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Ever found yourself doing
“the last thing on earth I ever thought I’d do”? Only half awake, I
found myself driving to Topeka, Kansas, one drizzly early morning, where
in a few hours I’d compete in the Toastmasters District Evaluation
Contest. First, you need to understand that I am scared to death of
public speaking. It is why I joined Toastmasters. Second, I have spent
most of my life scrupulously avoiding anything that smacks of
competition.
你曾經發現你自己做了”世界上我最不想做的事?”
一個迷迷糊糊的早晨，我還在半夢半醒的，發現自己在下著細雨的清晨，開車到堪薩斯州的托皮卡市，在那裏幾小時裡，我參加了演講會地區級講評比賽。首先你必須要了解，我怕死了公眾演講。這就是為什麼我要參加演講會。.第二是我花我大半人生的時間，小心翼翼地，避免任何有關競賽的滋味。
So why was I
entering a Toastmasters contest? It started with our club competition.
Apparently Jerry, one of my fellow club members, was the only person
interested in representing our club at the area Humorous Speech and
Evaluation contests. I had never paid attention to the Toastmasters
competitions and had no idea how they worked. We were all fine with
having Jerry win unopposed – everyone, that is, except Gary, who is my
mentor and our club president.
所以為何我會參加演講會比賽?
它開始於我們的分會的比賽。傑瑞，我們分會的會員，,很明顯地，他是唯一有興趣參加分區幽默及講評演講比賽的代表。我從沒對任何演講比賽在意過，也不知道它如何運作的。.每個人都對傑瑞在比賽的輸贏，都沒有任何反對意見，除了傑瑞，他是我的指導會友，也是我們分會的會長。
“Won’t anyone help out so that Jerry isn’t the only contestant in our
club contest?”
「沒有人要幫幫忙，讓我們分會不只是傑瑞是我們一的參賽者?」
The other club members were already staring at the table or at the light
bulbs, but I wasn’t fast enough. Gary caught my eye. I took a deep
breath. “Oh, what the heck, I’ll do an evaluation.” I just wanted Jerry
to feel he had won fair and square.
其他會員已經在瞪著桌子，或電燈泡。但是我跟進不夠快。蓋瑞捉住我的目光，,我深深的吸一口氣。「天呀！到底是怎樣，我只是做好講評工作而已。」我只是想要傑瑞感覺到，他贏得光榮和公平。
We listened to the seven-minute target speech, and I took notes. I
giggled when our sergeant at arms escorted Jerry and me into another
room, where we spent five minutes finishing our notes. Then he came back
for Jerry, who was to go first, and he also took my notes. Alone in the
“waiting room,” I twiddled my thumbs until I was escorted back into the
meeting room. Given back my notes, I delivered my evaluation.
Eventually, our club judges came back and informed me I had won in the
evaluation category! I thought it was a joke. Then they informed me I
now had to represent the club at the area competition.
我聽了七分鐘的測試演講，做了筆記，當比賽事務，引導傑瑞和我到另一房間時，我咯咯地笑。在那裏我我花了五分鐘，完成我的筆記。事務長回來接傑瑞，他是第一位參賽者，他拿走我的筆記。我獨自在等待室，玩弄著手指，直到被引導回到比賽場。拿回我的筆記，開始我的講評演講。最後，分會的評審回來跟我說，我在講評演講比賽中，獲得優勝。我想它是個玩笑。然後他們告訴我，我才知道我將代表分會，參加分區級的比賽。
“I didn’t say I was
willing to go to any contest. I was just trying to help out!” My voice
was shrill with panic“
「我沒有說我願意去參加任何比賽。我只是試著想幫幫忙！」我的聲音是帶著恐慌地。
My mentor frowned, looking somewhat hurt. “What can I say? You won! But
if you aren’t willing to represent us, we can’t make you go.” Feeling
ungrateful and petty, I sighed and agreed to go.
我的指導會友蹙著眉，好想有些受傷。「我能說甚麼呢?
你贏了!
但你不願意代表我們的分會，我們也不能命令你去。」感覺我是忘恩負義而且小氣，我嘆了口氣，然後同意參加。
Our family had already made plans for the Saturday of the contest, but I
managed to sneak away and even made it to the contest location on time.
My hurry and the absurdity of my contestant status kept me from getting
too nervous. I kept repeating a line from the old Rocky movie:
“All I want to do is go the distance.”
我的家人已經在為周六的比賽，擬訂好完整的計畫，而我卻想要開溜，甚至想要在比賽開賽前一走了之。身為參賽者，我匆忙的趕到以及怪異的行徑，是為了避免我緊張。我不斷的重覆洛基電影的一句台詞：「我所要做的是達成目標直到結束。」
I listened to the target speech, delivered my evaluation when it was my
turn and left immediately to hurry back to my family gathering. I had
done my duty by my club. I had gone the distance. It was over!
