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即兴演讲（Impromptu speech），顾名思义，就是指临场的、毫无准备的演讲。即兴演讲对于使用母语演讲的人来说都非常困难，因为这类演讲非常具有挑战性，需要演讲者具备多方面能力:思维能力、逻辑能力和语言能力。思维能力是指演讲者在毫无准备的情况下对某一问题的分析能力，对问题理解的深度和宽度等；逻辑能力主要指演讲者是否有全局观，是否能合理搭筑整个演讲的框架，所阐述观点的层次性是否清晰；而语言能力则是指演讲者即席用英语进行交流沟通的能力，可检验演讲者的英语语言熟练度和准确度如何。在做即兴演讲时，要从以下四个方面着手:内容、结构、语言以及台上演讲风格。

一、即兴演讲的内容(Content of Impromptu Speech)

即兴演讲的题目涉及方方面面，从经济、政治、教育、文化、人生到国际问题，包罗万象。这也是即兴演讲具有极强挑战性的原因之一。题目的范围之大之广对演讲者提出了很高的要求。要求演讲者平时养成读书看报的习惯，关注周围发生的焦点问题和国际时事，积累各个领域的素材，以便谈论起某一个话题时言之有物，有的放矢；要求演讲者平时养成思考的习惯，多听不同的声音，从不同角度看问题，看问题有想法、有深度。例如在近几年的大学生英语演讲比赛中出现过的即兴演讲题目有:

Is marking western holidays a sign of a modem China or of traditions sacrificed to commercial interests？

Do you think university education should be more open-minded？

Are we becoming too susceptible to advertising？

Which qualities do you look for in a boyfriend？

If you were one representative of People’ s Congress, what advice would you give to the government？

根据这几个题目，我们大致可以看出这些都是需要通过丰富自己的知识储备、强化自己的观点，广泛积累和准备才能进行的。好的演讲内容包括好的演讲主题以及有说服力的材料做支持。在即兴演讲中，更要注意这两点。

（一）支撑材料（Supporting Material）

1.正如第二章讨论过的，论据的类型最基本可分为三种:实例、统计数字以及引用别人的言语。对于即兴演讲来说，现场能够找到恰当的统计数字是非常困难的。因此在即兴演讲时，引用别人的言语和用实例来证明是最常见的两种方式。那么应该选择哪种类型的例子来做论据呢？在比赛现场上进行即兴演讲时，最切实可行的、最容易做到的就是用自己或自己周围发生的例子来说明你的观点，信手拈来，不用绞尽脑汁，演讲起来最自如、最自信；这样做无形之中也强化了自己的可信度，比较容易打动听众。例如一位演讲者的即兴演讲:

If indeed I had a chance to choose for my life again, I think the time setting I would choose is in the late 1970s and the early 1980s. That was when the Chinese government began to adopt the policy of reform and openness. And the place setting I would choose is in some places in the western part of China. Why？ Let me share with you my reasons.

Well, when I firstly saw this, err, heard this topic, I think it reminded me of an experience a few years ago. I still clearly remember that, uhh, at that time, some fellow students and I went to visit a primary school in a very poor village and we were working as tutors there. There, all the classrooms were in a very old building and many windows and doors were broken, so, when it was raining, all the children had to move to a corner in order not to get wet. Inside the classroom, five to six children were sharing one desk normally shared by two and many of the desks and chairs were broken, too.

And immediately after we began to teach them English, it became very clear to us that many of these students were very diligent and were very willing to work hard. But later on, as we talked among ourselves, we got to know that they, many of them, could not finish their schooling just because of poverty. I think that this experience enabled us to see that we belong to a few group of, a group of few people that are fortunately enough to receive a college education.

