英语晨读TED演讲系列：伟大的领导者如何激发购买力(1)

How great leaders inspire action (1)

一个伟大的领导者如何激发购买力

How do you explain when things don't go as we assume? Or better, how do you explain when others are able to achieve things that seem to defy all of the assumptions? For example: Why is Apple so innovative? Year after year, after year, they're more innovative than all their competition. And yet, they're just a computer company. They're just like everyone else. They have the same access to the same talent, the same agencies, the same consultants, the same media. Then why is it that they seem to have something different? Why is it that Martin Luther King led the Civil Rights Movement? He wasn't the only man who suffered in pre-civil rights America, and he certainly wasn't the only great orator of the day. Why him? And why is it that the Wright brothers were able to figure out controlled, powered man flight when there were certainly other teams who were better qualified, better funded -- and they didn't achieve powered man flight, and the Wright brothers beat them to it. There's something else at play here.

assume /ə'sjuːm/ v. 假定，设想

We can't assume the suspects to be guilty simply because they've decided to remain silent.

我们不能仅仅因为疑犯选择保持沉默就断定他们有罪。

defy /dɪ'faɪ/ vt. 藐视，公然反抗；n.对抗

区别 deny 否认

innovative /'ɪnəvətɪv/ adj. 创新的，革新的

innovative ideas/methods 创新的思想／方法

figure out 算出，想出

当事情的发展出乎意料之外的时候，你怎么解释？或者更进一步，你如何解释当其他人能够做到看来无法完成的事情？比如说，为什么苹果公司创新能力这么强？这么多年来，年复一年，他们比所有竞争对手都更加具有创新性。而其实他们只是一家电脑公司。他们跟其他公司没有任何分别，有同样的途径，接触到同样的人才，同样的代理商，顾问，和媒体。那为什么他们就似乎有那么一点不同寻常呢？同样的，为什么是由马丁•路德•金来领导民权运动？那个时候在美国民权运动之前，不仅仅只有他一个人饱受歧视。他也绝不是那个时代唯一的伟大演说家。为什么会是他？又为什么怀特兄弟能够造出动力控制的载人飞机，跟他们相比，当时的其他团队似乎更有能力，更有资金，他们却没能制造出载人飞机，怀特兄弟打败了他们。一定还有一些什么别的因素在起作用。

未完待续…