Company Introduction

　　麦格劳-希尔教育出版公司(McGraw-Hill Education)成立于1888年，总部设在美国纽约，业务遍及全球30多个国家和地区。McGraw-Hill公司是美国最有影响的教育图书出版公司之一，其麾下的McGraw-Hill Contemporary ELT, School Division, SRA, Glencoe出版社是全美最著名的教材出版与服务机构，每年出版逾700种新版各科类教材，更有近千种常备教材长盛不衰。McGraw-Hill ELT(English Language Teaching)教材是在为满足美国本土英语为非母语的学生英语学习需要的基础上发展起来的，利用大量的主学科教材资料融入英语教学，贴近生活语境，注重行为教学，优势突出。

　　麦格劳-希尔教育出版集团在特别注重出版物的权威性、时代性的同时，尤其注重对教师的教学服务，遍布全球的营销服务与出版机构，积极服务于当地教育事业的发展，共享全人类共同的知识财富。

　　从本期开始，《英语学习》将与McGraw-Hill公司合作推出书摘栏目，旨在向国内读者介绍优秀的外版图书。

　　The Art of Public Speaking

　　——如何处理紧张情绪

　　Public speaking is a nightmare? Through this serial of extract from McGraw-Hill's world popular book The Art of Public Speaking, we will show you the way to become an articulator.

　　Actually, most people tend to be anxious before doing something important in public. Actors are nervous before a play, politicians are nervous before a campaign speech,<注1> athletes are nervous before a big game. The ones who succeed have learned to use their nervousness to their advantage. Surveys show that 76 percent of experienced speakers have stage fright before taking the floor. But their nervousness is a healthy sign that they are getting "psyched up"<注2> for a good effort. Novelist and lecturer I. A. R. Wylie explains, "Now after many years of practice I am, I suppose, really a 'practiced speaker.' But I rarely rise to my feet without a throat constricted with terror and a furiously thumping heart. When, for some reason, I am cool and self-assured, the speech is always a failure."

　　In other words, it is perfectly normal—even desirable—to be nervous at the start of a speech. Your body is responding as it would to any stressful situation—by producing extra adrenaline.<注3> This sudden shot of adrenaline is what makes your heart race, your hands shake, your knees knock, and your skin perspire. Every public speaker experiences all these reactions to some extent. The question is: How can you control your nervousness and make it work for you rather than against you?

　　Dealing with Nervousness

　　Rather than trying to eliminate every trace of stage fright, you should aim at transforming it from a negative force into what one expert calls positive nervousness.<注4> Here are six time-tested ways you can turn your nervousness from a negative force into a positive one.

　　1. Acquire Speaking Experience

　　Once you became accustomed to the situation, it was no longer threatening. So it is with public speaking. For most students, the biggest part of stage fright is fear of the unknown. The more you learn about public speaking and the more speeches you give, the less threatening speechmaking will become.

　　2. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare

　　Another key to gaining confidence is to pick speech topics you truly care about—and then to prepare your speeches so thoroughly that you cannot help but be successful.

　　How much time should you devote to preparing your speeches? A standard rule of thumb is that each minute of speaking time requires one to two hours of preparation time—perhaps more, depending on the amount of research needed for the speech. This may seem like a lot of time, but the rewards are well worth it.

　　3. Think Positively

　　Confidence is mostly the well-known power of positive thinking. If you think you can do it, you usually can. On the other hand, if you predict disaster and doom, that is almost always what you will get.

　　Negative Thought

　　I wish I didn't have to give this speech.

　　I'm always nervous when I give a speech.

　　No one will be interested in what I have to say.

　　Positive Thought

　　This speech is a chance for me to share my ideas and gain experience as a speaker.

　　Everyone's nervous. If other people can handle it, I can too.

　　I have a good topic and I'm fully prepared. Of course they'll be interested.

　　4. Use the Power of Visualization<注5>

　　Visualization is closely related to positive thinking. It is a technique used by many people—athletes, musicians, actors, speakers, and others—to enhance their performance in stressful situations. How does it work? Listen to Olympic long-distance runner Vicki Huber:

　　Right before a big race, I'll picture myself running, and I will try and put all of the other competitors in the race into my mind. Then I will try and imagine every possible situation I might find myself in ... behind someone, being boxed in, pushed, shoved or cajoled, different positions on the track, laps to go, and, of course, the final stretch. And I always picture myself winning the race, no matter what happens during the event.

　　Of course, Huber does not win every race she runs, but research has shown that the kind of mental imaging she describes can significantly increase athletic performance. Research has also shown that the same technique is of great benefit in helping speakers control their stage fright. The key to visualization is creating a vivid mental blueprint in which you see yourself succeeding in your speech.

　　5. Know That Most Nervousness Is Not Visible

　　Many novice speakers are worried about appearing nervous to the audience. It's hard to speak with poise and assurance if you think you look tense and insecure. However, you will learn that only a fraction of the turmoil you are feeling inside is visible on the outside. "Your nervous system may be giving you a thousand shocks," says one experienced speaker, "but the viewer can see only a few of them."

　　6. Don't Expect Perfection

　　It may also help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech. At some point in every presentation, every speaker says or does something—no matter how minor—that does not come across exactly as he or she had planned. Fortunately, as with one's nerves, such moments are usually not evident to the audience. Why? Because the audience does not know what the speaker plans to say. It hears only what the speaker does say.-

　　Extract from The Art of Public Speaking