这段演讲是她真情实感的流露，表达起来自如，而且自信，也容易和听众进行真正的交流。

2.在演讲中选择使用论据时，需要特别注意以下两个原则。

（1）演讲的支持材料要切题。所选择的支持材料要为你的中心观点或主题服务，不能偏离这一点，不能跑题。在赛前要做充分的准备，准备各个领域的数据、例子、权威专家的话等，做好充分的调研，以便在比赛中游刃有余。但切记你所选择的支持材料一定要与主题相关，为主题服务，能够帮助听众更加深入地了解你的观点，决不能哗众取宠。不切题的即兴演讲是很难成功的。

（2）演讲的支持材料要贴近听众。演讲的支持材料最好是听众熟悉的。贴近听众，不仅有利于听众理解、接受和吸收你的信息，而且容易产生共鸣。演讲者除了可以用国外的例子或国外名人说的话来支持论点之外，为了能够与听众拉近距离，也要讲一些本地发生的事情，发生的事情对听众产生了什么样的影响，用当地的文化、理念来解释你的观点，这样更容易在听众中产生共鸣。例如一位演讲者的即兴演讲:

Well, actually, very accidentally this morning, when we were sort of“imprisoned”in that preparing room, actually we had a fierce debate over law. And now I would like to share some of my thoughts with you on whether we should adopt flexible laws or axed laws.

Well, first of all, I admit that there are some cases of injustice in our society. For example, last year there was a famous case of Wang Bingyu, which aroused a great controversy in society. Actually Wang Bingyu was a migrant worker, who failed for several times to get his payment from his boss. And obviously that boss treated him very badly. He didn’ t send him to hospital when he was ill, and he didn’ t treat him with very good food and also made him make, do extra work without any extra money. And out of a rage, Wang killed several of the, several people in charge, out of a great rage. And that case aroused a great controversy in society. Actually when I read the story, I did show some sympathy for that guy, because I think it was the fault of the boss in the first place. It was him who didn’ t pay him the payment that he deserved. So I feel sympathetic for him.

演讲者讲述了一个在我国曾经轰动一时的案例，台下的听众可能听说过，也可能不知道这个故事，但这毕竟是发生在听众周围的，贴近听众，这样听众便会很容易理解演讲者所要传达的信息。

在一分钟的即兴演讲中，你用具体的事例来仔细阐述观点的时间可能非常有限。在这一分钟之内，你很可能只能给出主要观点的框架，那么要想真正打动听众恐怕要依赖于主题和观点到底如何。

（二）主题与观点（Theme and Idea）

在前面谈过选择主题或角度时应遵循的一些具体原则，如:主题和角度一定是你有切身感触的；应该具有创造性，是听众感兴趣的；应该具体；应该真实而有意义；所选择的观点或角度一定能经得起推敲和琢磨，是全面的。除了这些基本原则外，在演讲过程中处理即兴演讲时，还应该特别强调两点:切题和严谨。

1.切题。切题最重要。一般而言，选手拿到的题目都是以问题的形式出现的。你需要表明在这个问题上的立场和观点，决不可以含糊其辞，态度闪烁不定，站在中间，既谈好处又谈弊端。这样一来显得演讲的观点不明确，态度不明朗。

2.观点的严谨性。观点不能偏激，一定要严谨。这里的严谨有以下几层意思，即观点本身能够站得住脚，有充足的材料可以说明论证；表达观点的语言本身要严谨、准确，尽量避免绝对化的字眼，如“never, every, a11, nothing, nobody”等，这些绝对化判断太容易遭到攻击；观点需要限制和修饰。要用发展性的眼光来处理你的观点；承认你的观点有修正和完善的余地。你的观点可能只是你目前认识的一个方面，或者是现阶段你的一种想法，它仍然有完善的余地。

二、即兴演讲的结构（Structure of Impromptu Speech）

很多演讲者在做即兴演讲时，没有头，没有尾，从一个观点跳跃到另一个观点，然后又回到第一个观点，使听众摸不到头脑，抓不到主线。这样的演讲注定要失败。在做即兴演讲时对结构的处理应注意以下几点。

