遊說講演

Susan著 小哭譯

上個月，ELA老師威爾基女士沒有給我們布置什麼具有挑戰性的作業，我們主要就是閱讀了鮑伊寫的小故事和準備周測驗。但是上周，她終於給我們布置了一項艱巨的任務——遊說講演。

當我第一次聽到這個任務時，並沒想到這事兒會花費那麼長的時間。這不過是一個講演而已，對吧？我擅長講演。可是最後我發現這事兒遠比我想像的困難。我一直難以決定選個什麼主題去遊說別人（我可以選世界上存在的任何一個主題）。如果沒有主題，我就沒法去準備講演。感謝上帝，最後我總算是在截止日的前一個晚上選定了一個主題。當我做完規劃開始寫稿子時，已經非常晚了，所以最後沒有時間去練習。當第二天開始上ELA課時，我祈求好運降臨，向上帝禱告，求威爾基女士那天不要叫到我。

結果我無需擔憂。那天我們沒有講演，因為老師要趕因為大雪兩天沒上學而落下的其它功課。講演被推到了下一天。第二天我認真地準備了，於是我希望她第一個就叫我上去以便趕緊了結這一樁事兒。每當某人的講演結束時，我都緊張地等待着她叫到我的名字。最後都白緊張了，因為那天沒有叫到我。

終於在上周五，我被叫到做講演。我簡短地說了為什麼買投影儀比買電視機好，試着慢慢地講，讓講演聽起來很自然。我想我做得不錯。不是最好的，因為我還是講得有點太快；但也不是最糟的。然後，全班問了我幾個問題和並對我的講演進行了一些評論，從他們的評論中我可以看出，他們多數人被我的講演說服了。

不像有幾個同學的那樣，我的講演主題不是最嚴肅的那類。一個女生給出了是否應該允許同性戀結婚的精彩講演。她是這樣開頭的：“想像一下你正全身心地愛着某個人。現在，想像一下，你們不能在一起，不能結婚……”即使根據我的信仰，我認為同性戀結婚是錯誤的，我還是認為她的講演真的打動了我，我甚至同意她給出的很多觀點。另一個女生做了一個充滿激情的講演，內容是有關死刑以及死刑是如何地錯誤的。她重複多遍的一個殺死謀殺者的話是：“那讓我們比他們更好嗎？”在這一點上我完全同意她的話。她講得這麼好，所以我很驚訝於還是有幾個同學支持死刑。

還有一些其它的講演不怎麼打動人，但還是很重要（好吧，對我來講重要）。它們聽起來很牽強。有幾個在邏輯上有錯誤，或者沒有明確的觀點，但是它們都教會了我一些什麼新的東西。例如，一個關於我們不應該有作業的講演，讓我了解了（統計上地）做更多作業的學生並不比做更少作業的學生會取得更好的成績。亞歷克斯在他的講演中真的給出了很好的論據，但是最後，我不得不反對他，因為作業還有一個重要的作用：作業幫助我們練習在學校所學的技能。我知道我有多麼地討厭做作業，但是如果我不做作業，我就不可能把數學或科學課學好。所以，問題不是我們是否應該做作業，而是我們應該做多少。

另一個同學談到了不做作業，但是相應地，他建議延長在校時間去練習我們在學校學過的知識。我並不同意他的觀點，但那是一個不錯的講演。有人給出了一個很好的反戰的講演，我同意這個想法，雖然我認為那永遠也不會真正實現。有人說到了不用課本改用平板電腦。再說一遍，想法很好，但很難實現。一個非常有趣兒的講演是關於為什麼美國應該同意大麻合法化，這個講演也是由一個叫做亞歷克斯的同學給出的。我覺得他講得非常好並且很有說服力，充滿了令人震驚的事實，反駁了很多常見的關於毒品的理解。雖然我開始的立場是“不同意”，聽了亞歷克斯的講演後，絕對變成了“同意”！

一個女生做了為什麼我們應該穿校服的講演。雖然我同意她的邏輯，但就是無法容忍我們都穿着校服的樣子。我接受不了每一個人與別人看起來都一模一樣。想像一下不得不穿着校服到學校……嗯，太痛苦了。那剝奪了個性，更重要的是：人們看見的不是我，而是隨便哪一個HMS的八年級女生而已。她的講演一點也沒有說服我。另一個女生想要每一個人在滑雪時都戴頭盔。我同意她的觀點，從她的講演中我學到了很多關於滑雪的知識。另一個也叫亞歷克斯的同學（我們班有三個亞歷克斯，三個凱特和兩個朱利婭），做了一個關於為什麼大學運動員應該掙工資的講演。我一點也不了解他提到的那些關於運動的術語，所以聽完他的講演，我非常地困惑。