我聽完測試演講、輪到我時，發表我的講評演講，然後立刻離開，趕回去參加我的家庭聚會。我已做完我代表分會職責，我已達成目標，一切都過去了。
Later that evening I received an e-mail from my mentor. “You won! Now
you get to represent us at the division contest.” Huh? What were
these people thinking?
傍晚稍後，我收到從我指導會友寄來的電子信件。「你贏了!
現在你準備代表我們分區，參加分部的比賽。」甚麼? 這些人到底在想甚麼?
A Speaking Triumph
演說的喜悅
At the next meeting I was handed the trophy I’d failed to pick up at the
area contest. It was the first trophy I had ever received. How ironic
that it was for public speaking! But it made me reflect on why doing
evaluations was not nearly as terrifying for me as giving a speech.
Apparently I was fairly decent at this evaluation stuff. I decided it
was because I could focus on helping the speaker improve; I could focus
on their speech. I did not have to come up with a riveting topic.
I did not have to create a speech. I did not have to engage and
entertain the audience. I simply had to be useful – or so I thought.
在下一次例會，我領到在分區比賽沒有拿到的奬杯。這是我第一次拿到獎杯。對於稱為公開性的演講是多麼諷刺.但是這。但我仔細想了一下，為何做講評時，沒有做演講時的可怕。很明顯地，我做講評演講，做得還不錯，那是因為我能夠專注幫助演講者進步；我能專注他們的演講。我不需要去想些吸引人的題材，我不需要去創造一個演說，我不需要吸引和娛樂觀眾，我僅僅是貢獻我所知道的，或是想法而已。
The division contest
was a bigger event, with more contestants and audience members. I had a
few butterflies. Of course, it was all ridiculous; I was not contestant
material. But then all I wanted to do was go the distance. And Gary had
promised that evaluation contests went no further than this level. One
way or the other, this crazy journey would be over.
分部的比賽，其規模又大了一些，更多的參賽者和會員們。我有一些緊張。當然，真的很荒謬；我是不是參者選手的料。但是我能做的，就是繼續往前走。蓋瑞已答應，不會再有任何更上一層級的比賽了。無論如何，這個瘋狂的旅程即將結束。
Because I drew the high number, I was last to deliver my evaluation and
did not get to hear my competitors. While the judges deliberated, each
contestant was asked to respond to a question, a Table Topic of sorts.
My question was “Why did you become a Toastmaster?”
因為我抽到較高的數字，我是最後一位參賽者，無法聽到對手們的講評演講。比賽時，所有的評審，針對參賽者對同一問題的回答，做出評審的分數。我的問題是：「為什麼你要參加演講會？」
As I stood in front of the audience again, I realized to my amazement
that I was completely relaxed, as though I were back at our familiar
club table. I told the roomful of strangers my story, how I’d decided I
was tired of being afraid of speaking. I made them nod knowingly, I made
them laugh, and for a few moments I felt an uncanny connection with
them.
當我再一次站在觀眾面前，我對我自己能夠完全放鬆的表現，感到很驚訝，好像回到我熟悉的分會例會一樣。我告訴滿屋子陌生人我的故事，我如何害怕說話。我使他們會意地點頭，我使他們笑，我感覺不可思議地與他們相連繫了一陣子。
When the winners were announced, I felt calm, knowing I would not be
called. I was wrong. I now had a second trophy for, of all things,
public speaking. But that wasn’t the only surprise.
當宣佈獲獎者，我感到平靜，知道我不會被宣佈。我錯了，現在我有了第二個獎杯，公眾演講的奬杯。但是，這不是唯一的驚喜。
“What do you mean there’s another level? You said this was it!”
「你說什麼？還有另外一個層級比賽？你說過，再也沒有比賽了。」
“You must have misunderstood,” Gary assured me, eyes dancing. “It’s the
district level that is the final level for evaluation.”
「你一定搞錯了，」蓋瑞很自信的向我說，同時眼睛閃爍著。「對講評演講比賽來說，地區性的比賽，才是最後一個層等級。」
And so, on a drizzly morning in November, I found myself driving to the
district contest.
這就是，為什麼在一個下著細雨的十一月天，我自己開著車，去參加地區性的比賽。
If this were Hollywood, the end of this story would be that I had gotten
on the stage and won yet again. But in real life, luck and whimsy only
take you so far. The people at district level took this seriously. I
began to get that spacey “alien” feeling. I had a hard time
concentrating on the target speech. As I sat in the “waiting” room
trying to decipher my scribbles, I realized that the young man next to
me, feverishly rewriting his notes, was unknowingly panting and blowing
as though in labor. It dawned on me how very serious he was about this.