（一）完整性（Completeness）

1.在开头部分，对三分钟的即兴演讲和一分钟的即兴演讲的策略稍有不同。

三分钟的即兴演讲:

你需要有一个有趣的、能吸引人注意力的开头。如前面所述，开头需要包括四个部分:以某种特别的方式吸引听众的注意力，揭示主题，建立自己的可信度和预先向听众揭示演讲的主要观点。

对于即兴演讲来说，可以根据自己的需要来选择性处理开头。首先，如果能想出一个吸引人注意力的开头，那是最好不过了。但如果在现场想不出，那么就直接切入主题，开门见山，阐述立场也是好的，至少简洁明了。然后，揭示主题。如果有可能的话，可以谈一谈自己和主题的联系。例如一位演讲者的即兴演讲是这样开头的:

I guess most of you have seen the movie Terminator. I want to make a very bad prophecy that human beings will one day be terminated by our own technology.

这一开头非常大胆，出乎听众的意料，因此能从一开始就抓住别人的注意力。

Literature to our mind is like the food to stomach. And I believe, whatever vocation we hold, everyone needs a place reserved for the literature works in their heart. Literature makes us wise. By reading Shakespeare’ s Macbeth, I understand the overarching ambition. By reading the Canterbury Tales, the cautionary tales in the Canterbury Tales, I understand ambition and greed may kill people in the end.

在这里，演讲者联系了自己读书的经历，谈到了自己读书的体会，增加了可信度以及和听众之间的沟通和交流。

一分钟的即兴演讲:

时间非常有限，因此在开头中只需要直接切入主题，开门见山，表明立场，简洁明了。但如果有非常切合主题的，能吸引听众注意力的引自别人的话（不能太长，一两句即可）或令人吃惊的事实，也可以用在开头。例如:

I believe it’ s good for Peking Opera to adopt some western style, western influences and western musical instruments to enrich and improve it for the following reasons.

开头简捷明了，开门见山，切中主题。

2.在正文部分中，对待三分钟和一分钟即兴演讲的策略是大致相同的。演讲者主要观点的数量适宜控制在两到三个，不宜过多。尤其是在一分钟的即兴演讲中，主要观点不要超过两个，对每个观点解释几句即可。例如:

And first I hope my boyfriend could be well educated, let’ s say smart. And second I hope that he can be a bosom friend. He will be my soul mate. I don’ t think I need to explain more about the first point because I think everyone is trying to find someone who is smart, who is well educated, because they can always bring passion to your life. They can always come up with different ideas and can make you happy, and bring excitement to your life. And for me I’ m just the same. And talking about the second point, I hope that I can find someone who can be also my soul mate. I hope that we two can understand each other. I think this is very important in the relationship of these two people. I mean that, uh, I have come across, not myself but my friends have come cross this kind of situations. That, um, these two people they have got differences towards one issue and maybe one of them will say no, I can’ t. I can’ t agree with you and I can’ t stay with you any longer so let’ s break up. And then they broke up. And I think why they did this is that they couldn’ t understand each other so well. And for me I just want to find someone who can understand me well and also I hope I can understand him well as well. Yes. So these are the two main points that I, uh, these are the two main requirements that I look for. Thank you.

上述演讲中的主要观点有两个，非常明确，阐述充分。

3.对于结尾部分，许多演讲者因为时间紧迫，草草收场。其实应该用一两句总结你的主要观点作为结尾，给听众一种完整的感觉。这对一分钟和三分钟的演讲同样适用。例如:

So these are the two main points that I, uh, these are the two main requirements that I look for. Thank you.

