掌握即兴演讲应遵循的原则
即兴演讲对于使用母语演讲的人来说都非常困难,更何况是使用非母语演讲的选手?这部分非常具有挑战性,主要考察选手多方面能力:思维能力、逻辑能力和语言能力。思维能力是指选手在毫无准备的情况下对某一问题的分析能力,对问题理解的深度和宽度等;逻辑能力主要指选手是否有全局观,是否能合理搭筑整个演讲的框架,所阐述观点的层次性是否清晰;而语言能力则是指选手即席用英语进行交流沟通的能力,可检验选手的英语语言熟练度和准确度如何。那么如何应对即兴演讲呢?
在定题演讲部分,我们讨论了衡量一篇演讲好坏的普遍原则。这些原则对所有类型的演讲都适用,即兴演讲也不例外。在做即兴演讲时,也要从以下四个方面着手:内容、结构、语言以及台上演讲风格等。
内容
在讨论即兴演讲的内容之前,先了解几个在近几年大赛即兴演讲中出现的题目。
is marking western holidays a sign of a modern china or of traditions sacrificed to commercial interests?
do you think university education should be more open-minded?
are we becoming too susceptible to advertising?
which qualities do you look for in a boyfriend?
if you were one representative of people&39;s congress, what advice would you give the government?
题目还有很多,这里就不一一列举了。通过这几个题目,大致可以看出即兴演讲的题目涉及方方面面,从经济、政治、教育、文化、人生到国际问题,包罗万象。这也是即兴演讲具有极强挑战性的原因之一。 题目的范围之大之广对参赛选手提出了很高的要求。要求演讲者平时养成读书看报的习惯,关注周围发生的焦点问题和国际时事,积累各个领域的素材,以便谈论起某一个话题时言之有物,有的放矢;要求演讲者平时养成思考的习惯,多听不同的声音,从不同角度看问题,看问题有想法、有深度。这些都是赛前的准备工作,应多积累、丰富自己的知识内容,强化自己的观点。
那么在比赛当中,又该怎样具体应对呢?
正如前面所讲的,好的内容包括好的主题以及有说服力的材料做支持。在即兴演讲中,更要注意这两点。
1.强有力的材料做支持
正如前面讨论过的那样,论据的类型最基本可分为三种:实例、统计数字以及引用别人的言语。对于即兴演讲来说,现场能够找到恰当的统计数字是非常困难的。因此在即兴演讲时,引用别人的言语和用实例来证明是最常见的两种方式。那么应该选择哪种类型的例子来做论据呢?在比赛现场上进行即兴演讲时,最切实可行的、最容易做到的就是用自己或自己周围发生的例子来说明你的观点,信手拈来,不用绞尽脑汁,演讲起来最自如,最自信;这样做无形之中也强化了自己的可信度,比较容易打动听众。如在“21世纪(爱立信杯”XX年第8届全国英语演讲比赛中获得第二名的南京大学学生王媛在即兴演讲中是这样说的,
"if indeed i had a chance to choose for my life again, i think the time setting i would choose is in the late 1970s and the early 1980s. that was when the chinese government began to adopt the policy of reform and openness. and the place setting i would choose is in some places in the western part of china. why? let me share with you my reasons.
well, when i firstly saw this, errr, heard this topic, i think it reminded me of an experience a few years ago. i still clearly remember that, uhh, at that time, some fellow students and i went to visit a primary school in a very poor village and we were working as tutors there. there, all the classrooms were in a very old building and many windows and doors were broken, so, when it was raining, all the children had to move to a corner in order not to get wet. inside the classroom, five to six children were sharing one desk normally shared by two and many of the desks and chairs were broken, too.
and immediately after we began to teach them english, it became very clear to us that many of these students were very diligent and were very willing to work hard. but later on, as we talked among ourselves, we got to know that they, many of them, could not finish their schooling just because of poverty. i think that this experience enabled us to see that we belong to a few group of, a group of few people that are fortunately enough to receive a college education."
