00:11 When I was seven years old and my sister was just five years old, we were playing on top of a bunk bed. I was two years older than my sister at the time --I mean, I’m two years older than her now --but at the time it meant she had to do everything that I wanted to do, and I wanted to play war. So we were up on top of our bunk beds. And on one side of the bunk bed, I had put out all of my G.I. Joe soldiers and weaponry. And on the other side were all my sister’s My Little Ponies ready for a cavalry charge.
在我7 歲,我妹妹才5 歲時,有一天我們在雙層床的上鋪玩。那時候我比我妹妹大兩歲——我想,我現在還是比她大兩歲——也就是說在當時,她要跟著我做我想做的事,而我想玩打仗。所以我們爬到上鋪,在雙層床的這一邊放著我所有的特種部隊士兵及武器,在另一邊則是我妹妹的各式彩虹小馬,準備好要衝鋒陷陣。
00:38 There are differing accounts of what actually happened that afternoon, but since my sister is not here with us today, let me tell you the true story...
那天下午到底發生了什麼事,其實是各說各話,但是既然我妹妹不在場,就讓我告訴你真實的情況……
00:45 (Laughter)(笑聲)
00:47 which is my sister’s a little on the clumsy side. Somehow, without any help or push from her older brother at all, Amy disappeared off of the top of the bunk bed and landed with this crash on the floor. I nervously peered over the side of the bed to see what had befallen my fallen sister and saw that she had landed painfully on her hands and knees on all fours on the ground.
當時我妹妹正節節敗退,不知為何,她哥哥我,既沒幫她,也沒有推她,愛咪突然就從上鋪消失了,砰的一聲摔在地板上。我很緊張的探頭往下看,到底是什麼東西,讓我妹妹成了墜落天使,我看到我妹妹趴在地上,五體投地的樣子痛得不得了。
01:05 I was nervous because my parents had charged me with making sure that my sister and I played as safely and as quietly as possible. And seeing as how I had accidentally broken Amy’s arm just one week before...
我好緊張,因為我的父母才命令我,一定要確保我及我妹妹在玩耍時盡量保持安全、安靜。因為我上星期才不小心摔斷了愛咪的手臂……
01:17 (Laughter)(笑聲)
01:21 (Laughter ends)(笑聲結束)
01:22 heroically pushing her out of the way of an oncoming imaginary sniper bullet,
因為我耍英雄把她推開,為了要閃一顆想像的狙擊手子彈,
01:26 (Laughter) for which I have yet to be thanked, I was trying as hard as I could--she didn’t even see it coming --I was trying hard to be on my best behavior.
(笑聲)她還沒為這件事道謝過, 我盡全力——她根本沒看到那顆子彈——我盡全力要當乖小孩。
01:36 And I saw my sister’s face, this wail of pain and suffering and surprise threatening to erupt from her mouth and wake my parents from the long winter’s nap for which they had settled. So I did the only thing my frantic seven year-oldbrain could think to do to avert this tragedy.And if you have children, you’ve seen this hundreds of times. I said, “Amy, wait. Don’t cry. Did you see how you landed? No human lands on all fours like that.Amy, I think this means you’re a unicorn.”
我看到我妹妹又驚又痛哭喪著臉,威脅著要嚎啕大哭,把爸媽從深冬的午睡中吵醒,他們才剛剛睡著。所以,我試圖用我慌亂的7 歲小腦袋能想到的唯一方法,來扭轉情勢。如果你有孩子,你一定看過幾百次這種場面。我說:「愛咪,等等,不哭。妳知道妳怎麼著地的嗎?沒有人是四腳著地的喔!愛咪,我想妳一定是獨角獸。」
02:02 (Laughter)(笑聲)
02:05 Now, that was cheating, because there was nothing she would want more than not to be Amy the hurt five year-old little sister, but Amy the special unicorn. Of course, this option was open to her brain at no point in the past. And you could see how my poor, manipulated sister faced conflict, as her little brain attempted to devote resources to feeling the pain and suffering and surprise she just experienced,or contemplating her new-found identity as a unicorn. And the latter won. Instead of crying or ceasing our play, instead of waking my parents, with all the negative consequences for me, a smile spread across her face and she scrambled back up onto the bunk bed with all the grace of a baby unicorn...