（二）过渡性（Transition）

在即兴演讲中，可以适当使用一些过渡性的词或句，如:标志词，或起这样作用的句子等，以便帮助听众衔接你的主要观点。下面是一些在比赛中经常用到的标志词。

表示时间关系的:

until, previously, later, earlier, in the past, in the future, meanwhile, before, after, at present, today, eventually

表示因果关系的:

therefore,consequently,thus,so,asaresult,since,dueto, accordingly, because of

compared with, likewise, similarly, just as, much like

but, yet, however, on the other hand, in contrast, rather than, on the contrary

moreover, in addition, not only, also, furthermore, besides

演讲者在演讲前可以进行模拟练习，要始终有这样一种意识，培养一种好习惯，那就是，每当你开口进行演讲时，有意识地训练自己在脑海中建构一个大的框架，确保你所说的在结构上完整，这样听众会比较容易接受你的观点。

三、即兴演讲的语言（Language of Impromptu Speech）

在即兴演讲中，语言运用要准确、清晰，能生动地传达你的观点，还有一点需特别强调，那就是幽默。幽默可以在演讲者和听众之间架起一座桥梁，营造出轻松的氛围，使听众更容易接受传达的信息。例如:芭芭拉·布什在《选择和变化》的演讲中，通过运用幽默的语言赢得了听众。当时Wellesley女校学生强烈反对布什夫人来校为毕业生做演讲，媒体也纷纷报道此事，成为当时重要新闻。学生们欢迎的人选是《紫色》的作者，著名黑人女作家Alice Walker。芭芭拉·布什就是在这样一片反对声中登上讲台。但她充分运用幽默手段，建立了一个非常友好轻松的演讲环境。

Now I know your first choice today was Alice Walker——guess how I know! ——known for the Color Purple. Instead you got me——known for the color of my hair!

在另一段中，她说:

One of the reasons I made the most important decision of my life, to marry George Bush, is because he made me laugh. It’ s true, sometimes we’ ve laughed through our tears, but that shared laughter has been one of our strongest bonds. Find the joy in life, because as Ferris Bueller said on his day of: “Life moves pretty fast. You don’ t stop and look around once in a while, you’ re gonna miss it!（I’ m not going to tell George you clapped more for Ferris than you clapped for George!）

又如，麦克阿瑟将军在西点军校结束自己军旅生涯时的告别演讲，是这样开头的:

As I was leaving the hotel this morning, a doorman asked me,“Where are you bound for, General？ ”And when I replied,“West Point,”he remarked,“Beautiful place. Have you ever been there before？”

但幽默必须要恰当地使用，并注意两个问题:①在谈到比较轻松的话题、或者涉及自己的经历时，不妨多加入一丝幽默；但涉及比较严肃的话题，如:自杀、青少年犯罪等时，幽默就会和整体氛围和格调不太一致。②选择幽默材料时一定要切题、相关。幽默的作用是为中心和观点服务，绝不能喧宾夺主。

四、台上演讲风格（Stage Style）

前面讨论过台上演讲风格的一些因素，如:与听众之间的眼神交流、适当的语速、音高、手势、表情、清晰而标准的发音等因素。可以将这些具体原则应用在演讲前的准备工作里。可以录下自己的声音去听，或请同学、老师或外教指点发音方面的问题。如果有条件，还可以用摄像机拍摄下整个练习过程，看一看你的演讲风格还可以在哪些方面提高。除了演讲前的准备工作，在比赛过程中，还要特别强调的一点，就是真诚地去和听众交流。真诚在即兴演讲中尤为重要。

这里所说的真诚主要包括以下几个含义:

1.确实想在这样一个场合真诚地和听众交流，仿佛听众就是你最好的朋友。你有自己的观点，你想和他们一起去探讨，去完善和提高自己对问题的认识。有了这样一个出发点，你就可以利用一些身体语言来表达这种诚意。如:适当的语速、微笑、和听众之间恰当的眼神交流、清晰而标准的发音等。另外，还应注意听众的反馈情绪，如:厌倦、茫然，然后及时做出调整。听众能感受到你做出的努力。