上完課後，顯然威爾基女士從我們的講演題目中獲得了很多快樂，她這樣總結道：“這個班級希望同性戀婚姻以及吸食大麻合法化，不想做作業，不願意殺人，想穿校服和滑雪時戴頭盔？”我們聽了都在小聲地笑。我很驚訝於我們所選擇的題目。還有幾個同學沒有講，所以我認定他們肯定得在下周一完成。我等不了了！現在我已經講完了我自己的，於是我很激動於剩下的同學將要講些什麼另外的趣事兒。

【小哭介紹背景】這個小文的信息量不小。Susan一直習慣於介紹她自己，不怎麼說別人，也許是她的個性吧，她不喜歡“八卦”。要說守秘密，她可是極佳的人選。一個朋友曾經寄着Susan的這一點表揚她，說是“喜歡不八的少女”：）不過這篇作文里，她沒怎麼介紹自己，而是對全班的遊說講演進行了概括式的介紹，也讓我開了眼界。原來他們的ELA班這麼活躍啊！而他們老師的小結更是體現了威爾基女士那種假假地“嚴肅”下的搞笑風格。Susan說，某些人的觀點，老師硬是給套在了全班上，好像全班都支持那些觀點似的：）

我介紹一點Susan作業的情況吧。她一直找不到題目，我想過支持一下，可是沒有到最後一分鐘，加上我也沒有特別適合的題目，就沒有伸手。所以最後一晚晚飯後，她說準備給全班介紹一下投影儀時，我想可能是爸爸出手了。等到講完的那一天，一回家她就興奮地說，講演的題目選得好！同學們基本上都被說服了。晚上說她在網上查的電視機的價錢明顯地偏低了，問爸爸是為什麼。於是兩人就網購時的那些選項討論了一番。嗯，挺好，Susan這明顯地開始“食人間煙火”了嘛。她說她的開場白是讓家有電視機的舉手，結果全班都舉了，然後她就說我們家沒有電視機……講完就有同學跟她討論細節。有一個反對意見她覺得非常地沒有道理，反對者說是投影儀用的幕布容易被毀壞，於是我們都說那電視機屏幕就更容易被毀壞了：）聽她的意思，同學們大部分被說服了，但是也不會馬上回家把電視換成投影儀。和其它同學的題目相比，她的主題太“普通”了，完全沒有“領袖”風範。不過我們說她以後可以替投影儀廠商打廣告了：）我說爸爸的題目選得真好，她告訴我，這個題目不是爸爸幫的忙，是她自己想出來的！嗯，那可真不錯，值得表揚。

後來Susan就着大麻合法化，和爸爸討論了許久。主要是說不管反對與否，交易其實都是存在着的。那是合法化由政府管理起來，收入也是政府支配呢？還是非法化由黑市來控制呢？Susan明顯地支持合法化，因為這樣管理得比較規範，不容易出現意外和不控制事件。我在旁邊聽着，心想，這和嫖娼與賭博都是類似的，但是我沒吱聲。聽着他們討論挺享受，比參與還開心。之前她曾經寫過一篇關于禁酒的小文，也是類似的道理，本來我覺得那小文沒有什麼特色就放在一邊了，現在看來值得哪天有空也翻譯出來發表，這些文章環環相扣呢。

Susan關於校服的觀點我到是挺意外的。她曾經在國內的國際學校呆過兩年多，天天也都是穿校服的。不只是穿校服，女生的頭髮都必須得剪到齊耳，她那時從來也沒有表示過任何異議。就算是小學一年級在公校，那時也得買校服啊！只不過是每周有一天“家服日”而已。我還記得初來美國時，發現竟然不用買校服，着實開心了一陣子，省錢了！現在小寶的私校也是規定必須得着校服的，但是小寶他們幼兒班除外。其實我是挺喜歡看着孩子們穿校服的。我的出發點和Susan不同，我覺得統一的着裝會最小化家庭背景的差異。孩子們攀比的東西，能少一樣就少一樣好。至少對於現在的我來講，少承受一份經濟壓力就好過多承受一份。

關於體育運動方面主題的講演，Susan竟然會聽不懂！其實聽不懂我也理解，只是覺得沒見Susan想去弄懂挺奇怪的。我覺得孩子們五花八門的話題正是美國多元化生活的一個縮影。如同我的一朋友昨天晚上跟我的交流，要讓孩子看到不同的世界，這樣才能學會包容和尊重。我想Susan雖然對此筆墨不多，可是她內心裡應該是明白她的弱項在哪裡的。她聽都沒聽明白，當然就無法參與那個話題的討論了。對於那麼愛辯論的她來講，這應是一個小小的衝擊。這應該會提醒她，這個世界上有那麼多不同的人和事兒，她所了解的是那麼地有限、又有限……

Persuasive Speeches

For the past month, my ELA teacher, Ms. Wilkie, has not assigned any challenging homework: mainly we just had to read short stories by Poe and study for the weekly tests. This past week, she finally gave us a hard task—persuasive speeches.

