卡耐基演講·3.陳述一件驚人的事實

克里夫·R.亞當斯是賓州州立學?；橐鲱檰柼幪庨L。他發(fā)表在《讀者文摘》上的文章《如何挑選配偶》，以驚人的事實展開敘述——這些事實可以立刻吸引住你的注意力，讓你屏住呼吸：Clifford R. Adams, director of the Marriage Counseling Service of the Pennsylvania State College, began an article in The Reader's Digest, entitled "How to Pick a Mate," with these startling facts-facts that make you gasp, facts that make an arresting opener:

“如今，我們的青年從婚姻當中獲得快樂的機會真是微乎其微。離婚率升高的速度令人觸目驚心。如果1940年六樁婚姻中有一樁會觸礁，那么到了1946年，我們預(yù)計將是四樁中有一樁。如果這種跡象長期繼續(xù)下去，到50年代就將是50%了?！盩oday the chances that our young people will find happiness through marriage are slim indeed. The rise of our divorce rate is frightening. One marriage in five or six landed on the rocks in 1940. By 1946, it is expected to be one in four. And if longrange trends continue, the rate in fifty years will be one in two.

這里還有幾個例子，也是以“驚人的事件”開頭：Here are two other examples of "arresting facts" openers:

“軍事部門預(yù)測，原子戰(zhàn)爭的頭一夜，會有兩千萬美國人遇害?！盩he War Department predicts that, in the first night of an atomic war, twenty million Americans will be killed.

“數(shù)年前史哥利·霍華德報紙花費176000美元做了一項調(diào)查，希望發(fā)現(xiàn)零售商店的什么地方顧客們不喜歡。這是迄今為止對零售業(yè)最昂貴、最科學、最徹底的調(diào)查。調(diào)查問卷被送往16個不同城市的54047個家庭。問題之一是：‘你不喜歡本鎮(zhèn)商店的什么地方？’A few years ago, the Scripps-Howard newspapers spent $ 176,000 on a survey to discover what customers disliked about retail stores. It was the most costly, the most scientific, the most thorough survey ever made of retail selling problems. Questionnaires were sent into 54,047 homes in sixteen different cities. One of the questions was: 'What do you dislike about the stores in this town?'

“這個問題的所有答案里幾乎有五分之二是相同的：無禮的店員！”Almost two-fifths of all the answers to that question were the same: Discourteous clerks!"

講演一開始便作驚人之語的方法，之所以能讓聽眾產(chǎn)生共鳴，就是由于它震撼了聽眾的思想。這一種“震撼技巧”，利用出人意料來達到獲得聽眾注意講演題材的效果。This method of making startling statements at the beginning of a talk is effective in establishing contact with the listener because it jars the mind. It is a kind of" shock technique" that enlists attention by using the unexpected to focus attention upon the subject matter of the talk.

在華盛頓的一名學生，便使用了這種引起好奇的方法。她的芳名是梅格·席爾，以下就是她的開場白：One of our class members in Washington, D. C., used this method, arousal of curiosity, as effectively as anyone I have ever heard. Her name, Meg Sheil. Here is her opening:

“有整整十年的時間我曾是囚犯。不是在尋常的監(jiān)獄里，而是在憂慮自己不夠好和懼怕批評筑起的監(jiān)獄中?！盜 was a prisoner for ten years. Not in an ordinary prison, but in one whose walls were worry about my inferiority and whose bars were the fear of criticism.

你難道不想多知道一些這種真人真事嗎？Don't you want to know more about this true-life episode?

驚人的開頭也有個危險應(yīng)該避開，那就是過分戲劇化，過分地耍噱頭。我還記得有個家伙以對空放了一槍來展開講演，他是獲得了注意，可也把聽眾的耳膜震破了。A danger of the startling opener must be avoided, that is, the tendency to be over-dramatic or too sensational. I remember one speaker who started his talk by shooting a pistol into the air. He got attention all right, but he also blasted the eardrums of his listeners.

開場白應(yīng)平易近人，好像是在與聽眾促膝而談。對此，有個方法有效，可以有效地讓你了解你的開場白是不是真像平日的談話，那就是在餐桌上試講。如果你的方式不夠平易，就不能在人們用餐時采用，那么恐怕對聽眾就不夠親切了。Make your opening conversational in manner. An efficient way to discover whether you have an opener that is conversational is to try it out across the dinner table. If the way you open your talk isn't conversational enough to be spoken across the dinner table, it probably won't be conversational enough for an audience either.

可經(jīng)常見到的是，應(yīng)該獲得聽眾興趣的開頭卻往往成了講演中最枯燥的部分。譬如我最近聽到一個講演人這樣開始：“要信賴上帝，并且相信你自己的能力……”這樣的開頭說教意味重得就像白水煮白菜。再聽聽他第二句話，漸漸有意思了，他說：“1981年我母親成了寡婦，有三個孩子要養(yǎng)育，但卻身無分文……”為什么講演人不是第一句話就敘述寡母領(lǐng)著三個嗷嗷待哺的幼兒奮斗求生的事情呢？Frequently, however, the opening of the talk that is supposed to get the listeners' interest is, in reality, the dullest part of the talk. For example, I recently heard a speaker begin like this: "Trust in the Lord and have faith in your own ability ... " A preachy, obvious way to begin a talk! &t note his second sentence; it is interesting; it has heart throb in it. "My mother was left a widow in 1918 with three children to support, and no money..." Why, oh why, didn't that speaker begin in his first sentence by telling about the struggles of his widowed mother with three little children to support!

想引起聽眾的興趣，就不要等從緒言開始，應(yīng)從一開始便進入故事的核心。If you want to interest your listeners, don't begin with an introduction. Begin by leaping right into the heart of your story.

法蘭克·畢杰就是這么做的。他是《我如何在銷售行業(yè)中奮起成功》一書的作者，能夠在第一句話里便制造懸念，簡直稱得上是懸疑大師。在美國青商會的贊助下，他和我曾在全美各地做巡回講演，談?wù)撚嘘P(guān)銷售的事情。他談?wù)摗盁嵝摹彼玫拈_始方式更高妙無比，總教我由衷地佩服：一不講道，二不訓話，三不說教，四無概括的言論，一開口就進入題目的核心。他這樣開始的：That is what Frank Bettger does. He is the author of How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling. He is an artist when it comes to creating suspense in his first sentence. I know, because he and I traveled together all over the United States giving talks on selling under the auspices of the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce. I always admired the superb way he opened his talk on enthusiasm. No preaching. No lecturing. No sermonizing. No general statements. Frank Bettger leaped right into the heart of his subject in his first sentence. He began his talk on enthusiasm like this:

“在我成為職業(yè)棒球選手后不久，我遇到一生中最讓我震驚的一件事情?！盨hortly after I started out as a professional baseball player, I got one of the biggest shocks of my life.

這樣的開始會對聽眾產(chǎn)生什么效果？當時我在場，親眼看到聽眾的反應(yīng)——他立刻就引起了大家的注意，人人都急著想聽聽，他為什么會震驚，他是怎么辦的？What effect did this opening have on his audience? I know, I was there. I saw the reaction. He had everyone's attention instantly. Everyone was eager to hear why and how he was shocked, and what he did about it.