china daily 雙語新聞：向奧巴馬學(xué)習(xí)演講
研究：向奧巴馬學(xué)習(xí)演講《金融時報》雙語
Few are likely to remember the rhetorical flourishes of Barack Obama’s second inaugural address. Mr Obama’s “while these truths may be self-evident, they’ve never been self-executing” is no match for Franklin Roosevelt’s “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” or John Kennedy’s “ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”.
巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)連任就職講話中那些華麗的辭藻，可能不會被許多人銘記。他的那句“盡管這些事實不言自明，但從來不會自動實現(xiàn)”，遠比不上富蘭克林•羅斯福(Franklin Roosevelt)的那句“我們要恐懼的就是恐懼本身”令人印象深刻，也遠不及約翰•肯尼迪(John Kennedy)的那句“不要問國家能為你做些什么，而要問你能為國家做些什么”令人難忘。
But Mr Obama’s address was skilful and affecting, the work of a persuader who managed to win re-election in spite of unemployment being above 7 per cent – something achieved in the past century only by Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan.
不過，奧巴馬的演講可謂富有技巧，并且很感人，顯示他是一位具有說服力的演講者——畢竟，奧巴馬在失業(yè)率超過7%的情況下仍然獲得連任。在整個20世紀，只有羅斯福和羅納德•里根(Ronald Reagan)做到了同樣的事情。
Business leaders should watch the US president’s address. He is good at speaking and most of them are not.
企業(yè)應(yīng)該看看美國總統(tǒng)是如何講話的。奧巴馬擅長演講，而大多數(shù)企業(yè)不擅長。
Previous examinations of Mr Obama’s speaking style have concentrated on techniques such as the “rule of three”. This is held to be the right number of items in a list, especially when spiced with alliteration, as in Mr Obama’s call to “remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools”.
過去人們對奧巴馬演說風格的研究，主要集中于“三點原則”等技巧方面。人們普遍認為，一次羅列三件事是比較合適的，如果讓它們押上頭韻就更好，比如奧巴馬的那句呼吁：“再造政府，重修稅制，改革學(xué)?！保ㄔ氖恰皉emake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools”，都以[ri]的發(fā)音開頭）。
This is fine, but the rule of three is not what top executives get wrong when they speak to staff or outside audiences. You can adhere to it, and still not keep your audience awake.
這確實是奧巴馬演講的特點，但首席執(zhí)行官們在對員工或其他聽眾發(fā)表講話時做得不好的地方，并不是不遵循“三點原則”。即便講話遵循了“三點原則”，仍不能保證聽眾不昏昏欲睡。
Some business speakers fail because of what they say. But most fail because of the way they say it. There are lessons from Mr Obama’s speech – three, as it happens.
有一些企業(yè)高管的演講之所以失敗，是因為演講內(nèi)容選取不當。不過，大多數(shù)人的失敗，還是因為演講的方式有問題。我們可以從奧巴馬的演講中吸取經(jīng)驗——剛好也是三條。
● He did not use PowerPoint. Google “death by PowerPoint”. People have been slamming it for years. Yet executives don’t listen. Almost every one still arrives carrying a memory stick with several dozen slides.
● 奧巴馬不使用PPT。在Google上搜索“死于PPT”，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)，PPT多年前就開始招人煩了。但企業(yè)高管們卻對此置之不理。幾乎所有企業(yè)高管講話時都會帶一個U盤，里面存著幾十頁PPT。
The problem is not what it does to the audience. That is bad enough: the slides are usually unreadable from the auditorium and serve only to demonstrate that the speaker is as boring in print as in speech.
PPT對聽眾的折磨倒不是最主要的問題。雖然這也夠討厭了：PPT的內(nèi)容下面的聽眾一般根本看不清，它的功效只不過是證明演講者寫的東西和說的東西一樣枯燥無味。
The really detrimental impact is on the speaker. PowerPoint becomes something to worry about. Is the handheld clicker working? Am I on the right slide? What happens if I overshoot and have to click back?
PPT對演講者的影響是更主要的問題。演講者需要為PPT額外操心。遙控器沒出問題吧？沒翻錯頁吧？要是我點錯了、提前點開了下一張幻燈片怎么辦？
Only use PowerPoint when you have a particularly telling slide: a graph that shows sales soaring while everyone else’s are collapsing, or a map showing how your stores are now on every corner in the city. And when you have shown that one slide, revert to something neutral.
