所發(fā)行的一本小冊子里倉促而膚淺地搜集了一些關(guān)于美國首都的資料，然后向我們演講。他雖然在華盛頓住了許多年，卻沒能舉出一個親身經(jīng)歷來說明自己為什么會喜歡這個地方，所以聽起來就像這樣——枯燥、無序、生硬，只是一味陳述著一連串枯燥無趣的事實。大家聽著難過，他自己也講得痛苦。A gentleman, whom we shall call Mr. Flynn, was enrolled in one of our classes in Washington, D. C. One evening early in the course, he devoted his talk to a description of the capital city of the United States. He had hastily and superficially gleaned his facts from a booklet issued by a local newspaper. They sounded like it-dry, disconnected, undigested. Though he had lived in Washington for many years, he did not present one personal instance of why he liked the city. He merely recited a series of dull facts, and his talk was as distressing for the class to hear as it was agonizing for him to give.

出人意料的是，在兩星期后發(fā)生了一件事情：他的新車停放在街上，有人開車把它撞了個稀爛，并且逃逸無蹤。這可把傅零先生害慘了，這件事是切身的經(jīng)歷，所以當(dāng)他說起這輛撞得稀爛的汽車時，講得真真切切，滔滔不絕，怒火沖天，好似維蘇威火山爆發(fā)了。兩星期前，同學(xué)們聽他的講演時還覺得煩躁無聊，在椅子里扭動不安，現(xiàn)在卻給了傅零先生熱烈的掌聲。A fortnight later, something happened that touched Mr. Flynn to the core: an unknown driver had smashed into his new car while it was parked on the street and had driven away without identifying himself. It was impossible for Mr. Flynn to collect insurance and he had to foot the bill himself. Here was something that came hot out of his experience. His talk about the city of Washington, which he laboriously pulled out sentence by sentence, was painful to him and his audience; but when he spoke about his smashed-up car, his talk welled up and boiled forth like Vesuvius in action. The same class that had squirmed restlessly in their seats two weeks before now greeted Mr. Flynn with a heartwarming burst of applause.

如果題目選得對了，你不成功都不行：比如談自己的信念這一類的題目，保證錯不了。你對自己的生活一定要有些強烈的信仰，因此你不必再四處去尋找。它們通常就在你的意識表層，你時常都會想到它們的。As I have pointed out repeatedly, you cannot help but succeed if you choose the right topic for you. One area of topics is surefire: talk about your convictions! Surely you have strong beliefs about some aspect of life around you. You don't have to search far and wide for these subjects-they generally lie on the surface of your stream of consciousness, because you often think about them.

不久以前，電視播出立法委員就死刑而進行的聽證會。許多證人被召出席，對這個為人爭論不休的問題提出了正反兩面的意見。其中一個證人是洛杉磯警員。他有十一位警察同僚，都死在和罪犯的槍戰(zhàn)中，所以曾對這個問題再三思考，他產(chǎn)生了需要死刑的強烈信念。他飽含真情，從心底相信自己有萬分的理由。歷來雄辯都來自于講演者的信念和感覺。真誠建立在信仰之上，而信仰則出于內(nèi)心對自己所要說的事的熱愛，出于頭腦的冷靜思考?！斑@些心自有道理，是為道理所不自知。”在無數(shù)的訓(xùn)練班里，我常常可以印證馬斯可這句一針見血的話。記憶中，有位波士頓的律師，得天獨厚，儀表出眾，說話暢達，但是他講演完了之后，同學(xué)都說：“好個精明的家伙?！彼o人一種虛浮的表面印象。在他滿口漂亮詞句的背后，仿佛是沒有一點真情感的。而另外一個保險公司的推銷員，個子很小，毫不起眼，說話不時得停下來思索接下來該說什么?？墒钱?dāng)他說起話來時，沒有誰會懷疑不是出于他的真心。Not long ago, a legislative hearing on capital punishment was presented on television. Many witnesses were called to give their viewpoints on both sides of this controversial subject. One of them was a member of the police department of the city of Los Angeles, who had evidently given much thought to this topic. He had strong convictions based on the fact that eleven of his fellow police officer, had been killed in gun battles with criminals. He spoke with the deep sincerity, of one who believed to his heart's core in the righteousness of his cause. The greatest appeals in the history of eloquence have all been made out of the depths of someone's deep convictions and feelings. Sincerity rests upon belief, and belief is as much a matter of the heart and of warmly feeling what you are saying as it is of the mind and coldly thinking of what to say. "The heart has reasons that the reason does not know." In many classes I have had frequent occasions to verify Pascal's trenchant sentence. I remember a lawyer in Boston who was blessed with a striking appearance and who spoke with admirable fluency, but when he finished speaking people said:Clever chap. He made a surface impression because there never seemed to be any feeling behind his glittering facade of words. In the same class, there was an insurance salesman, small in stature, unprepossessing in appearance, a man who groped for a word now and then, but when he spoke there was no doubt in any of his listeners' minds that he felt every word of his talk.

