這種例子,如果是曾經(jīng)對你的生活造成強勁沖擊力的單一事件,是會很有效力的。事情的發(fā)生或許不超過幾秒鐘,可是在那短短的一瞬間,你已學到了難忘的一課。比如,當我們班上一個人講他想從翻轉(zhuǎn)的船邊游上岸去的故事后,我相信每個聽眾都下定了決心,如果自己在面對類似的情況,會聽從他的忠告留在船邊,直到救援人員的到來。而我聽到另一個講演者講了一個孩子和一臺翻轉(zhuǎn)過來的電動剪草機的慘痛事件后,在我的腦海里就留下了鮮明的印象,每每遇到孩子們在我的電動剪草機附近徘徊時,我就會不自覺地提高警覺。我們很多老師,因為對在班上所聽到的事情印象深刻,便立即采取行動,防止家附近再發(fā)生類似的意外。譬如,有位老師因為聽了一場活靈活現(xiàn)地重現(xiàn)了一起烹飪意外引起的火災(zāi)的演講后,就將滅火器放在了廚房內(nèi)。另一位則從另一場講述一個母親發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的孩子昏倒在浴室里,手中抓著一瓶有毒藥物而發(fā)狂的事件中吸取了教訓,把所有裝著有毒性物品的瓶子貼上標簽,并特別留意,把它們放在了孩子們拿不到的地方。The incident type of example is particularly powerful when it is based upon a single event that had a dramatic impact upon your life. It may not have taken more than a few seconds, but in that short span of time you learned an unforgettable lesson. Not long ago a man in one of our classes told of a terrifying experience when he tried to swim to shore from his overturned boat. I am sure that everyone in his audience made up his mind that, faced with a similar situation, he would follow this speaker's advice and stay with the capsized boat until help came. I remember another example of a speaker's harrowing experience involving a child and an overturned power mower. That incident was so graphically etched in my mind that I will always be on guard when children are hovering near my power mower. Many of our instructors have been so impressed by what they have heard in their classes that they have acted promptly to prevent similar accidents around their homes. One keeps a fire extinguisher handy in his kitchen, for instance, because of a talk he heard which vividly recreated a tragic fire that started from a cooking accident. Another has labeled all bottles containing poison, and has seen to it that they are out of the reach of his children. This action was prompted by a talk detailing the experience of a distraught parent when she discovered her child unconscious in the bathroom with a bottle of poison clutched in her hand.
一個曾經(jīng)使你永遠不能忘記的教訓,是說服性演講必備的條件。利用這種事件,就可以打動聽眾,讓他們采取行動——你會遭遇到,他們也可能會遭遇到,那么最好是聽你的勸告,做你要他們做的事。A single personal experience that taught you a lesson you will never forget is the first requisite of a persuasive action talk. With this kind of incident you can move audiences to act-if it happened to you, your listeners reason, it can happen to them, and they had better take your advice by doing what you ask them to do.