Source text in English | Translation by wqxm922 (#10117) |
I remember reading once that some fellows use language to conceal thought, but it's been my experience that a good many more use it instead of thought. A businessman's conversation should be regulated by fewer and simpler rules than any other function of the human animal. They are: Have something to say. Say it. Stop talking. Beginning before you know what you want to say and keeping on after you have said it lands a merchant in a lawsuit or the poorhouse, and the first is a short cut to the second. I maintain a legal department here, and it costs a lot of money, but it's to keep me from going to law. It's all right when you are calling on a girl or talking with friends after dinner to run a conversation like a Sunday-school excursion, with stops to pick flowers; but in the office your sentences should be the shortest distance possible between periods. Cut out the introduction and the peroration, and stop before you get to secondly. You've got to preach short sermons to catch sinners; and deacons won't believe they need long ones themselves. Give fools the first and women the last word. The meat's always in the middle of the sandwich. Of course, a light butter on either side of it doesn't do any harm if it's intended for a man who likes butter. Remember, too, that it's easier to look wise than to talk wisdom. Say less than the other fellow and listen more than you talk; for when a man's listening he isn't telling on himself and he's flattering the fellow who is. Give most men a good listener and most women enough note-paper and they'll tell all they know. Money talks -- but not unless its owner has a loose tongue, and then its remarks are always offensive. Poverty talks, too, but nobody wants to hear what it has to say. | 我记得自己以前读过的一本书里写道,有人会用语言来“掩盖”思想。但就我个人的经验而言,更多的人是用语言来“代替”思想。 相对于人类的其他活动,生意人谈话的规则应该更为精简,也就是如下三条: 有话要说。 那就说。 说完了闭嘴。 如果生意人在弄清楚自己到底想说什么之前,就开始夸夸其谈,而且如果在这之后还要顺着之前的话继续滔滔不绝的话,那他最后的下场不是打官司,就是要破产。当然,打官司往往是走向破产的“捷径”之一。我的公司里一直设有一个法律部门,它花费不少,但它至少让我远离官司。 如果是跟女孩约会,或在晚饭后和朋友闲聊,那么这样的谈话大可以天马行空、无拘无束。但是在办公室里,所说的话要尽量简洁。把无聊的客套话全都砍掉,也不要做无谓的重复。要感动罪人,说教就不能太长;教会执事自己也会认为他们不需要长篇大论。讲话的时候把第一个词留给蠢材,最后一个留给妇人。别忘了,三明治的中间才是精华——肉片。当然,“肉”的两边放点“黄油”也不会有害处,只要那人喜欢黄油就没问题。 此外还请谨记,使自己看起来显得“睿智”,比实际说些“睿智”的话更容易做到。少说多听,事半功倍,因为听别人说不会对我们造成任何损害,而且对讲话的人而言也是一种恭维。只要对男士给予足够的倾听,对女士给予足够的注意,他们定会倾其所有、坦诚相告。“财富”自己会说话,但一般不说,除非这财富的主人实在管不住自己的舌头,而这样的话总是令人讨厌。“贫穷”也会说话,但却没人愿意听它说。 |