Four Efficient Ways to Improve Your Speech
Use More Facial Expression
One psychologist feels that our facial expression is responsible more than anything else for the impression others have of us. In fact, more than 50 percent of another’s impression, he believes, is influenced by the look on your face. Naturally a smile in which the eyes participate is extremely communicative. A 1)scowling look often brings the same thing in return. People tend to mirror your expression, so try to show how you feel about a topic or an idea or the audience through your facial expression.
Dispel Your Inner Fear
It's natural to have some 2)tension or nervousness when you appear before an audience. The way to handle it is to put it to work for you, get into action, as Shakespeare observed, action cures fear. There are only a few known ways to control fear. The first is to admit it, do the thing you fear and it will be the death of fear itself. Another simple aid at the last minute before you begin, is to take a few deep breaths, this will help get the 3)butterflies in 4)formation and also keep your voice under control. In fact, if you’re thoroughly prepared, just taking a few deep breaths before you’re introduced will give you added confidence and poise. I define poise as having control of your emotions. A fun definition I heard was, poise is the difference between raising your voice and raising your eyebrow. Other known ways to control nervousness and fear are to give yourself a 5)pep talk or take some physical exercise, simple 6)calisthenics can work wonders in you. And as a final 7)antidote to fear -prepare, then act confident, act as though it were impossible to fail.
Polish Your Voice
Our voice is the main instrument we possess for communicating with people, we’re all sound sensitive. So invest in a tape recorder, practise your speech by speaking it into the microphone then listen to it. You can even have others join in the evaluation of your strong points and your weaknesses or faults as well. Remember that 8)Demosthenes and Winston Churchill both used pebbles in their mouths while practising their speaking. I’ve done the same thing and I can promise you that even if you use jellybeans instead of pebbles you can quickly develop excellent pronunciation. Simply reading out loud can help you improve your voice and develop a personal style. Read the newspaper or a magazine out loud or read stories to your children, any kind of practice will help improve your emphasis, pausing, pace and pitch and even increase your 9)resonance.
Strengthen Your Memory
Psychologists tell us that most individuals don’t use above ten percent of their 10)inherent capacity for memory, that’s comparable to trying to run a car on one 11)cylinder. Why do most people use so little of their power of memory? Because they don’t practise the fundamentals of remembering. First and most important, it’s necessary to have a burning desire to remember, it’s difficult to recall anything without wanting to do so. Step number two is concentration. Our success depends greatly on our ability to concentrate. 