林肯在華府福特戲院包廂遇刺，到現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)超過百年。但是他的一生，他的言辭，真誠深摯，卻永遠留在我們的記憶里。如果單單看掌握了多少法律知識，有多少與他同時代的人都遠遠超過他。他缺少一分優(yōu)雅、順暢和精致，但是，他在蓋茨堡、古柏聯(lián)盟和在華盛頓國會山莊臺階發(fā)表的演講，歷史上卻無人能夠超越。It is almost a hundred years since Abraham Lincoln's assassination in the presidential box of Ford's Theatre in Washington, D. C., but the deep sincerity of his life and his words still lives with us. As far as knowledge of law is concerned, scores of other men of his time outstripped him. He lacked grace, smoothness, and polish, But the honesty and sincerity of his utterances at Gettysburg, Copper union, and on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, have not been surpassed in our history.

有個人說，他沒有任何強烈的信念和興趣。當(dāng)然你也可能會這樣說，而我多少感到有些訝異。我會說，讓自己忙碌起來，讓自己對事情感興趣起來! “對什么事，比方說?”他問。 我簡直對此有點絕望，我說：“就鴿子吧?！?“鴿子?”他不明白。 “是啊!”我告訴他，“就是鴿子。到廣場上去看看它們，喂喂它們，到圖書館去閱讀有關(guān)書籍，再回過頭來講講你的鴿子?！?沒有想到他真的這樣做了，他第二次講演時，一開始便以養(yǎng)鳥者的狂熱來談?wù)擑澴?。而?dāng)我想要他停時，他正說到有關(guān)鴿子的四十本書，他已經(jīng)把它們都讀遍了!他的講演，也就成了我聽過的最有趣味的講演之一。You may say, as one man once did, that you have no strong convictions or interests. I am always a little surprised at this, but I told this man to get busy and get interested in something. "What, for instance?" he asked. In desperation I said, "Pigeons." "Pigeons?" he asked in a bewildered tone. "Yes," I told him, "pigeons. Go out on the square and look at them, feed them, go to the library and read about them, then come back here and talk about them." He did. When he came back there was no holding him down. He started to talk about pigeons with all the fervor of a fancier. When I tried to stop him he was saying something about forty books on pigeons and he had read them all. He gave one of the most interesting talks I have ever heard.

這里還有一個建議：對自己目前以為很好的題目，想方設(shè)法多了解一些。你對某件事了解越多，你便會越熱誠?！朵N售五大原則》的作者帕西·H.懷亭告訴推銷員，千萬不可不去了解自己所推銷的東西。懷亭先生說：“對一項優(yōu)良產(chǎn)品知道得越多，便會對它越熱心?！边@同樣適用于講演題目——對它們懂得越多，你對它們也就越熱誠。Here is another suggestion: Learn more and more about what you now consider a pretty good topic. The more you know about something the more earnest and excitedly enthusiastic you will become. Percy H. Whiting, the author of the Five Great Rules of Selling, tells salesmen never to stop learning about the product they are selling. As Mr. Whiting says, "The more you know about a good product, the more enthusiastic you become about it." The same thing is true about your topics-the more you know about them, the more earnest and enthusiastic you will be about them.