2.表达的是真正想传达给观众的信息，而不是在伪装，或履行公务式地说些套话。很多场合下，演讲者都会以这样的句子开头，“I’ m glad to come here and give the speech.”“I’m very excited to have such an opportunity to give this speech”当他们这样说的时候，身体语言也要协调一致。人们高兴或兴奋的时候，表情、声音、语调都是不同的。声音应充满着热情和渴望，脸上的表情应热情生动。如果演讲者说这些话时却没有相应的表情，只是履行公务式地说些套话，那么听众在一开始就对他有了隔膜。另外，还有一种情况就是，演讲者所谈的并不是自己的观点，可能是事前和他人讨论过的结果，也可能是老师灌输给学生的、但学生并没有充分理解和消化的东西，那么当他站在台上，表达这些观点时，就会显得空洞，甚至呆板。其实演讲者在台上所要传达的一定是经过分析、思考和消化后自己得出的结论。这个结论可能有待商榷，但一定是他自己的东西。这样演讲的时候才真诚，才有可信度。

3.真诚还代表着在台上由于紧张或其他什么原因犯了个错误，没关系，大胆地正视错误。只需要向听众重新解释一下，“我刚才其实指的是……” 。真诚地向听众解释是对听众的一种尊重，也是达到真正有效沟通和交流的一种手段。

下面这两句话是爱默生和孟子对真诚的理解:

Sincerity is the highest compliment you can pay.（Ralph Waldo Emerson）

Never has there been one possessed of complete sincerity that did not move others. Never has there been one who had not sincerity who was able to move others.（Mencius）

No.1 Should a complete ban be imposed on smoking in all public places？

Yes, we should ban public smoking.

Firstly, health is the greatest wealth. The damage caused by smoking is costing more and more to the health care system each year. And actually, even though most of the smokers are men, it is women and children who are suffering the most from second-hand smoking.

Secondly, smoking bans are already in place in several countries. They found special smoking zones in public are actually not effective, because non-smokers are still exposed to second-hand smoking.

Thirdly, some people may say that imposing a ban on public smoking is taking away people’ s freedom. However we know that, freedom comes with responsibility. You have the right to smoke in private, but you don’ t have the right to harm other people’ s health and other people’ s lungs.

So yes, we should impose a ban on public smoking.

No.2 Should advertisement designed to influence children be banned？

I believe advertisement designed to influence children should not be banned.

After 30 years of open-up and reform, we have observed increasing prosperity in the Chinese economy.And along this phenomenon, commercials have become an inseparable part of our daily lives. Children under the age of 14 account for a large consumer group; therefore, it is natural for these people to attract a large number of advertisements. The advertising, a part of natural economy phenomenon, has not broken any regulations or laws of the country.

Secondly,these commercials have not harmed anyone in any situations. And thirdly, these commercial do provide us with useful handy information about new qualities of new products that suit the needs of today’ s children.

Therefore, I believe advertising aimed to influence children should not be banned.

No.3 Is there a need for a national film classification system in China？

I love watching movies. I am a supporter of a national film classification system in China for the following two reasons. My first reason is that when we are watching and buying movies, we are not sure that the movies that we are watching and buying are for our age or for our taste and we are not sure that the movies are whether for children and whether for adults. And my second reason is that we cannot totally adopt the western system of classification for the following reasons. First is: we have our own culture. Our culture is different from western world. And we have our own perspectives of seeing things. It’ s also different. So far the above reasons, my, I strongly support having a national film classification system in China.

