Conversation.Let's Talk!（对话，我们聊聊吧）

Conversation…Let’sTalk! 让我们对话吧！

Verbal communication is a two-way street. One side is for talking, and here’s what manypeople forget - the other side is for listening. How many times have you met someone who turnsout to be a real ear-basher. He or shewill talk on and on without giving any time, let alone equal time, to the otherperson’s point of view.

语言交流是双向的。一边是用来说话的，这是很多人忘记的——另一边是用来倾听的。你有多少次遇到过这样的人?他或她会滔滔不绝地说个不停，根本不给对方时间，更不用说平等的时间了。

Yes,even the most basic form of verbal communication is something which even theloudest of speakers, can’t always seem to manage.

是的，即使是最基本的语言交流方式，即使是说话声音最大的人，似乎也无法做到。即使是简单的谈话。

A major barrier to even simple conversation is shyness. More people than you might imagine are shy about talking with others. They mask it,either by avoiding people at functions they wish they weren’t really attending,or go to the other extreme of getting caught up in a conversation, worrying about whether or not they’re saying the right thing.

一个主要的障碍就是害羞。比你想象的更多的人羞于与他人交谈。他们通过逃避那些他们不希望参加的活动，或者走向另一个极端，陷入一场谈话，担心自己说的是否正确

Some go right over the top, and jump on their targets with analmost hard-sell delivery which drives the other person away. To help overcome this very real problem,developing your natural speaking ability will build your self esteem and makethe most of your personality.

有些人做得太过火了，直接向目标发起攻击，几乎是强行推销，让对方敬而远之。为了帮助克服这个非常现实的问题，发展你的自然语言能力将建立你的自尊和充分发挥你的个性。

All this comes through in the way you talk and how you converse with others, because your voice is you. It can reflect your innermost feelings. If you don’t feel good about yourself, if you feel you’re inferior to those around you, it’ll show in your conversation.

所有这些都体现在你说话的方式和你与他人交谈的方式上，因为你的声音就是你自己。它能反映你最紧张的感觉。如果你对自己感觉不好，如果你觉得自己不如周围的人，这些都会在你的谈话中表现出来。

As achild, chances are you had few inhibitions when it came to speaking aloud. It’s fun to observe the speech patterns ofsmall children, hear them interject, and impose their views on a wide varietyof subjects..like not wanting to go to bed or insisting on more to eat whenthey’ve already been well fed.

作为一个孩子，你可能会毫无顾忌地大声说话。观察小孩子的说话方式，听他们插嘴，把他们的观点强加到各种各样的话题上，这很有趣。比如不想睡觉，或者在吃饱了之后还坚持要吃。

Listenas they disagree with playmates and tell them where to go. Reminds me of adults behaving like children in some rowdy sessions of Parliament.

倾听他们与玩伴的不同意见，告诉他们去哪里。这让我想起了大人们在吵闹的议会会议上表现得像孩子一样。

Well generations ago, children were told they should be seen and not heard. But that’s hardly the case today and not should it be. Kids are being encouraged to speak up in school.

几代人以前，孩子们被告知他们应该被看到而不是被听到。但如今情况远非如此，也不应该如此。学校鼓励孩子们大胆发言。

But despite the changing attitudes, an absence of inhibitions istaken over by self consciousness, not just about the way we look, but the waywe speak. It can develop throughunforeseen circumstances such as a fright, an accident or illness.

然而，尽管人们的态度在改变，但自我意识取代了压抑的状态，不仅是我们的外表，还有我们说话的方式。它可以通过不可预见的情况发展，如一次惊吓、一次事故或一场疾病。

Speaking naturally in conversation involves askill at which you may have been proficient years ago - but never realisedit.

在谈话中自然地说话涉及到一项技能，你可能在几年前就已经精通，但从未意识到。

While growing up, it’s likely you asked plenty of questions -maybe to the point where your parents interjected by telling you ‘ don’t be sonosey’.

在你成长的过程中，你可能会问很多问题——也许你的父母会打断你，告诉你“不要太爱管闲事”。

Well it’s the only way tofind out anything, as those who do it in the media can testify. You need to interview people. Now the weather is a great conversationopener when you meet someone for the first time.

这是发现任何事情的唯一方法，那些在媒体上做这件事的人可以作证。你需要采访别人。当你第一次和某人见面时，天气是一个很好的开场白。

Butit’s limited, especially when you’re at a function, and suddenly introduced tosomeone you know nothing about.