这段演讲是她真情实感的流露,表达起来自如,而且自信,也容易和听众进行真正的交流。p副标题e
在选择使用论据时,尤其是在竞赛当中,需要特别注意以下两个原则。
(1)演讲的支持材料要切题。
所选择的支持材料要为你的中心观点或主题服务,不能偏离这一点,不能跑题。记得一个学生在参加比赛时,抽到的即兴演讲题目是,“中国成为世界贸易组织的成员对于我们国家有什么主要影响?”她在演讲中讲了一个很长的故事,一个年轻人在海边拾贝壳,碰到了一个老人,以及和这个老人之间展开的对话。这个故事占了整个演讲的三分之二,然后很牵强地把这个故事和她抽到的题目联系在一起。尽管她的故事叙述得很流利,但在整个即兴演讲结束后,听众仍然不知她对这个问题的回答是什么?很显然,演讲者在赛前准备了几个故事,准备在即兴演讲时使用。的确,在赛前要做充分的准备,准备各个领域的数据、例子、权威专家的话等,做好充分的调研,以便在比赛中游刃有余。但切记你所选择的支持材料一定要与主题相关,为主题服务,能够帮助听众更加深入地了解你的观点,决不能哗众取宠。不切题的即兴演讲绝不会得高分。
(2)演讲的支持材料要贴近听众。
演讲的支持材料最好是听众熟悉的,贴近听众,不仅有利于听众理解、接受和吸收你的信息,而且容易产生共鸣。笔者作为辅导教师参加过多次的全国英语演讲比赛,在比赛中发现了一个很奇怪的现象。有很多学生举例子或引用别人的话时,往往愿意用国外的例子或国外名人说的话来支持他们的论点。学生也许有些许担心,“如果用土生土长的例子,外国评委可能会不知道,不了解背景,会影响他们对整个演讲的评判。”然而在一次比赛中,一位来自美国的演讲专家在做点评时说到,“不用担心我们会不了解,或听不懂。问题是作为一个外国人,我们在这里希望听到有关你们国家的人、事、思想、文化,而不是我们国家的名人如林肯、克林顿,他们说了什么,干了什么。”他一语道破了问题的关键,演讲者所说的要和你的听众拉近距离,讲一些本地发生的事情,发生的事情对听众产生了什么样的影响,用当地的文化、理念来解释你的观点,这样更容易在听众中产生共鸣。但并不是说就一定不能用国外的例子或观点。要全方位地选择论据,选择恰当的材料为你的观点服务。
在“21世纪(澳门之星杯”XX年第11届全国英语演讲比赛中复旦大学的胡懿在即兴演讲(should laws be fixed or flexible?)中是这样说的,
"well, actually, very accidentally this morning, when we were sort of "imprisoned" in that preparing room, actually we had a fierce debate over law. and now i would like to share some of my thoughts with you on whether we should adopt flexible laws or fixed laws.
well, first of all, i admit that there are some cases of injustice in our society. for example, last year there was a famous case of wang bingyu, which aroused a great controversy in society. actually wang bingyu was a migrant worker, who failed for several times to get his payment from his boss. and obviously that boss treated him very badly. he didn&39;t send him to hospital when he was ill, and he didn&39;t treat him with very good food and also made him make, do extra work without any extra money. and out of a rage, wang killed several of the, several people in charge, out of a great rage. and that case aroused a great controversy in society. actually when i read the story, i did show some sympathy for that guy, because i think it was the fault of the boss in the first place. it was him that didn&39;t pay him the payment that he deserved. so i feel sympathetic for him."
她讲述了一个在我国曾经轰动一时的案例,台下的听众可能听说过,也可能不知道这个故事,但这毕竟是发生在听众周围的,贴近听众,这样听众便会很容易理解演讲者所要传达的信息。
在一分钟的即兴演讲中,你用具体的事例来仔细阐述观点的时间可能非常受限。在这一分钟之内,你很可能只给出主要观点的框架,那么要想真正打动听众恐怕要依赖于主题和观点到底如何。
2.好的主题与观点
在前面谈过选择题目或角度时应遵循的一些具体原则,如:题目和角度一定是你有切身感触的;应该具有创造性,是听众感兴趣的;应该具体;应真实而有意义;所选择的观点或角度一定能经得起推敲和琢磨,是全面的。除了这些基本原则外,在比赛过程中处理即兴演讲时,还应该特别强调两点:切题和严谨。
(1)切题
切题最重要。一般而言,选手拿到的题目都是以问题的形式出现的。你需要表明在这个问题上的立场和观点,决不可以含糊其词,态度闪烁不定,站在中间,既谈好处又谈弊端。如果坚持这样,那么评委和听众就会认为你是在逃避,你的观点不明确,态度不明朗,那也就很难胜出。这点在cctv杯演讲比赛中尤其重要,因为即兴演讲是为以后的辩论做准备。例如在XX年cctv杯演讲比赛中,一位学生抽到的题目是, “who should be the focus of investment in sports, the general population or potential olympic champions?”当时他的回答是不偏不倚的,很显然二者都应该被照顾到,给予资金的扶持。但问题是,在这种情况下,他必须要做出选择,而不能徘徊于两者之间。否则,评委和听众就会怀疑你的态度和出发点,演讲效果自然也就大打折扣。
(2) 观点的严谨性
观点不能偏激,一定要严谨。这里的严谨有以下几层意思。
* 观点本身能够站得住脚,有充足的材料可以说明论证。
* 表达观点的语言本身要严谨,准确,尽量避免绝对化的字眼,如 “never, every, all, nothing, nobody“等,这些绝对化判断太容易遭到攻击。
* 观点需要限制和修饰。要用发展性的眼光来处理你的观点。以上面那个题目来为例,如果既有大量资金扶持运动员又能让普通群众受益,那是最好的,但这是一种理想的画面。现实往往和理想有一段距离,现阶段没有足够的资金平衡二者的利益,答案又是什么呢?你可以有自己的看法和答案,但一定要有充足的论据支持。请注意:刚才我使用了现阶段三个字。这就意味着是用发展的眼光来看到问题,不仅要看到事物的现阶段,也要看到将来发展的方向——也就是期望得到的理想状态,即两类人群都会受益。