7-1 有效地表达自己

Express Yourself Effectively

E Huiyuan: Speech is actually a form of conveying information. Considering that people today have various ways to get necessary information, why is public speaking still widely welcomed? In other words, what is the function and charm of public speaking?

Steven Lucas：The world has changed a great deal. Because of the internet and other forms of technological 1 communication, we can contact any body at any part of the world instantaneously1. And sometimes people think that because of this instantaneous global communication, maybe public speaking is not as important as it used to be. But in fact, it is just as important, if not more so, because there is no way to replace the impact of one person talking directly to another person.Text messaging is wonderful, E-mail is wonderful, and I know that many Chinese students can thumb text mess ages, and they may send a short text message to their boyfriend or girlfriend, but there is still no replacement 2 of seeing their boyfriend or girlfriend personally, and talking to them directly. And the same thing is true for public speaking. It is just the size of audience increases. We still wanna see people, we wanna look into their eyes, we wanna watch their facial expressions, we want to gauge 32 their sincerity 4 and talk to them face-to-face.

E：The ability to express oneself and to communicate is extremely important for public speakers. It is also important for those who want to establish themselves well in a society that is full of fierce competition. How can we gain such ability, especially for those who are born timid and shy?

Steven Lucas：Well, first of all, your point about the importance of public speaking is absolutely correct. People need to be able to express themselves effectively, whether they are going to be a journalist such as you are, whether they are going to be a businessman or businesswoman, whether they are going in for3 education and to be a teacher. And if people are going to law, they have to communicate effectively all the time, and much of the communication take the form of public speaking. Some take written form, for example, journalism 5. We have print journalism and broadcast journalism, but the principles of effective communication are substantially the same. Of course, all of those are forms of communication. So if you can develop the skills of an effective public speaker, you can use those skills not just in the public speaking but in other forms of communication. You can use them in writing, you can use them in conversation. I talked a few days ago with a reporter from XinHua News Agency, and he said, “You know, what you are talking about is exactly the same thing that we do in articles or journalism. You have a lead, you get readers’ attention；you have a main point, you develop the main point；you have the second point, you develop the point；You have conclusion that sums everything up.” So the skills of public speaking can be transferred or related to other areas of communication.

It is the case that many people are outgoing naturally, they are very extroverted 64, as we say they talk very freely, communicate to other people without any problem. We think they are natural speakers, maybe very natural speakers. It is more difficult for people who are naturally shy to become effective public speakers, but not at all impossible. I have many students who always say, “I am very shy and I don’t give a speech.” But that’s because they have never given speech before. Then they take a public speaking class and they have to give a speech, and they discover that they really like it. Maybe they are not shy with audience as they thought they might be. So there are many people who are not particularly outgoing, or don’t think themselves outgoing, who become really effective public speakers. Confidence is very important, and you gain confidence by experience, and you gain confidence by learning the principles of public speaking, so you know what you are doing and speeches are correct. And you also gain a lot of confidence as a public speaker in any given speech by being fully 7 prepared. And then the nervousness that you feel in the beginning -- qiechang will go down as the speech proceeds. If you concentrate on your message, you concentrate on your communicating, rather than concentrate on your nervousness, you will do better and be more effective. There are many people who are very effective, very talented, very well-known public speakers who are very nervous before they give speech. Nervousness is very normal.

E： You are a professor of Communication Arts Department at the University of Wisconsin. Any other US universities have such department? What kind of students can enter the department?

Steven Lucas：There are a growing number of communication departments, but they are not as common as sociology5, history or some other departments. Any kind of students can enter, hopefully they will be very bright, talented, capable students and become more bright, more talented and more capable through hard working. One can do many things with degrees in communication. It’ s not like the degree in history with which you easily go on to get a doctor's degree or to be a professor in history, or maybe go to work for a museum or something in that nature. Communication degree provides specific training in communication, but the application of that training is very broad. So the people in communication in the United States, some of them go in business, because communication is number one item of business work when they hire people out of colleges, so many people go to business. Some communication majors go into education; some of them might go back to graduate schools and study communication and other areas in more detail; some of them go to a law school. So you can use a communication degree in a wide range of activities. It is not a technical and specialized 8 degree, but a degree as applicable of wide range of activities.