那當然是哄騙,因為在這世界上,我妹妹絕不想做痛痛的5 歲小妹妹愛咪,寧願當特別的獨角獸愛咪。當然,之前她從沒想過這個選擇。然後你想像一下,我可憐又被耍了的妹妹一臉掙扎,她的小腦袋一方面要處理她剛剛才經歷的疼痛與驚嚇,又要思索著她剛剛才發現的獨角獸新身分。而後者贏了。所以她不但沒哭,沒有停止玩耍,也沒有吵醒我的父母,所有可能發生在我身上的負面後果都沒有發生,反而臉上展開微笑,然後以小獨角獸的翩翩姿態,爬回雙層床去……
02:40 (Laughter)(笑聲)
02:42 with one broken leg.
用她摔斷的腿。
當你可以讓人開開心心的聊個不停,這就是一個好徵兆,不只可以讓你更容易取得他人的信任,人際關係也可以更上一層樓。台上要如何搞笑,才能讓你不淪為配角,讓人覺得信賴又不無聊。
到底Shawn Achor 是怎麼不特意搞笑,而把一場演說變幽默的?幽默是一種極為有效的工具,如果你能讓你的聽眾發笑,那你就成功一半了!即使這是一場較正式的演說,你也會需要適時地替你的聽眾加些亮點。演講中的幽默可以帶來以下幾種好處:
用你獨有的幽默呈現你的風格,讓聽眾更了解你。
沒有人不愛笑!詼諧的演說,讓聽眾把注意力留在你身上。
風趣會讓人對你的演說更記憶深刻。
或許有人會認為幽默是天生的,但其實幽默是可以培養出來的!從Shawn Achor 的演說裡面我們可以學到一些展現幽默的方式,試試下面幾種訣竅吧!
1 Identify things that make you laugh. 找出能令你發笑的笑點
或許有些特定的事物總是能令你發笑,某個電視節目、電影、漫畫等等。仔細研究一下這些事物,並問問自己「到底是什麼讓我想笑的?」是雙關語嗎?還是誇張的肢體動作?然而無論是什麼,能讓你笑的元素,就是能讓你帶到你演講裡面的好元素!不僅僅要注意這些內容是什麼,更要注意細節!笑料的結構、風格及步調節奏都很重要。
當你在一個輕鬆、愉悅的情緒與環境中時,要寫出幽默的講稿、激發出腦中的笑點會更容易,所以記得時時保持愉悅的心情!
2 Identify things you already do that make others laugh. 看看別人喜歡的笑點
每個人或多或少都曾經有過令人發笑的經驗,我相信有些特殊的場合或是某種人,特別能夠激發人們的幽默感。拿我自己當例子,我發現每次要告訴朋友一些困擾著我的事情時,他們都會捧腹大笑,但當時我根本沒在搞笑!當我發現這一點時,我嘗試將這種幽默方式帶進我的演說裡面,結果觀眾的反應出奇得好!開始試試看觀察自己與別人的互動吧,你也會有這樣驚喜的發現。
3 Learn the basics of humor. 幽默基本功
有些人就是天生的搞笑好手,但如果你不屬於這類型的人也沒關係,那就從基本功練起吧。學些喜劇演員常用的幽默小技巧,再把你想說的話嵌進去,就變成你獨有的搞笑風格了!下面有些例子可以參考:
誇飾法
【例句】Then I talked to a woman whose voice was so high only the dog could hear it.
雙關語
【例句】Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He’s all right now.
自嘲
【例句】And then, even though I knew it was too hot to eat, I bit into the pizza anyway. Because, clearly, I am an idiot.
玩文字遊戲
【例句】She brought me a plate of french fries instead. At least I thought they were French because they had an attitude and wore berets.
4 Understand that humor comes in the rewrite. 不急一次到位
或許有時候,你寫的講稿可以一次到位,幽默又不失專業。但大部分情況下,一份好的講稿須要不斷的修改,才能抓到精髓。寫第一次草稿時,通常會先把重點放在你想要傳達的內容上面,再用這份綱要,經由不斷的發想及修改,加入令演說更幽默、更完整的元素進去。也或許有些時候,你一開始覺得好笑的點,也可能在修改的過程中突然變成累贅了,不斷的精修才能成就一份好的演說稿。
寫講稿時,你可以試試這樣的步驟:
步驟1:完成整個演說的綱要,把絕不能少的重點完整地放進你的草稿裡。
步驟2:第一次的檢視,把所有你認為好笑的元素加進去你的講稿內。
步驟3:第二次的檢視,刪掉會干擾整體風格或破壞結構的笑點。
5 Keep working at it. 持續從生活裡累積你的幽默感
幽默是可以培養的,但也需要時間。如果你期望看完一本教幽默的工具書後,你的笑料可以馬上信手拈來,那你可能會大失所望。然而就像任何其他事情一樣,若能從生活中實踐並持續累積、練習然後精進,那輪到你上場時,你會發現,或許沒這麼困難!