Toastmasters. Project 4. How to say it
Сегодня готовила речь для нашего клуба. На это раз задача была - сделать речь одновременно легкой для понимания и выразительной, обращая внимание на соответствующие языковые средства. Например, использовать короткие, но сильные слова, избегать громоздких конструкций, длинных комплексных предложений а пассивного залога и, с другой стороны, , снабдить речь примерами аллитерации, метафоры, выразительного повторения и т.д.
Вот что получилось.
Successful proportions.
Many people associate success with luck. And they try hard attracting luck, in other words, cheating on the fair state of things. For instance, students putting textbooks below the pillow before exams, or businessmen hiring psychics to predict on investments, or this trendy thing - visualizing ambitions and making affirmations like “I have a successful business, a beautiful wife and an island of my own”.
Do these tricks ever work or do they fail to the idea once expressed by Thomas Edison “Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety nine perspiration”. I would like to put this quote in other words to fit it better in my topic. Success is one per cent of luck and talent and ninety nine of hardwork”.
Let us have a look at famous success stories.
Folfgang Amadeus Mozart was a recognized prodigy child, demonstrating exceptional talent across Europe at the age of six. But do you know that his father was a professional music teacher. He started giving daily lessons to his son when he was only three. Mozart grew bilingual in Austrian German and Music languages.
Isaac Newton. A common man would think that Newton had a sudden insight on the law of gravity when he was lying idly under an apple tree. No way, he had spent decades on scrupulous research at University of Cambridge and on thousands of thorough observations before he worked out this fundamental.
Thomas Edison, the quote provider. He made about 999 attempts to invent the lamp before he finally succeeded in the 1000th. When asked what got him to keep going for so long despite numerous failures, he replied, “Each time it didn't work I used to say I discovered a new way how to not invent the lamp. I think, this was a brilliant technique of positive thinking combined with humorous attitude, and it was definitely worth a patent.
Going forth in time, Joanne K. Rowling, nowadays a world-known author and a billionaire. She was writing her first Harry Potter Book right after her divorce. She was living then on government aid, had a child to support and was barely able to make ends meet. She could not even afford a computer so she manually typed each version of her book to send to publishers. Publishers had rejected dozens of those manually typed copies before she finally got a second chance one of them - a small publisher whose CEO’s daughter loved the book.
Jim Carry, a rewarded comedian. Rumour has it, he practiced the trendy trick of visualizing. Once at the age of sixteen he wrote himself a check for $10,000,000 for acting services, which he dated for Thanksgiving Day in the year 1995. Just before that date, he hit the box office with Dumb and Dumber. Magic luck, or wasn’t it? Carry was born in 1962, so he wrote the check sometime in 1978. Seventeen years had passed before his wishful thinking came true. Seventeen years of touring the country, struggling for a job and often failing in countless comic shows.
All these stories speak of talent and even of a bit of luck, but first of they are about loads of hardwork, commitment and persistence.
I have a thought in mind to sum up the main points. Imagine you have to go by bus to the other side of the city. If you feel lazy, you will be standing at the bustop by your home waiting for the only bus available. It might take half an hour if you are lucky, or an hour if you aren’t. And what if it does not stop? It might take too long, so you will turn around and come back home with no result. But what if you force yourself to walk a mile and reach a junction for numerous busroutes? Even if some of them don not go your route and others just pass by, there will still be many more to catch within 5 minutes. Success is your destination, and the more you “walk” and work, the more options will come up.
So, seems to me the most efficient tricks would be for students to revise a week before exams, for businessmen to research markets, and for all of us to work hard, take pains and make an effort. The latter three make up our 99%, and that is the best proportion for success.
Кстати, всем нам, членам клуба, настоятельно рекомендовали привести гостя на следующую встречу, дабы благое дело развивалось. Если кто-нибудь из живущих в СПб это прочтет и захочет потратить пару часов в воскресенье на эффективную (мое преподавательское мнение) и интересную тренировку навыков английского, дайте знать и пойдемте со мной в следующий раз.