注释：

1. instantaneously [7instEn5teinjEslI] ad. 瞬间地，即刻地

2. gauge [^edV] vt. 估计，判定

3. go in for 从事(某种职业或活动)

4. extroverted [`ekstrEvtId] a. [心] 外倾(性)的；好社交的

5. sociology [7sEusi5ClEdVi] n. 社会学；社会问题研究

有效地表达自己

鄂慧媛：演讲实际上是传达信息的一种形式，如今人们可以通过多种方式获得需要的信息，那么演讲为什么还是受到大家的喜爱？换句话说，演讲的作用和魅力是什么呢？

史蒂文·卢卡斯：世界发生了很大的变化。借助于因特网及其他技术沟通方式，我们可以与任何地方的任何人进行即时联系。有时人们认为，由于存在这种即时的全球沟通，演讲也许不像以前那么重要了。但事实上，如果不是更重要的话，它也仍旧非常重要，因为没有一种方法可以像一个人和另一个人直接对话那样有影响力。文本消息收发妙极了，电子邮件也妙极了，而且我知道很多中国学生能够编辑、发送文本信息，他们可以给他们的男朋友或女朋友发短消息，但是还没有什么能取代与他们的男朋友或女朋友直接见面，直接交谈。演讲也是这样，只是听众的范围扩大了。我们仍然希望能够看到他们，看着他们的眼睛，看到他们的面部表情，我们希望判断他们的真诚，和他们面对面地交流。

鄂：表达能力和沟通能力对演讲家来说非常重要，对那些想很好地立足于竞争激烈的社会的人来说也同样重要。那么我们怎样才能获得这样的能力，尤其是那些天生胆小和害羞的人？

史蒂文·卢卡斯：首先，你所说的演讲的重要性非常正确。无论人们要像你一样当一名记者，还是要成为商人，或投身教育成为一名教师，都需要能够有效地表达自己。如果人们想要从事法律职业，他们必须随时进行有效的沟通。很多的交流采取演讲的形式。有些则采取书面形式，如新闻报道。我们有印刷新闻和广播新闻，但有效沟通的原理实际上却是一样的。当然，所有那些都是沟通交流方式。所以，如果你能够掌握一个有感染力的演说家所应具备的技能，你不仅可以在演说中使用这些技能，也可以在其他形式的交流中使用。你可以在写作中使用，在谈话中使用。几天前我和新华社的一个记者聊天，他说：“你知道么，你所谈到的与我们用在文章和报道中的技巧完全相同。你有一个开头，得到了读者的注意；你有一个主要观点，你发展这个主要观点；你有第二个观点，发展这个观点。然后你做出结论，总括所有观点。”因此，演说技巧可以转用到其他沟通领域。

确实，许多人天生个性开朗，非常外向，我们说他们可以随意地交谈，无障碍地与他人进行沟通。我们认为他们是天生的演说家，也许是非常自然的演说家。对于天生羞怯的人来说，成为一个有感召力的演说家更加困难，但并不是完全不可能。我的许多学生总是说：“我非常羞怯，不敢做演说。”但那是因为他们从前根本没做过演说。然后他们参加了演说课程，不得不做演说，这时他们发现其实他们喜欢演讲。面对观众时，他们也许不像自己以为的那样可能会感到羞怯。因此，许多不是很外向或认为自己不外向的人，成为了真正的有感染力的演说家。自信非常重要，你通过实践，通过学习演说要领来获得自信，这样你就会知道自己该如何行事且语言无误。如果你做好充分准备，你也可以在任何演讲中获得很多自信。然后，你在演讲开始时感到的紧张--怯场会随着演讲的进行而逐渐减弱。如果你把注意力集中于你所要传达的信息，集中于你所进行的沟通，而不是你的紧张情绪，你就会做得更好，更加有效。很多非常有感染力、非常有才能、非常有名的演说家在他们演说前也是非常紧张的。紧张是很正常的。

鄂：您是美国威斯康星大学交流艺术系的教授。美国其他的大学也设有这样的系吗？什么样的学生可以进入该系学习？

史蒂文·卢卡斯：越来越多的大学开设了交流艺术系，但是它们不像社会学、历史或其他系那样普遍。任何学生都可进入该系，我们希望他们是非常聪明、有天赋、有才能的学生，通过刻苦学习他们会变得更加聪明、更有天赋、更有才能。拥有交流艺术学位，人们可以做很多事情。它不像历史学位那样，轻松地学习，拿一个博士学位或成为一名历史学教授或是到博物馆或类似的地方工作。交流艺术学位提供专门的交流技巧培训，但是培训的应用范围却十分广泛。因此在美国，一些交流艺术系的毕业生进入商界，因为在从学校招聘时，交流能力是从事商业工作最重要的能力，所以很多人进入商界。一些交流艺术系毕业生进入教育领域；一些人也许会去研究生院，进一步详细研究交流艺术和其他领域；一些人去了法学院。因此，你可以在很广泛的领域内利用交流艺术学位，它不是技术或专业学位，而是可以在许多领域中广泛应用的学位。