12)Henry Ward Beecher once observed, one hour of intense concentration can accomplish more than years of dreaming. The next principle is repetition, we learned many things in school by rote by repetition, when you hear a name for the first time repeat it, spell it, write it down, review it, you’ll soon know it by heart. All the brain needs is a clue. In remembering, names, for instance, a 13)rhyme association works wonders. I met a man named Tony Goal who works for the phone company, I quickly came up with the rhyme, Tony’s Goal is a telephone pole. Every time I see him I immediately know his name and remember that he works for the phone company. The more associations you make, the easier it becomes, keep them short and simple, the more 14)ludicrous the association, the easier it’ll be to recall.
注釋:
1) scowly a. 悶悶不樂的,愁眉不展的
2) tension n. 緊張(狀態(tài)),不安
3) butterflies n. (因緊張等引起的)顫抖,惡心的感覺
4) formation n. 構(gòu)成,編隊(duì)
5) pep talk 鼓舞士氣的講話
6) calisthenics n. 柔軟體操,運(yùn)動(dòng)
7) antidote n. [醫(yī)] 解毒劑, 矯正方法
8) Demosthenes 德摩斯梯尼,古希臘的雄辯家。小時(shí)候聲音微弱,口吃嚴(yán)重,為了讓自己能夠成為雄辯家,他站在海邊,口含小石子大聲朗讀練習(xí)發(fā)音;為增大肺活量,他一邊演說一邊跑步登上小山丘;在鏡前,他反復(fù)練習(xí)演講的動(dòng)作和姿勢(shì)。最后終于成為古希臘著名的雄辯家
9) resonance n. 共鳴, 反響
10) inherent a. 固有的,與生俱來的
11) cylinder n. 汽缸
12) Henry Ward Beecher 亨利·沃德·比徹,(1813-1887,美國(guó)基督教公理會(huì)自由派牧師、廢奴運(yùn)動(dòng)領(lǐng)袖)
13) rhyme n. 押韻,押韻的詞
14) ludicrous a.可笑的,滑稽的
精通發(fā)言四大招數(shù)
多用面部表情
一位心理學(xué)家認(rèn)為,要在別人心目中留下印象,我們的面部表情最為重要。事實(shí)上,他相信別人對(duì)你的印象有一半會(huì)受到你面部神情的影響。蘊(yùn)含眼神的笑容自然顯得極為親切健談,愁眉苦臉往往自食苦果。人們傾向于表達(dá)與你同樣的表情,因此盡量用你的面部表情來表現(xiàn)你對(duì)某個(gè)題目、某種意見或某些聽眾的感受。
消除內(nèi)心的恐懼
將要公開發(fā)言之時(shí)感到緊張不安是很正常的。解決的方法是讓這種情緒為你所用,投入到行動(dòng)中,就如莎士比亞所言:行動(dòng)治療恐懼。只有幾種抑制恐懼的方法為人所知。首先是承認(rèn)恐懼,做你所懼怕的事,恐懼就會(huì)自我消亡。另一種簡(jiǎn)單的輔助方法可以在你發(fā)言前最后一分鐘使用,那就是做幾次深呼吸。深呼吸有助于舒緩緊張引起的惡心感,同時(shí)也能使你更好地控制自己的聲音。事實(shí)上,如果你準(zhǔn)備充分,在別人邀請(qǐng)你出場(chǎng)前,只要做幾下深呼吸你便會(huì)信心倍增,鎮(zhèn)定自如。我覺得鎮(zhèn)定自如就是能夠好好地控制自己的情緒。我聽說過另一種有趣的定義:鎮(zhèn)定自如就是提高聲音與提起眉毛之間的區(qū)別。還有一些抑制焦慮、恐懼的辦法就是給自己來一段鼓舞人心的話或者進(jìn)行一些體育活動(dòng)--簡(jiǎn)單的健美操可以在你身上產(chǎn)生意想不到的效果。最后一招對(duì)付恐懼的殺手锏就是:準(zhǔn)備,然后充滿自信,表現(xiàn)出決不會(huì)失敗的樣子。
改善說話的聲音
我們的聲音是我們與人交流的主要工具,我們都對(duì)聲音敏感。所以,買部錄音機(jī)對(duì)著麥克風(fēng)說話,練習(xí)自己的發(fā)言,然后再聽聽自己的話。你甚至可以讓別人也來評(píng)價(jià)一下你的優(yōu)點(diǎn),不足或者是缺點(diǎn)。記得德摩斯梯尼和溫斯頓·丘吉爾兩人練習(xí)演講時(shí)都是嘴里含著幾顆小石塊的。我也曾這樣做過,而我可以保證就算你用軟心豆粒糖而不是石塊,你也可以迅速練就一流的發(fā)音。單純大聲朗讀有助于改善你的聲音并且能夠發(fā)展你的個(gè)人風(fēng)格。大聲讀報(bào)、讀雜志或者讀故事給你的孩子聽--各種各樣的練習(xí)都有助你改善語(yǔ)言中的強(qiáng)調(diào)、停頓、語(yǔ)速、語(yǔ)調(diào),甚至增加你說話的響亮度。
增強(qiáng)記憶力
心理學(xué)家告訴我們,絕大多數(shù)人實(shí)際記憶的能力不足其固有能力的十分之一,那就無異于只用一個(gè)汽缸來驅(qū)動(dòng)一輛小汽車。為何多數(shù)人只用了那么點(diǎn)記憶能力呢?那是因?yàn)樗麄儧]有鍛煉好用于識(shí)記的基本素質(zhì)。首先,并且最重要的是必須有記憶的強(qiáng)烈欲望。毫無記憶熱忱卻要將東西記住談何容易。第二步就是專心致志。我們的成功很大程度上取決于我們的專注能力。亨利·沃德·比徹曾說過,一小時(shí)忘我的專注投入所得到的收獲勝過多年的空想。另一個(gè)關(guān)鍵是重復(fù)。我們?cè)趯W(xué)校里通過死記硬背和重復(fù)就記住了好些東西。首次聽說一個(gè)名字時(shí),就復(fù)述一下,拼一下,寫一下,復(fù)習(xí)一下,這樣你便可以很快記上心。大腦需要的是引子。對(duì)于記憶,比方說記名字,押韻聯(lián)想的作用非凡。我曾遇到過一個(gè)叫托尼·戈?duì)柕娜?,他供職于一家電話公司。我一下子就想到了一個(gè)押韻句:托尼的目標(biāo)是電話線桿。每次見到他,我便立即會(huì)記起他的名字并且記得他供職于電話公司。聯(lián)想得越多,記起來就越容易。聯(lián)想力求簡(jiǎn)短,聯(lián)想的事物越滑稽怪誕,回想起來就越容易。