When I first heard about it, I didn’t think it was going to take that long. It was just a speech, right? And I’m good at speeches. It turned out to be harder than I had thought. I had a difficult time deciding on a topic to persuade people about (I could decide on any topic in the world), and without a topic, I couldn’t start my speech. Thanks to God, I finally managed to decide on a topic the night before the speech was due. It was getting really late when I finished planning and writing my speech, so I didn’t have time to practice. When ELA class started the next day, I was crossing my fingers and praying to God that Ms. Wilkie would not call on me to go that day.

It turned out my worrying was for nothing. We didn’t have speeches that day, due to the fact that we had two snow days and needed to catch up on other things. The speeches got pushed back to the next day. I was pretty prepared the next day, and I hoped she would pick me to go first so I could get over it. Every time someone else’s speech ended, I would wait nervously for her to call on me. That nervousness also turned out to be for nothing, because I wasn’t picked that day.

Finally, on Friday, I was picked to present my speech. I gave my quick speech about why purchasing a projector is better than purchasing a TV, trying to sound natural and talk slowly. I think I did okay. Not the best, because I still talked a little too fast, but not the worst either. Later, the class had a few questions and comments for me, and from their comments, I could see most of them were persuaded by my speech.

My speech wasn’t on the most serious of topics, unlike the speeches of a few fellow classmates. One girl gave a wonderful speech about why gay marriage should be allowed. She started out with the words: “Imagine loving someone with all your heart. And now, imagine not being able to be with them, not being able to marry them….” Even though, according to my religion, I believe gay marriage is wrong, I still think her speech was really moving and even agree with a lot of the points she made. Another girl did an emotional speech about the death penalty and how it’s wrong. A phrase she repeated a lot about killing murderers was: “Does that make us any better than them?” I completely agree with her on that one. Her speech was so good that I was shocked there were still a few kids who supported the death penalty.

There were some other speeches that weren’t as moving, but were still very important (well, important to me). They were very entertainly to listen to. A few of them were flawed in their logic, or didn’t adress a specific point, but they all taught me something new. For example, in one speech about why we shouldn’t have homework, I learned that (statistically) kids who do more homework do not have better test scores than kids who do less homework. Alex made really good points in that speech, but in the end, I had to dissagree with him, because homework does have one big use: it helps us practice the skills that we learn in school. I know that, as much as I hate homework, I would not be as good at math or science if I don’t do the homework for them. So, it’s not a matter of whether we should do it or not, but how much we should do.

Another kid also talked about getting rid of homework, but along with that, he suggested longer school days to practice the things we learn in school. I don’t really agree with that, but it was a good speech. Someone gave a really good anti-war speech, an

d I agree with the concept, although I think we’ll never actually be able to achieve that. Someone talked about getting rid of textbooks and using tablets instead. Again, it’s a nice concept, but hard to actually achieve. One very interesting speech was about why America should legalize marijuana. This speech was also given by a kid named Alex. I found his speech to be very good and very convincing, full of shocking facts that disproved many common beliefs about that drug. Although my stance was “no” before, after hearing Alex’s speech, it has definitely changed into a “yes”!

A girl did a speech about why we should wear school uniforms. Though I agree with her logic, I just can’t stand how uniformed we would all look. I despise looking the same as everybody else. Just imagining having to wear a uniform for school….ugh. That would be hell. It gets rid of individuality and most importantly: instead of people seeing Susan Cao, they would see just another 8^th grade girl from Hinsdale Middle School. Her speech didn’t convince me anything. Another girl wanted everyone to wear helmets while skiing. I agree with her, and from her speech, I learned a lot about skiing. Somebody else, also named Alex (we have three Alex’s in our class, three Kate’s, and two Julia’s), did a speech about why college players should get paid. I had no idea what most of the sports terms he said meant, so after his speech, I was very confused.

When class ended, Ms. Wilkie was very amused by our choice of topics. She said something like: “So this class wants to legalize gay marriage, smoke marijuana, not do homework, stop killing people, and wear school uniforms and ski helmets?” We had a good chuckle at that. I was surprised by our choice of topics. A few people didn’t present yet, so I assume they’ll have to do it on Monday. I can’t wait! Now that I’ve gotten my own speech over, I’m excited to about what other interesting things the rest of the class have to say.