但它是有限的，特别是当你在一个聚会上，突然被介绍给一个你完全不认识的人。

Without being nosey, you can ask questions, exchange informationuntil you find a subject that’s close to the other person’s heart. The subjects to break the ice with areendless - travel, sport, and providing they’re not going through a roughdivorce - the family.

你可以问问题，交换信息，直到你找到一个与对方心意相通的话题。

打破僵局的话题是无止境的——旅行、运动，只要他们没有经历一场艰难的离婚——家庭。

Probe gently, and see how much easier it is to talk with someone. You don’t have to stay with the one person.Move around and simply say ‘hello’ to someone else.. and if you wish - beginanother interview. It’s really just atrick of starting up a conversation or trading information….and there areendless topics to discuss.

轻轻地探索，看看与人交谈是多么容易。你不必和一个人在一起。四处走动，简单地跟别人打个招呼。如果你愿意，可以开始另一次面试。这真的只是一个开始对话或交换信息的技巧…有无穷无尽的话题可以讨论

If the other person doesn’t want to talk, don’t presume you’vefailed. I’ve interviewed people on radioand television and it quickly became obvious they weren’t going to give awayanything more than a brief response - sometimes just a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. You don’t have to talk - remember theimportance of listening.

如果对方不想说话，不要认为你失败了。我曾在电台和电视上采访过一些人，很快我就发现，他们除了简短的回答外，什么也不会说，有时只会说“是”或“不是”。你不必说话——记住倾听的重要性。

One of the best way toimprove your natural speaking ability is - listen to others whose voices appealto you. Hear how they deliver the spokenword…and if it’s a style you want to copy, go ahead. There may be one particular person whosespeech patterns appeal more than any other. Well, there’s no copyright on copying or adapting that style to yours.

提高你的自然表达能力的最好方法之一是——倾听那些对你有吸引力的人的声音。听听他们是怎么说的……如果是你想模仿的风格，那就去模仿吧。可能有一个特定的人，他的说话模式比其他任何人都更有吸引力。复制或修改这种风格是没有版权的。

But myadvice is - don’t let it take over from your own natural speaking ability.

但我的建议是——不要让它取代你天生的说话能力。

There’s so much to find and hear on the web, but live broadcasts from Parliament when MP’s gofull force with their arguing and verbal sniping, are especially worth alisten.

Whether it’s Australia or in Britain, you’ll find a wide rangeof speakers at their best and worst…delivering comments that will both surpriseand shock, leaving you wondering how some of them became elected to theirnation’s decision-making process.

网络上有那么多可以找到和听到的东西，但当议员们全力辩论和言语中伤时，来自议会的现场直播尤其值得一听。无论是在澳大利亚还是在英国，你都能找到各种各样的演讲者，他们有最好的，也有最差的……他们的言论既让人吃惊，也让人震惊，让你想知道他们中的一些人是如何被选入国家决策过程的。

Listen closely to voices in the news - some are hard to understand especially if they’ve been traumatized by a conflict or natural disaster.You can assess others being interviewed in a relaxed setting such as an expertanalyst or other studio guest. Sometimes they sound more articulate than the host. Think about how well or how poorlythey’re communicating.

仔细听新闻里的声音——有些很难理解，尤其是当他们受到冲突或自然灾害的伤害时。你可以评估其他人在一个轻松的环境下接受采访，如专家分析师或其他工作室嘉宾。有时他们听起来比主人更善于表达。想想他们的沟通有多好或有多差。

Are you getting the message or are they’re talking toofast? Is that message lost in theirhaste to finish their report within a given time…is their breathing so audible,it detracts from what they’re saying?

你明白了吗?还是他们说得太快了?他们是否因为急于在规定时间内完成报告而忽略了这一信息……他们的呼吸是否清晰可辨，以至于影响了他们的发言?

Some radio and television commercials can be annoying with theirrepitition as well as content, butlisten to the delivery of the voices which sell a product softly, as distinctfrom the brash, hard-sell commands of the salesperson.

有些广播和电视广告的重复和内容可能会令人讨厌，但是要注意倾听那些柔和地推销产品的声音，这与推销员傲慢、强硬的推销命令是不同的。

Here’s a personal experience of hearing time and effort lostduring communication not in broadcasting over the air, but in airways of adifferent kind. I experienced it during a domestic airline flight between twomajor cities.

这是一段我个人的经历，我不是在广播中，而是在另一种不同的航线上，在沟通过程中浪费了时间和精力。我在国内两个主要城市之间的航班上经历了这种情况。

Theinflight services was fine, but near the end of the journey, one of the femaleflight attendant read the information about available ground transport from theairport to the city centre.

