It's the instrument we all play.

是大家都會使用的樂器

It's the most powerful sound in the world, probably.

這或許是世界上最有力的聲音

It's the only one that can start a war

唯有聲音可以發動戰爭

or say "I love you."

或說「我愛你」

And yet many people have the experience

然而很多人都有類似經驗

that when they speak, people don't listen to them.

沒有人要聽自己說話

And why is that?

爲什麼呢？

How can we speak powerfully

如何說話有力量

to make change in the world?

且強大到可以改變整個世界？

What I'd like to suggest, there are

我想提出幾個建言

a number of habits that we need to move away from.

那就是我們必須先改掉某些習慣

I've assembled for your pleasure here

請容我爲各位蒐集

seven deadly sins of speaking.

說話的七大原罪

I'm not pretending this is an exhaustive list,

我不打算謊稱這是一份完整無缺的清單

but these seven, I think, are pretty large

但我覺得這七大原罪涵蓋的範圍極廣

habits that we can all fall into.

廣大到我們每個人都會掉入陷阱

First, gossip,

第一，八卦

speaking ill of somebody who's not present.

在他人背後說三道四

Not a nice habit, and we know perfectly well

我們都非常清楚這不是好習慣

the person gossiping five minutes later

講別人八卦的人

will be gossiping about us.

五分鐘後就去向別人說我們的八卦

Second, judging.

第二，任意評斷他人

We know people who are like this in conversation,

大家都知道這情況常出現在日常閒聊

and it's very hard to listen to somebody

我們不願去傾聽這種人的想法

if you know that you're being judged

尤其你知道那人正在評論你

and found wanting at the same time.

同時還否定你的能力

Third, negativity.

第三，負面思考

You can fall into this.

如同以下對話

My mother, in the last years of her life,

我母親過去三年來

became very, very negative, and it's hard to listen.

變得極端負面，讓人無法忍受她所說的話

I remember one day, I said to her,

我記得，某天我跟她說

"It's October 1 today,"

「今天是10月1日」

and she said, "I know, isn't it dreadful?"

她竟然說：「對阿，不覺得很讓人沮喪嗎？」

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

It's hard to listen when somebody's that negative.

人們難以傾聽負面思考者的說話方式

And another form of negativity, complaining.

另一種表達負面的方式：抱怨

Well, this is the national art of the U.K.

這可說是英國的傳統

It's our national sport. We complain about the weather,

是全民運動，我們抱怨天氣

about sport, about politics, about everything,

抱怨運動、政治及所有事情

but actually complaining is viral misery.

但抱怨實際上是一種可怕的傳染病

It's not spreading sunshine and lightness in the world.

它不會爲世界帶來陽光和光明

Excuses. We've all met this guy.

藉口，我們都見過這傢伙

Maybe we've all been this guy.

又或許我們就是這傢伙

Some people have a blamethrower.

有些人就是愛推託

They just pass it on to everybody else

他們就只會推卸責任

and don't take responsibility for their actions,

不會爲自己的行為負責

and again, hard to listen to somebody who is being like that.

再一次，我們不想聽這種人說話

Penultimate, the sixth of the seven,

倒數第二，也就是第六原罪

embroidery, exaggeration.

渲染、把事情鬧大

It demeans our language, actually, sometimes.

事實上這有時貶低我們的語言

For example, if I see something

舉例來說，假設我看到

that really is awesome,

一個棒到不行的東西

what do I call it?

我要怎麼形容這玩意？

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

And then of course this exaggeration becomes lying,

然後誇飾自然而然演變成說謊

out and out lying, and we don't want to listen

謊話越說越大

to people we know are lying to us.

我們就不想再聽這種人的謊言

And finally, dogmatism,

最後一罪，武斷

the confusion of facts with opinions.

事實摻雜個人見解

When those two things get conflated,

當這兩樣合併

you're listening into the wind.

你就會陷入一團迷霧

You know, somebody is bombarding you with their opinions as if they were true.

當有人一連串向你說出似假還真的言論

It's difficult to listen to that.

這真的難以聽下去

So here they are, seven deadly sins of speaking.

這就是說話的七大原罪

These are things I think we need to avoid.

我認為必須避免上述行為

But is there a positive way to think about this?

但是有正面的說話方式嗎？

Yes, there is.

有的

I'd like to suggest that there are four

容我向各位提出四個

really powerful cornerstones, foundations,

極具影響力的說話之道

that we can stand on if we want our speech

我們可以據此來使我們的演說

to be powerful and to make change in the world.

具備影響力並改變整個世界

Fortunately, these things spell a word.

幸好可以這些東西可以拼成一個字

The word is "hail," and it has a great definition as well.

「Hail」（譯註：冰雹），就如同字面上的意思

I'm not talking about the stuff that falls from the sky

但我指的不是一種從天而降

and hits you on the head.

然後打到頭的物質

I'm talking about this definition,

我在談的是這個定義

to greet or acclaim enthusiastically,

也就是說話要帶有熱誠

which is how I think our words will be received

這也是我認為別人願意聽我們說話

if we stand on these four things.

只要我們遵從這四項原則

So what do they stand for?

它們分別代表什麼呢？

See if you can guess.

猜猜看

The H, honesty, of course,

「H」代表誠實

being true in what you say, being straight and clear.

說話必須坦白、直接、清晰

The A is authenticity, just being yourself.

「A」代表真實，做自己

A friend of mine described it as

我朋友形容該行為指的是

standing in your own truth,

堅持自我信念

which I think is a lovely way to put it.