PS Мой evaluator сделала примечания к местам в речи каким-то непонятным мне способом (способ-то, наверняка, простой и известный многим, кто не я), и теперь они подчеркнуты, а у меня не получается убрать подчеркивание, хм.
Вот что получилось.
Successful proportions.
Many people associate success with luck. And they try hard attracting luck, in other words, cheating on the fair state of things. For instance, students putting textbooks below the pillow before exams, or businessmen hiring psychics to predict on investments, or this trendy thing - visualizing ambitions and making affirmations like “I have a successful business, a beautiful wife and an island of my own”.
Do these tricks ever work or do they fail to the idea once expressed by Thomas Edison “Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety nine perspiration”. I would like to put this quote in other words to fit it better in my topic. Success is one per cent of luck and talent and ninety nine of hardwork”.
Let us have a look at famous success stories.
Folfgang Amadeus Mozart was a recognized prodigy child, demonstrating exceptional talent across Europe at the age of six. But do you know that his father was a professional music teacher. He started giving daily lessons to his son when he was only three. Mozart grew bilingual in Austrian German and Music languages.
Isaac Newton. A common man would think that Newton had a sudden insight on the law of gravity when he was lying idly under an apple tree. No way, he had spent decades on scrupulous research at University of Cambridge and on thousands of thorough observations before he worked out this fundamental.
Thomas Edison, the quote provider. He made about 999 attempts to invent the lamp before he finally succeeded in the 1000th. When asked what got him to keep going for so long despite numerous failures, he replied, “Each time it didn't work I used to say I discovered a new way how to not invent the lamp. I think, this was a brilliant technique of positive thinking combined with humorous attitude, and it was definitely worth a patent.
Going forth in time, Joanne K. Rowling, nowadays a world-known author and a billionaire. She was writing her first Harry Potter Book right after her divorce. She was living then on government aid, had a child to support and was barely able to make ends meet. She could not even afford a computer so she manually typed each version of her book to send to publishers. Publishers had rejected dozens of those manually typed copies before she finally got a second chance one of them - a small publisher whose CEO’s daughter loved the book.
Jim Carry, a rewarded comedian. Rumour has it, he practiced the trendy trick of visualizing. Once at the age of sixteen he wrote himself a check for $10,000,000 for acting services, which he dated for Thanksgiving Day in the year 1995. Just before that date, he hit the box office with Dumb and Dumber. Magic luck, or wasn’t it? Carry was born in 1962, so he wrote the check sometime in 1978. Seventeen years had passed before his wishful thinking came true. Seventeen years of touring the country, struggling for a job and often failing in countless comic shows.
All these stories speak of talent and even of a bit of luck, but first of they are about loads of hardwork, commitment and persistence.
I have a thought in mind to sum up the main points. Imagine you have to go by bus to the other side of the city. If you feel lazy, you will be standing at the bustop by your home waiting for the only bus available. It might take half an hour if you are lucky, or an hour if you aren’t. And what if it does not stop? It might take too long, so you will turn around and come back home with no result. But what if you force yourself to walk a mile and reach a junction for numerous busroutes? Even if some of them don not go your route and others just pass by, there will still be many more to catch within 5 minutes. Success is your destination, and the more you “walk” and work, the more options will come up.
So, seems to me the most efficient tricks would be for students to revise a week before exams, for businessmen to research markets, and for all of us to work hard, take pains and make an effort. The latter three make up our 99%, and that is the best proportion for success.
Кстати, всем нам, членам клуба, настоятельно рекомендовали привести гостя на следующую встречу, дабы благое дело развивалось. Если кто-нибудь из живущих в СПб это прочтет и захочет потратить пару часов в воскресенье на эффективную (мое преподавательское мнение) и интересную тренировку навыков английского, дайте знать и пойдемте со мной в следующий раз.
PS Мой evaluator сделала примечания к местам в речи каким-то непонятным мне способом (способ-то, наверняка, простой и известный многим, кто не я), и теперь они подчеркнуты, а у меня не получается убрать подчеркивание, хм.