机上服务很好，但在旅程快结束时，一名女乘务员读到了从机场到市中心的地面交通信息。

She obviously didn’t have her mind on the task of communicatingwith the passengers ….hesitating in her delivery…and sounding bored with thewhole exercise. A poor audio systemdidn’t help, but even the familiar, ‘thank you for using our airline and welook forward top having you fly with us again’ lacked sincerity and was lost onthe people trying to hear.

她显然没有把心思放在与乘客交流上。她在分娩时犹豫不决……听起来对整个过程感到厌烦。糟糕的音响系统也无济于事，但即便是熟悉的“感谢您乘坐我们的航空公司，我们期待您再次乘坐我们的航班”这样的话，也缺乏诚意，让想听的人听不下去了。

One of the keys to speaking naturally is to practise speakingaloud - I don’t mean those text messages on the smartphone, but longer excerptsfrom any website or - even better - from as favourite book.

Find abook with plenty of quotes as distinct from quotations, among thecharacters, This will help master what Icall, the flow of speaking naturally, and eliminate a stilted delivery.

找一本书，里面有很多不同于引言的引语，这将有助于掌握我所说的自然流畅的说话，并消除生硬的表达。

Learn to put the emphasis or stress on the longer, importantwords - the key words - rather than those that link sentences. Here’s an example:- I walked down the road tobuy a loaf of bread but the shop was closed.

学会把重点放在更长的、更重要的词上，比如关键词，而不是那些连接句子的词。我沿街去买面包，但是商店关门了。

There’sno flow is there, and everything is stilted. It’s an example of speaking UNaturally. The most important words are the ones which need emphasis, and it’s nothard to work them out. SpeakingNaturally, here’s how it should sound.

那里没有流动，一切都是静止的。这是一个说话不自然的例子。最重要的词是那些需要强调的词，而且不难理解。自然地说，听起来应该是这样的。

I WALKED down the ROAD to BUY a LOAF of BREAD, but the SHOP wasCLOSED.Whether we’re speaking English or other language, the patterns of speechwill vary from country to country, and region to region within a country.

我沿路走去买面包，但商店已经关门了。无论我们说的是英语还是其他语言，语言的模式都因国家和地区的不同而不同。

Butanother trap which can be somewhat annoying, is when the speaker ends theirsentence on an upward inflection, making the same sentence I just read, soundlike this. I walked down the road to buya loaf of bread but the shop was closed??

但另一个有点烦人的陷阱是，当说话者以向上的音调结束他们的句子时，让我刚刚读到的句子听起来像这样。我沿路走去买面包，但是商店关门了。

It’sas if the speaker is asking a question. Generally our speech rises and falls inthat order unless we’re asking a question, and it will also rise mid-sentence if, for example we’re explaining thecolours of a new range of clothes whichcome in blue, red, green - and white. But at the end, when we get to that last colour, white, our sentence hasended and our pitch comes down.

就好像说话的人在问一个问题。一般来说，除非我们在提问，否则我们的语速会按照这个顺序上升和下降。而且，如果我们在解释一系列新衣服的颜色，比如蓝色、红色、绿色和白色，我们的语速在句子中间也会上升。但是在最后，当我们看到最后一种颜色，白色，我们的句子结束了，我们的音调下降了。

Besides reading aloud, read some of your own writing, payingattention to the words which need emphasis - not undue emphasis, because it canbe overdone. Remember, the words that join sentences are there for that reasononly - to maintain the flow.

除了大声朗读，也可以读一些自己写的东西，注意那些需要强调的词，而不是过分强调的词，因为它可能会被过分强调。记住，连接句子的单词仅仅是为了保持流畅。

Languages are changing all the time - they’re evolving and wordswe never used generations ago are now in common use. Words like ‘cool’ and ‘awesome’ - or the onesI like to describe something really big ‘ h***ngous’ and ‘gynormous' - pepper conversations of all ages,although an older guy who has grandkids (like me) said the other day, he would‘spit the dummy’ (that’s another goodphrase) if he heard them again utter the words ‘cool’ or ‘awesome’. Accepting change doesn’t always come easydoes it.,

语言一直在变化——它们在进化，我们几代人以前从未用过的词现在被普遍使用。“酷”和“可怕的”这样的词,或者我喜欢的描述非常大的“巨额”和“gynormous”——胡椒所有年龄段的对话,尽管一个老家伙孙子(像我这样)说,有一天,他会“吐假”(这是另一个好的短语)如果他再次听到他们说的话“酷”或“了不起”。接受改变并不总是那么容易。

At one stage of my broadcasting career, I presented the weatherat Australia’s ABC TV in Melbourne, Victoria. I didn’t use the teleprompter to read from a script - , I ad-libbed,talking off the top of my head, remembering the information liven to me by theweather bureau. The director in thecontrol room found this helpful because the weather was towards the end of the7pm news bulletin, and he never knew until maybe half a minute before mysegment, how long he wanted it go. Theshow had to finish at 7.30 p.m., so I was his ‘get out on time’ person becauseI could expand or contract my information. But when I had to go longer - say for five . in my delivery.

