Chapter I
ACQUIRING CONFIDENCEBEFORE AN AUDIENCE
There is a strange sensation often experienced in the presence ofan audience. It may proceed from the gaze of the many eyes that turnupon the speaker, especially if he permits himself to steadily return thatgaze. Most speakers have been conscious of this in a nameless thrill, areal something, pervading the atmosphere, tangible, evanescent, inde-scribable. All writers have borne testimony to the power of a speaker'seye in impressing an audience. This influence which we are now con-sidering is the reverse of that picture--the power their eyes may exertupon him, especially before he begins to speak: after the inward firesof oratory are fanned into flame the eyes of the audience lose all terror.
-WILLIAM PITTENGER, Extempore Speech
STUDENTS OF public speaking continually ask,“How can I over-come self-consciousness and the fear that paralyzes me before anaudience?”
Did you ever notice in looking from a train window that somehorses feed near the track and never even pause to look up at thethundering cars, while just ahead at the next railroad crossing afarmer's wife will be nervously trying to quiet her scared horse asthe train goes by?
How would you cure a horse that is afraid of cars--graze himin a back-woods lot where he would never see steam-engines or automobiles, or drive or pasture him where he would frequently see
the machines?
第一章
在观众面前获得自信
在观众面前，常常会有一种奇怪的感觉。这可能来自于众多眼睛投向演讲者的凝视，特别是如果演讲者允许自己坚定地回视这个凝视。大多数演讲者都意识到这种无名的颤动，一种真实的东西，弥漫在空气中，有形却又不可描述。所有作家都证明了演讲者的眼神在给观众留下印象方面的能量。我们现在考虑的这种影响是与那种情景相反的 -- 观众的眼神对他可能产生的影响，特别是在他开始演讲之前：当演说的内在火焰燃起后，观众的眼神就失去了一切恐惧。
– 威廉·皮滕杰 (William Pittenger)，《即席演讲》
公共演讲的学生们经常问：“我怎样才能克服自我意识和在观众面前让我瘫痪的恐惧？”
你有没有注意到，从火车窗户往外看时，有些马在铁轨附近觅食，甚至都不会停下来看一眼呼啸而过的火车，而在下一个铁路道口处，一个农妇会紧张地试图安抚她受惊的马儿，当火车经过时？
如果你要治愈一匹害怕汽车的马，你会选择在一个偏远的荒地让它吃草，那里它永远看不到蒸汽机车或汽车，还是让它在经常看到这些机器的地方驾驶或放牧它呢？
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