马克吐温的演讲策略想必大家都感受过大段大段背诵演讲稿的痛苦吧？美国著名幽默小说家马克吐温其实也曾有过类似的经历，他是怎么解决的呢？ When he first began his speaking career, Mark Twain recalled1), he used a fullpage of notes to keep him from2) getting mixed up3). He would write down thebeginning of key sentences, to take him from one point to another and to keep himfrom skipping4). Sometimes, for an evenings lecture, he would write and memorize11 key beginnings. The plan failed. Twain would remember the sentences all right,but forget their order. He would have to stop, consult5) his notes, and thereby spoil6)the spontaneous7) effect of the whole speech. Twain then decided to memorize notonly key sentences, but also the first letter of each sentence. However, this methoddidnt work either. Not even when he cut the number of letters to 10 and inked themon his fingernails. I kept track of8) the fingers for a while, he wrote in his essay, then I lost it, and after that I was never quite sure which finger I had used last. He considered licking off9) the inked letters as he went along. As a result, peoplenoticed he seemed more interested in his fingernails than his subject. One or twolisteners would even come up afterwards and ask what was wrong with his hands. Mark Twain tried several ways of making speeches, but all failed. Then his greatidea came that its hard to visualize10) letters, words and sentences, but picturesare easy to recall. They take root11) in the mind easily. Especially if you draw themyourself. Twain was no artist, mind you12), but that didnt stop him. In two minutesI made six pictures with a pen, he said, and they did the work of the 11 keysentences, and did it perfectly. Having once drawn the pictures, he found he could throw them away. He discovered that, having once made a series of drawings, hecould recall their image at will13). The pictures were not so good, but they got thejob done. From that day, Twain was able to speak without notes, and this method neverfailed him. Each part of his speech would be represented14) by a picture. He woulddraw them and put them in a row15), then look at them and throw them away. Whenthe time came to speak, there was the row of images sharply in his mind. 马克吐温回忆说，当他刚开始他的演讲生涯时，他用满满一页的笔记来让自己避免混乱。他会把所有关键句子的开头写下来，使他能从一点讲到另一点，而不会有所遗漏。有时，为某一个晚上的演讲，他会写下并记住11个关键句的开头。这个方法失败了。吐温会准确无误地记住句子，但却忘了它们的顺序。他不得不停顿一下，看看草稿，因此也就破坏了整个演讲的自然效果。后来，吐温决定，不仅要记忆关键句子，还要记住每个句子的首字母。然而，这个方法也不奏效。即便他把字母的数量减少到10个，并用墨水写在他的指甲上也不行。 “我只能暂时记得指甲上的内容，”他在一篇文章中写道，“然后就忘了，之后我就不确定我刚用过哪个手指了。” 他曾经考虑过随着演讲的进行，舔掉用墨水写的字母。结果，人们注意到他似乎更感兴趣的是他的指甲而不是他演讲的主题。有一两个听众甚至会在演讲结束后，走上前来询问他的手怎么了。 马克吐温尝试了几种演讲的方法，但都失败了。然后他的伟大想法产生了使字母、单词和句子形象化是很难的，但图画却容易回想起来。它们很容易在脑中扎根。特别是自己亲手画下来的时候。请注意，吐温并不是艺术家，但这并没有妨碍他。“两分钟内，我就用钢笔画了6幅图，”他说，“而它们相当于11个关键句，而且效果好极了。”一旦画完了图画，他就发现可以把它们扔到一旁。他发现，一旦他画完了一系列的草图，就可以随意回想起它们的图像。尽管它们画得并不好，但确实管用。 从那天起，吐温就可以脱稿演讲了，而且这种方法从未令他失望过。他演讲的每一个部分都用一幅图来表示。他会把图画出来排成一排，然后看一看就丢掉。当他演讲的时候，成排图像就清晰地呈现在他的脑海里。Vocabulary 1. recall v. 回想，记起 2. keep sb. from doing sth.: 防止某人干某事 3. mix up: 混合，混淆 4. skip v. 遗漏，跳跃 5. consult v. 参考，参阅 6. spoil vt. 损坏，破坏 7. spontaneous adj. 自然的 8. keep track of: 记清 9. lick off: 舔掉 10. visualize vt. 形象化，想像 11. take root: 生根，扎根 12. mind you: 注意 13. at will: 随意，任意 14. represent v. 表现，代表 15. in a row: 成一排，连续