在我广播生涯的一个阶段，我曾在澳大利亚维多利亚州墨尔本的ABC电视台做过天气预报。我没有使用提词器照着稿子念，而是即兴发挥，信口开语，回忆起气象局给我的生动信息。控制室的主任觉得这很有帮助，因为天气快到晚上7点的新闻节目结束时了，直到我的节目开始前半分钟，他才知道他想要播放多久。演出必须在晚上7点半结束。，所以我是他的“准时下班”人，因为我可以扩展或缩小我的信息。但当我不得不走得更远的时候——比如5分钟。在我的交付。

Oneday I received a letter from a viewer who accused me of saying too many ums anderrs or errs in my weather presentation. I had never noticed them to be adistraction, but it must have annoyed this particular lady, whose first namewas Jane.

一天，我收到一位观众的来信，他指责我在天气预报中说了太多的“嗯”和“错”。我从来没有注意到它们会分散我的注意力，但一定惹恼了这位姓Jane的女士。

So thenext night I started my weather segment by reading out Jane’s letter - no doubtto her delight… but that sparked off a wave of letters from sympathetic viewerswho wanted her head.

第二天晚上，我开始播报天气预报，首先朗读了简的来信——这无疑让她很高兴……但这引发了同情她的观众的来信浪潮，他们想要她的头。

Forthe next few nights I tried to eliminate any ums and errs, pointing them out toviewers, whenever I - and no doubt they - realised one had slipped through.

接下来的几个晚上，每当我——毫无疑问是他们——意识到有什么东西溜了进来的时候，我就努力消除任何“嗯”和“嗯”的错误，把它们指出给观众看。

Whileit made me aware of what can be an annoying habit, I decided not to worry asthe erring seemed to pass into significance, like yesterday’s weather.

虽然它让我意识到什么是一个令人讨厌的习惯，但我决定不去担心，因为这个错误似乎变得很重要，就像昨天的天气一样。

So whydo we um and err in our conversation. After all, we ad-lib for most of our speaking hours. The reason issimple enough. Umming and erring givesus time to if we’re going too fast or losing concentration.

那么我们为什么会在谈话中犯错呢?毕竟，我们大部分的演讲时间都是即兴的。原因很简单。如果我们走得太快或注意力不集中，犯错会给我们时间。

It canbe a momentary prop when talking from notes as distance from reading a prepared statement or speech. Conversation is simply ad libbing orimprovising, just as jazz musicians move away from the melody of there writtentune and play around it before returning to the original theme

它可以是一个暂时的支柱，当从笔记讲话时，从阅读准备好的声明或演讲的距离。就像爵士音乐家在回到原来的主题之前，会先脱离原曲的旋律，然后围绕原曲演奏。

Buthow well or how poorly we ad-lib depends on our surroundings and the peoplewith whom we’re having a conversation.

但是，我们即兴发挥的好坏取决于我们所处的环境以及与我们交谈的人。

Ifusing and erring is a problem with you, be aware of it but don’t let it becomea worry. Instead, practise talking eachday on any subject, and think before you start, about your desire to get theflow..without too many ums and arrs, and errs.

如果使用和犯错是你的一个问题，要意识到它，但不要让它成为一个烦恼。相反，每天练习谈论任何话题，在开始之前，先想想你是否想要流畅地表达。没有太多的“嗯”、“啊”和“呃”。

Youneed spend only a minute or two, and occasionally you should record thisexercise, looking for an improvement each time.

你只需要花一到两分钟，偶尔你应该记录下这个练习，每次都寻找进步。

Try itfor a short time while talking with family or friends. Don’t try toerr..eliminate them forever. They’re..um… a normal part of speaking, but..ahh..through preparation, relaxation andconcentration, you’ll find speaking naturally is..err..more effective andenjoyable with less of them. Hear what Imean?

在和家人或朋友聊天时，试着用一小段时间。不要试图犯错。永远消除它们。他们. .这是正常的说话，但是…通过准备、放松和集中注意力，你会发现自然地说话是……呃……更有效，更愉快。明白我的意思了吗?