我覺得這說法極好

The I is integrity, being your word,

「I」代表正直，說到做到

actually doing what you say,

對自己說的話負責

and being somebody people can trust.

務必做到讓其他人信任

And the L is love.

「L」代表愛

I don't mean romantic love,

這裡不是指愛情

but I do mean wishing people well, for two reasons.

而是指衷心爲別人好，有兩個原因

First of all, I think absolute honesty

首先，我認為絕對的誠實

may not be what we want.

或許不是我們要的

I mean, my goodness, you look ugly this morning.

譬如說：「我的天啊！你今天早上看起來醜斃了！」

Perhaps that's not necessary.

我想那種話就別提了

Tempered with love, of course, honesty is a great thing.

說話需語帶體貼，誠實絕對是件好事

But also, if you're really wishing somebody well,

但如果你真的為他人著想

it's very hard to judge them at the same time.

卻要同時批評他人是件很不容易的事

I'm not even sure you can do those two things

我甚至不確定你是否可以同時做到

simultaneously.

這兩點

So hail.

所以這就是「Hail」

Also, now that's what you say,

另外，你要說的話

and it's like the old song, it is what you say,

就像一首老歌《你說的話》

it's also the way that you say it.

還有說話的方式也很重要

You have an amazing toolbox.

你有一個很好的工具箱

This instrument is incredible,

聲音的工具是不可思議的

and yet this is a toolbox that very few people have ever opened.

但極少人曾打開這般美好的工具箱

I'd like to have a little rummage in there

我現在要將一些小工具放進該工具箱

with you now and just pull a few tools out

和各位一起把部份工具拿出來

that you might like to take away and play with,

你可能會想帶走這些工具並把玩著

which will increase the power of your speaking.

這些工具將強化你說話的力道

Register, for example.

以音域為例

Now, falsetto register may not be very useful most of the time,

大多時候，高假音不太能派上用場

but there's a register in between.

但那中間存在著音域

I'm not going to get very technical about this

我不打算講得多專業

for any of you who are voice coaches.

尤其你們之中應該有聲樂老師

You can locate your voice, however.

你卻可以隨意調整發聲的位置

So if I talk up here in my nose, you can hear the difference.

當我用鼻腔說話，你可以聽出其中的差異

If I go down here in my throat,

如果我用喉嚨發聲

which is where most of us speak from most of the time.

我們多數人都用這部位說話

But if you want weight,

但如果你想要說話聲音有厚度

you need to go down here to the chest.

你說話時就要從胸腔發聲

You hear the difference?

聽出兩者間的差異了嗎？

We vote for politicians with lower voices, it's true,

我們投票給聲音低沉的政治人物，這是事實！

because we associate depth with power

因為我們常將低嗓和力量

and with authority.

及權威做聯結

That's register.

這就是我們說的音域

Then we have timbre.

然後是音質

It's the way your voice feels.

音質是指你聲音聽起來的感覺

Again, the research shows that we prefer voices

研究指出我們喜歡的聲音

which are rich, smooth, warm, like hot chocolate.

必須帶有渾厚、平穩、溫暖，就像熱巧可力一樣

Well if that's not you, that's not the end of the world,

如果你的聲音沒有上述的特質，倒也不是世界末日

because you can train.

理由是你可以訓練你的聲音

Go and get a voice coach.

去找一個聲樂老師

And there are amazing things you can do

然後你就可以做許多很美好的事情

with breathing, with posture, and with exercises

比如訓練呼吸、手勢以及練習

to improve the timbre of your voice.

來改善聲音的質感

Then prosody. I love prosody.

再來是我最愛的聲韻學

This is the sing-song, the meta-language

聲韻學是唱歌也是最大的語言

that we use in order to impart meaning.

我們常用聲韻學來透露訊息

It's root one for meaning in conversation.

在日常對話中可是最基本的要素

People who speak all on one note

當人們只用一種音調說話

are really quite hard to listen to

說話內容令人難受

if they don't have any prosody at all.

如果他們完全不用聲韻學

That's where the world monotonic comes from,

就會衍生出無聊世界

or monotonous, monotone.

或是絲毫無變化的，音律單調

Also we have repetitive prosody now coming in,

如詩歌般的反覆單調也是說話的方式之一

where every sentence ends as if it were a question

每句話句尾語調上揚，就好像問問題一樣

when it's actually not a question, it's a statement.

但其實這句話是陳述句而非問句

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

And if you repeat that one over and over,

若你說話的方式不斷使用問句

it's actually restricting your ability

反而限制你運用聲韻學

to communicate through prosody,

來溝通的能力

which I think is a shame,

我覺得這樣蠻可惜的

so let's try and break that habit.

所以讓我們一起試著打破這種習慣

Pace. I can get very, very excited

首先是說話的步調，我可以變得很激動

by saying something really, really quickly,

話說得很快來表示激動的心情

or I can slow right down to emphasize,

也可以放慢速度來強調我想說的話

and at the end of that, of course, is our old friend

最後一點，這點也可說是我們的老朋友

silence.

沉默

There's nothing wrong with a bit of silence

有片刻的沉默從不是壞事

in a talk, is there?

尤其適用於對話，對吧？

We don't have to fill it with ums and ahs.

我們不需要用「嗯」或「啊」來填補沉默時刻

It can be very powerful.

沉默可以是強大的力量

Of course, pitch often goes along with pace

音調時常伴隨著說話的步調