No.4 The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it. ——Oscar Wilde

Well, this sentence, “The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.” , is said by the famous British writer in the 19th century, Oscar Wilde. Well, in my opinion, he always makes a lot of witty and sometimes sarcastic sayings about history. And sometimes we can’ t take the sentence literally as how it is said. And I think this is a typical one. And I would like to understand in another way. “The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.”Us human beings have being discussing and writing about history, and because we are human beings, we are different and we may look at this one specific fact from different kind of angles and perspectives. According to one specific thing that happened in the history, we may have arguments for pro and con for one thing. For example, in ancient China, the yellow emperor, who had done a great job according to some historians by unifying the country, unifying the language as well as currency. But at the same time, he buried the intellect, 406 intellects alive just by unifying it and destroyed a lot of very valuable historians’works by burning them. And we may see it from different angle by judging whether the yellow emperor has been a great emperor in the history. Same thing was Cao Cao, who is a good military, who has a lot of skills by manipulating and by fighting against the enemy. But at the same time, people may say that he is too cruel by killing too many people around him. Well, what can we say them？ And now let’ s turn our attention to Europe, European history about the French revolution. We know that the French revolution have done a great job for us by moving the society of that time into a higher level and stage. But at the same time, the red terror happened. A lot of people were killed in the process of this moving toward to another stage of process. And can we judge it just by one perspective？ And now we know that the president of the United States has been reelected. And people may say that this can be a mistake by having a war in Iraq. And historians has proved that there are a lot of people are saying that the fall of an empire may be led by a lot of things that are done out of the capacities of one nation. And there are a lot of things here for us to judge. And we may say“yes”“no”to the fact, or shake our heads. But what I learn from this is that we can never do any hasty decisions to answer the question. And to judge history let’ s leave it to the power of time.

思考与讨论（Thinking and discussion）

1. What are the contents of impromptu speech？

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2. Compare the structure differences of impromptu speeches with informative speeches and persuasive speeches.

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3. State out the aspects of structure an impromptu speech included.

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应用演练（Application exercises）

Prepare speeches: 1. The Advantages of College Students’Going into Business.

　　　　　　　　　2. Is it Easy to Learn a New Language？

There is a public debate nowadays on the phenomenon of college students’going into business. Those who object to it argue that students should not spend their precious time in this way because it will merely cause their academic failures. But people who advocate it, on the other hand, claim that, by going into business, students can not only improve their academic performance, but also gain much experience. In my point of view, the advantages of college students’going into business outweigh its disadvantages.

On the other hand, going into business will improve college students’ability of financial management, which will be very helpful in their later lives. For instance, two students are running a grocery store. At the end of every month, they want to work out how much money they have made, so they should find some good approaches to manage money. In this way they improve their ability of financial management.

By going into business, college students can put what they learn from books and their teachers into practice. As for college students, especially students whose major contains many subjects which are theoretical, it will be hard pressed for them to remember all of the special items or rules without the aid of typical examples. However, if they take practice, they will never forget.

Finally, going into business can lay a solid foundation for college students’future work. As a matter of fact, many college students with high degree can not find jobs after graduation. The reason for this lie in their lack of working experience and application of what they have learnt. Going into business will provide students with a lot of opportunities to deal with emergencies, which will be their precious life experiences.

All in all, many facts and evidence show that the advantages of college students’going into business can not be ignored. We should encourage college students to be engaged into a certain business.

Have you ever seen advertisement that say something like, “Learn a foreign language in six weeks, or your money back. From the first day, your pronunciation will be excellent. Just sent.” Of course, it never happens quite like that. The only language that is easy to learn is your mother tongue, and think of how much practice that took!Before the Second World War, people usually learned a foreign language such as English is commonplace. Every year, many millions of people start learning a new language. How do they do it？

Some people begin at home with books, records or types. Some use radio or television programs, while others go to evening classes. If thy use their new language only two or three times a week as they would in a language school, learning will take a long time. A few people try to learn a language quickly by studying for six or more hours a day. It is clear easy to learn the language in the country where it is spoken. However, most people cannot afford this even though for many it is necessary.

Some people need a foreign language in order to do their work better. For example, scientists and doctor chiefly need to be able to read books and reports in a foreign language such as English. Whether their language is learned quickly or slowly, it is hard work. Machines and good books will help, but they cannot do the students’work for them.