只在一種情況下使用PPT，那就是你有一張?zhí)貏e能說明問題的幻燈片要展示時。比如一張圖表，顯示其他所有人的銷售額都在急速下滑，而你的公司銷售額卻在飆升?；蛘咭粡埖貓D，顯示你的公司銷售網(wǎng)點已遍布全市。并且，當你展示完那張幻燈片，就接著憑嘴巴說，不要再借助電子設(shè)備。
If there are too many images, even the most experienced PowerPoint user has to keep watching the screen, which is not what they should be watching. Which brings us to the second Obama lesson.
如果要展示的圖片太多，即便是再老練的PPT使用者也必須盯著屏幕看，而這也是演講者的大忌。這就要說到奧巴馬的第二條經(jīng)驗：
● The president looks at his audience. Watch the inauguration video and notice the disciplined way Mr Obama does it: a strong glance to his right, then eyes fixed firmly on the centre of his audience, and then a concentrated look to the left. And watch how he keeps doing it.
●看著你的聽眾。從總統(tǒng)的就職演說視頻中你會注意到，奧巴馬非常注意這一點：他先深深地注視右側(cè)的聽眾，然后目光堅定地投向中間的聽眾，最后凝視左側(cè)聽眾。注意，他在演講中不斷重復(fù)這樣做。
All speakers know they should look at the audience, but it is easy to forget. When you give a speech, you can often only dimly see the people out there. You may have lights in your eyes or there may be a lamp on the podium, illuminating your notes, but turning the audience into a darkened set of heads.
所有演講者都知道要看著聽眾，但在演講時他們很容易忘記這一點。你在發(fā)表演講時，往往只能模糊地看到下面的人群。你可能會覺得眼花，演講臺上或許有燈，讓你能看清自己的講稿，但卻讓你看不清講臺下的聽眾。
Because you can’t see them, it is easy to forget they are there. But they can see you. So keep looking at them. This is hard to do when you have to keep peering down at your notes; unlike the president, you probably don’t have a teleprompter.
因為你看不到聽眾，你就很容易忘記他們的存在。但他們能看到你。所以，在演講中請一直看著聽眾。做到這一點不容易，因為你還得不時低頭看講稿。與總統(tǒng)不一樣，你講話的地方或許沒有配備電子提詞機。
There are two ways to deal with this. First, make sure the print of your speech is large enough. Some people joke that the print point-size should equal your age. Not quite. But I soon learnt that 12-point was far too small. Second, practise. Speeches need time and preparation. Learn chunks by heart. That way, you can glance at your notes without being imprisoned by them. You can pace yourself, which is lesson three.
有兩種方法解決這個問題。首先，確保講稿打印的字體足夠大。一些人開玩笑說，打印字號應(yīng)該與你的年齡相等。這是有些夸張了。但我很快發(fā)現(xiàn)12號太小了。其次，多練習(xí)。演講需要花時間，需要提前準備。將演講的大部分內(nèi)容背下來。這樣一來，你只用偶爾瞟一眼講稿，而不用老盯著它看。你可以掌握演講的節(jié)奏，這是奧巴馬帶給我們的第三條經(jīng)驗。
● Mr Obama makes them wait. At the end of a group of sentences, he stops – sometimes for what seems like an unfeasibly long time. Most executives don’t have the confidence to do this. They think the audience’s attention will drift. The opposite happens. Silence is an attention-getter. When conversation around a dinner table stops, everyone waits to hear what is going to be said next. It is the same with a speech.
● 奧巴馬不怕讓聽眾等待。每說完一段話，他就會停頓一段時間——這段時間有時會長得令人不可思議。大多數(shù)高管不敢這樣做。他們覺得聽眾會走神。事實恰恰相反。安靜是讓聽眾集中注意力的法寶。如果在餐桌上出現(xiàn)瞬間的安靜，所有人都會注意傾聽打破這種安靜的第一句話。演講也是如此。
What of the content? Most chief executives know their business as well as the president knows his. They have almost certainly been in their industries longer than he has been a politician. Leaders know the story. It’s the way they tell it.
內(nèi)容方面有什么訣竅？沒有。大多數(shù)首席執(zhí)行官熟悉自己的業(yè)務(wù)，就好像總統(tǒng)熟悉自己的工作一樣。他們在自己所在行業(yè)中待的時間幾乎一定比奧巴馬從政的時間更長。他們是懂行的。關(guān)鍵是如何講給別人聽。