填空题 I never wanted to be anything but a broadcaster, a talker. And for 40 years, I"ve been doing just that. To me, the ability to talk well is one of the great pleasures in life and can bring with it some of life"s greatest rewards.
I"m not saying it"s always easy. But the more you work at it, the easier it will be. To get you started, here are my six basic rules for learning how to talk to anyone, anything, anywhere:
Don"t have to be quotable
If you had seen my first morning in broadcasting, you would have surely believed that I was the last guy who"d survive, much less succeed, as a skillful talker.
It happened at WAER, a small radio station in Miami Beach in 1957. The station"s general manager said he liked my voice, and one day he told me I had the job from Monday morning.
I didn"t sleep that whole weekend. I kept practicing things to say. By Monday I was a basket case(精神极度紧张的人).
The manager called me into his office to wish me good luck. And then I was on the air.
Imagine me at 9 a.m. sitting in the broadcast room with a new song, Les Elgart"s "Swinging Down the Lane", ready to play. I started the song. Then I faded the music down so that I could talk. Only nothing came out. My mouth felt like cotton.
The same thing happened a third time. Finally, the angry manager kicked open the door to the control room and shouted, "This is a communication"s business!" Then he turned and left, banging the door behind him.
In that instant, I opened my mouth and said, "Good morning. This is my first day on the radio. I"ve been practicing all weekend. But my mouth is dry. I"m nervous. The general manager kicked open the door and said, "This is a communication"s business.""
I wasn"t exactly quotable that morning, but I was able to get something out by telling my listeners about the trouble I was in that gave me confidence to continue the rest of the show—as well as my career—went fine.
Attitude Counts
After that failure in Miami, I made a commitment to keep talking even when it might not be comfortable—in other words, to work at it. The right attitude—the will to talk—is decisive to becoming a better talker.
I think one reason I"ve had a certain amount of success in broadcasting is that the audience can see I love what I"m doing. You can"t pretend that.
Remember to Listen
Careful listening makes you a better talker. Good follow-up questions are the mark of a good conversationalist. In fact, I have an important rule that I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I"m going to learn, I have to do it by listening.
Broaden Your Horizens
The best conversationalist are able to talk about issues and experiences beyond their own daily lives. You can expand your world through travel, but you can also do it without leaving your own backyard. Talking with people who have backgrounds different from your own can help improve your conversational skills and your thinking.
Keep It Light
One of my most important rules of conversation is never to say too serious for too long. Similarly, a key quality I look for in a potential guest is a sense of humor. If the guest is not afraid of making fun of himself/herself, it is most appealing to the audience.
Be Genuine
Anybody I"ve ever talked to for more than a few minutes knows at least two things about me: I"m from Brooklyn, New York, and I"m Jewish. That"s because I"m deeply proud of both.
You should be as open and honest with your conversational partners as you"d want them to be with you, willing to reveal what your background is and what your likes and dislikes are. That"s part of the give-and-take of conversation, part of getting to know people.
As for myself, I learned something critical after surviving that case of "cotton-mouth fear" on my first day of broadcasting: Be honest, and you won"t go wrong.
Whether you"re talking to one person or a million, the rules are the same: It"s all about making a connection. Be able to share others" feelings, show enthusiasm and willingness to listen, and you can become a master of talk.

填空题 The author regards the ability to 1 as one of the greatest pleasures in life.

填空题 The passage gives six basic rules for learning how to 1.

填空题 When making the first broadcast, the author couldn"t speak because his mouth 1.

填空题 The author thinks the right attitude, i. e. , 1 is critical to becoming a better talker.

填空题 Exchanging ideas with people of different backgrounds will help improve our 1 and our thinking.

填空题 When looking for a potential guest, the author will try to find if the guest has 1.

填空题 The author learned an important lesson from his first broadcasting: 1, and we won"t go wrong.

填空题 If we follow all these rules given in the passage, we will certainly become 1.