My fellow competitors meant to get here. They really wanted to
compete. They wanted to win. I was suddenly embarrassed by my attitude.
I did not deserve to be in their midst.
假如這是好萊塢，故事的最後，一定是我再一次站在台上，贏得最後的勝利。但是在現實生活中，幸運和奇想只會離你好遠。參加地區性的比賽，必須嚴肅地看待此事。我開始覺得像外星人一樣，一種神情呆滯的感覺。測試演講時，我無法專注的聽講。當我坐在隔壁的房間，準備我的講評演講講稿，我看到旁邊的年輕人，不斷地修改他的筆記，無意識的畫畫和喘息。這樣的氛圍讓我頓悟，他是如此認真的看待此事。我的競爭對手到這裡，是真正想要做一件事，他們想取勝。突然間，我對我的態度感到尷尬，我不值得跟他們同台競技。
I did go the distance that day, but barely.
There was a bucket of sand in my mouth, a tornado in my stomach, and I
could hardly put words together. But I got through it. Having spoken
early, I had the chance to sit in the audience and listen to the
competitors who followed. I marveled because they didn’t deliver mere
“evaluations”; these competitors had in fact developed an entire speech
–theme, snappy introduction, main and support-ing points, humor,
effective staging and gestures, reiteration of main points and a snazzy
finish. They not only created their speech in five minutes, but they
delivered a performance with flair and without benefit of any rehearsal!
我的確完成這場比賽，但是僅是一點點而已。我的嘴裡像有一桶沙，我的胃像是有在括颱風，我幾乎無法完成一整個句子，但我還是完成了。我是前幾名上台演講的，有機會坐在觀眾席，傾聽後面參賽者的演講。我驚訝他們不只在做講評，這些競爭對手實際上，發表了整個演講的素材，包括主題、活潑的簡介、主要和支持的論點、幽默、有效的演出手勢、重申的主要論點，並有一流的結語。他們不僅在五分鐘內，準備了他們的演說，而且在台上表現他們敏銳的觀察力，以及沒有任何的練習。
It was a revelation. Aha! So that’s what an evaluation could sound like.
I tried to soak up their ideas, their techniques, their tricks. It
occurred to me that everything we learn from giving speeches at
Toastmasters serves to make anything we say more interesting,
more engaging.
這是一個啟示。啊哈！這聽起來像就是像另一種的講評。我試著去感受一下他們的想法、他們的技巧、他們的花招。它讓我想到，我們從演講會的演講，會讓我們所說的任何一件事，更加有趣，也更加吸引人。
At last I understood
and appreciated what my mentor had been trying to do for me, why he had
cajoled and tricked me into attending and competing. The real value of
the contest lay not so much in competing but in witnessing ordinary
people doing what I do, only extraordinarily well, much better than I
do. These were not some far-away television personalities; not people
completely out of my league. No, these were people I passed in traffic
or sat next to at a restaurant. And that made it powerful and, well,
yes, inspiring. I learned so much from watching and hearing them. I knew
I could be better. I had ideas of how I could be better. Suddenly, I
wanted to be better. Not better than others, just better than I am
now.
最後，我了解也很感激我的指導會友，為我所做的一切，就是他一直誘騙，加哄騙要我參加這些比賽。比賽的真正價值，不是在於競爭，而是目睹一般人做我做的事，只是他們做得比我還好。這些人不是遙遠的電視名人、不是一些不同國度的人，不，這些都是我每天在路上碰到，或在餐廳坐在我旁邊的人。這些人使這些比賽，更具威力，以及，當然更具啟發性。觀賞及聆聽他們的演講，讓我學習到更多。我知道我可以更好，我有一些如何做得更好的想法。突然地，我想要更好，不是要比別人更好，只要比我現在更好。
I learned that I didn’t need to keep avoiding competition, because
ultimately there is only one contest. The only competition that really
matters is the one between who we are and who we want to become.
我學到，我不需要再逃避比賽，因為終究它只是一個比賽。唯一與比賽有關的是，要認識自己，以及想要成為誰。
Edna Talboy has been a Toastmaster for two years and is a
member of the Tiffany Springs Toastmasters club in Parkville, Missouri.
An instructional designer and performance improvement consultant, she
can be reached at
etalboy@kc.rr.com.
作者：埃德娜塔伯，參加國際演講會兩年，密蘇里州Parkville市Tiffany
Spring演講會會員。教學設計和績效改進顧問，她的網址為
etalboy@kc.rr.com。
譯者：鄭小玲 Sherry, Hsin
Chu Toastmasters Club |
