Are you Ready?
準備好了嗎?

When I was a child, my mother always asked me: Are you ready to go?
When I was a teenager, my father often said to: Are you ready for your exams?
Even now, my parents still urge me: Are you ready to get married?
當我還是個孩子時，母親總會問:「你準備好要出發了沒?」

當我正值青少年時，老爸經常問:「你準備好考試的內容了沒?」

即使成年了，我的父母仍不斷催促我:「你準備好要結婚了沒?」

 

Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready? Most people like us will say: Yes. But according to my experiences, I realize that we are not always ready.

各位先生女士，您，準備好了嗎?

大多數的人總會說:「準備好了!」但根據我的個人經驗，我深知:我們並非總是準備完善。

 

7 Years ago, I was one of the speech contestants in Taipei. Before the contest, I rehearsed my speech lots of times. I thought I was ready!
七年前，我參加一場在台北舉辦的演講比賽。比賽前，我不斷地練習，我自認:我準備好了!

When I stood on the stage in the big auditorium, showed my confidence, opened my mouth and delivered first word. Something went wrong! No sound was spreading out! And all the audiences got confused.
當我站在大禮堂的舞台上、展現自信，開口說出第一個字(親愛的演講會會員)時，事情急轉直下:沒有任何聲響傳遞出來，臺下的觀眾則是一臉困惑。

What happened? Oh, No! My microphone was not ready! It was not working! What should I do?
發生什麼事情了? 天啊，不，我的麥克風沒有安裝妥當! 它無法正常運作!我該怎麼辦才好?

Thanks to our Toastmasters training, I immediately knew it was time to use my body language. I yelled, waved my hands, and shook my head. But it was in vain. Yes, I was ready for my speech. But I didn’t check my microphone in advance.
感謝Toastmasters平日的訓練，當下我立刻清清楚楚知道:現在正是使用肢體語言的好時機!所以，我大聲吼叫，舞動雙手，搖頭擺腦，但一點兒用也沒有! 是的，我確實準備好講稿內容，但我卻忘了在上臺前檢查麥克風。

Dear friends, sometimes, we misestimate our situation. So we failed.
各位親愛的朋友，有時候我們因為誤判情勢，所以失敗了。

 

2 years ago, I had a trip with my 6 classmates to a stream tracing. Except for me, others are all females. They are all beautiful, elegant and strong.
兩年前，我和六位大學同學一起去溯溪。除了我之外，其他成員都是女性。她們各個既漂亮、優雅又聰慧，而且都還”很強壯”。

 I had a great time all the way until the coach asked me to jump from 10 meters height. When I stood at the edge, looked into the deep pool.
我們一路上有說有笑，直到教練要求我從十公尺高處向下跳!當我站在峭壁邊，低頭注視深潭。

Oh my goodness, I was in panic. My knees were shaking, my heart was beating very fast, and my classmates were cheering! “Jump Jump Jump, You are our hero! Go Go Go, there you go!”
我的老天爺阿，我的雙腳正在顫抖，我的心跳加速，而我的同學們則正在~歡呼:「跳!跳!跳!Tim, 你是我們的英雄~ 加油!加油!加油! 勇敢跳下來吧!」

 Jump into the deep pool?(語調升高) No, I was not ready. But when the coach yelled at me: Are you ready? Guess what? I answered him: Yes!
(跳進深水潭中? 不，我還沒準備好!) 但是當教練大聲地問我:「準備好了嗎?」我竟然回應:「好、了」。

 

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and then jumped!! Because of my shaking knees, I was stumbled by the roots of the trees. Therefore I fell into the pool upside down.
我深吸一口氣、雙眼一閉，然後縱身向下跳。但因雙腳顫抖地太厲害，在跳之前竟被一旁的樹根絆倒，於是我頭部向下，墜入深潭。

All my classmates were shocked. They rushed to me, and slashed my face: Are you all right? I quickly stood up and said: Thanks to god, I am still alive. They cheered: Tim, you are so brave. But we are not ready to take your picture, can you jump one more time?
同學們都被我的跳水姿勢嚇了一跳，趕緊衝向我、輕拍我的臉龐:「Tim，你還好嗎?」。我趕緊回過神並回應:「感謝老天，我竟然還活著!」同學們稱讚我:「Tim，你真是勇敢，但我們尚未準備好幫你拍個照。所以，你準備好再重跳一次嗎?」
 

This Spring, once again, I was a speech contestant at I-Shou university. I was very sure I was ready. Because this time, I checked my microphone in advance, and it was ok. I was contestant number one. I was confident to stand on the stage, showed my lovely smile and do my best to deliver my speech. When I finished my speech with a wonderful pose, yes, I did it. Perfect Ending!
今年春季，我再次成為演講比賽的參賽者。這一次，我很確定我已經準備好了，因為我在賽前不斷地檢查麥克風，而麥克風正常無誤。幸運地，我是第一位參賽者。我充滿自信地站在舞台上，展露我迷人的笑容，並且盡力完成我的演講。當我的演講結束於一個完美的姿勢! 太棒了! 完美的結局。

But soon after I enjoyed the applauses from the audiences, an elegant lady who sat at the first low approached me and said: Sorry, Tim, because not all the judges are here, we must ask you to deliver your speech again.

之後，當我沉浸在觀眾的掌聲中時，一位坐在第一排的優雅女士走向我並對我說: Tim，抱歉，因為並非所有的裁判都在比賽場內，所以我們必須要求你再重做一次演講!

At the moment, I was speechless. I was ready, the microphone was ready. Why did it still go wrong? Should I protest? No, I didn’t.
當時，我啞口無言! 我已經準備好了，麥克風也都正常無誤，為什麼事情仍是出乎意料之外? 我應該向裁判長抗議嗎? 不，我並沒有。

Because I realized that no matter how well- prepared I am, what is happening next is still unpredictable. But at least I learned that we can change ourselves to face it with positive thinking and attitude.
因為我瞭解: 無論我準備得多麼充分，我永遠無法預料下一秒會發生什麼事情。但至少我學到: 我們可以改變自己，用積極正向的態度與思考去面對困境。
 

Although I had to re-do my speech, I thought it in a new way: Wow, it’s so cool, who can deliver his speech twice in the national speech contest, no, no one, only me, Tim Wu.
雖然我必須重做一次演講，但我轉正念：「哇!真酷!有誰能在全國比賽中，將同樣的演講重述兩次? 沒，沒有人，只有我，Tim Wu」

 

Dear Toastmasters, Face the difficulties, take the challenges, keep positive thinking and you will be ready for everything!
各位親愛的朋友，讓我們共同面對困境、接受挑戰、正向思考，無論遇到什麼困境，我們都將能隨時準備好!

ladies and gentlemen: Are you ready?

各位先生女士，您，準備好了嗎?

 

Contest master
比賽主持人 

 

作者:Tim Wu (ALE Spectacular Toastmsters Club, K2)

本篇稿件特別感謝K部會友Doris Kuo, Dinger Chen以及Coco Lin協助潤飾修改。