Anecdote about the Speech at Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations
關(guān)于莎翁故居演講的趣事

A speaker has to be prepared for all sorts of difficult scenarios to command the attention of the audience. Challenges come at you fast. It may be caused by cultural differences, and sometimes politics is at play. A typical example is my experience at the Shakespeare Birthday celebrations in his hometown.
作為演講者，當(dāng)你期待別人付出時間和注意力的時候，就要準(zhǔn)備好應(yīng)對可能的難題。挑戰(zhàn)有時來自文化差異，有時也會夾雜著政治因素。我在莎翁故居紀(jì)念活動演講時的經(jīng)歷是比較典型的。

Every year on 23 April, the birthday of Shakespeare, there is a big commemorative parade at Stratford-upon-Avon. In 2009, I received an invitation to speak on behalf of the guests. It was a distinct honour. The chairman was Lord Donald Sinden, a well-known 86-year-old theatre, movie and TV actor. He had a great sense of humour and definitely lived up to his reputation that day. There was another speaker who was the winner of that year’s award. It was all very well spoken and hilarious.
4月23日是莎翁誕辰，每年這一天在莎翁故居都會舉辦大規(guī)模的紀(jì)念巡游活動。2009年我受到邀請代表賓客致辭，這是一個重要的榮譽(yù)。主持人唐納德?辛登，86歲了，非常詼諧幽默，他在整個主持過程中插科打諢，笑話連篇。在我致辭之前還有獲獎人的演講，也非常逗趣。

Before it was my turn, which was just before the end of the event, Lord Sinden cracked three jokes, one after another. The last one went like this. An Englishman went to see his friend, an old Chinese gentleman on his deathbed, who murmured one sentence of Chinese to him over and over again. The Englishman didn’t know what to make of it, but he remembered how it sounded. After the funeral he found his friend’s children and related the sentence to them as he remembered, whatever it was. Surprisingly, he got an angry look. They told him: “It sounds like, ‘You are standing on my oxygen.’”
老先生特別來勁，一連講了三個笑話。最后一個笑話他是這么講的：一位中國老人彌留之際，他的英國朋友來看望，老人費(fèi)勁地咿咿呀呀反復(fù)講著一句話，英國朋友站在床邊沒聽懂，就記了下來。之后他找到老人的后人，模仿著轉(zhuǎn)達(dá)了這句話。不料老人的后人一臉惱怒地看著他說：“老人好像是在講，‘你踩著我的氧氣管子了?！?/div>

The audience exploded in laughter. The chairman concluded, “Language, therefore, is a matter of life and death. Let’s now have the Chinese ambassador to address the audience.”
全場哄堂大笑。主持人接著說：可見語言是生死攸關(guān)的重要問題；下面請中國大使致辭。

The joke, making fun out of dying elderlies, is not proper from a Chinese perspective. I had a dilemma. On the one hand, a direct expression of displeasure was not really an option since I was going to give a “thankyou” speech on behalf of hundreds of guests from across the UK and many other countries. On the other hand, I couldn’t pretend not having realised the sting in the joke. It’s like playing tennis. When the ball is in your court, you have to hit it back and make sure that it doesn’t go out of the boundary.
辛登先生的笑話從中國人的角度聽起來有些不敬。我面臨的難題在于，一方面，我是作為各國各界賓客代表上臺致感謝辭的，在好幾百賓客面前不好直白反應(yīng)；另一方面，作為中國人我也不能回避。斗智就像打網(wǎng)球，球打過來不能不接，回球出界也不行。

The laughter was still in the air when I rose from my seat. I had but one minute, if not less, to reach the rostrum. I need to think, and think fast, but still had no idea when I was already on the stage. There I saw Lord Sinden beaming with a big smile, and a flicker of naughtiness in his eyes.
我從自己的座位站起來時，全場笑聲還沒有落，走上講臺用不了一分鐘，需要迅速思考如何續(xù)上唐納德的話頭兒。當(dāng)我邁上臺子的時候還沒想出轍來，只看到迎著我的主持人笑容滿面，眼里似乎閃過一絲狡黠。

There were a number of microphones on the rostrum with their cables lying on the ground. To avoid being tripped, I had to carefully step over the wires. Then an idea suddenly came to me. I raised my head and looked at the audience whose smiles were yet to fade, speaking into the microphone, very slowly, “I have to be careful.” Then I paused and the audience quieted down, trying to catch what I had to say. “I should not stand on Donald’s oxygen,” I said slowly, throwing the audience into a huge burst of laughter right away.
講臺上有好幾個話筒，帶出幾條線來，站上講臺時需要小心地繞過腳下的線頭，這讓我突然想到一個點(diǎn)子。我抬起頭來，面對臺下臉上還掛著笑意的聽眾，慢聲地對著話筒說：“我得小心一點(diǎn)兒，”然后頓一頓，這時大家都靜下來注意聽我要說什么，“我可別踩著唐納德的氧氣管子。”臺下頓時哄堂大笑，前仰后合。

It would have been disrespectful to an elder in his eighties if Donald had not been the first to play naughty. It turned out that he laughed too and accepted it well. And it was in that warm atmosphere that I started with “Sir Donald Sinden…Ladies and Gentlemen...”
這樣講對這位八十多歲的老人也是不敬的，但既然他冒犯在先，我不敬也就不為過了。唐納德自己也笑起來，接受了我的回?fù)簟Ｔ谶@個熱鬧的氣氛中，我開始了演講“唐納德·辛登先生……女士們、……先生們……”

?

在彼處(大使演講錄)——不在彼處(大使演講錄)》收選傅瑩任中國駐澳大利亞和英國大使期間的英文演講20篇、在英國主流媒體發(fā)表的文章5篇和訪談實錄3篇，并附有傅瑩大使關(guān)于演講技巧體會的文章。帶你領(lǐng)略中國女外交官的人格魅力、說話演講的藝術(shù)和為人處世的智慧。

傅瑩 著?

外語教學(xué)與研究出版社出版 ?

點(diǎn)擊查看新書試讀專題，閱讀更多相關(guān)文章！

?

想買我？>>? GO??

最熱資訊·圖書推薦·漫畫討論·活動·心理測試 …… 請戳YES滬江讀書

滬江系列叢書精華集錦由此拉開序幕啦！滬江人自己的書? >> ???? 詳情請戳我