看TED学英文之“被拒100天”(上)

你害怕被拒绝吗?生活中,我们常常会遇到被拒绝的情况---求职被拒,加薪被拒,请假被拒,合作被拒,表白被拒......被拒的经历或多或少都会给我们造成一些负面影响。有这样一个北京小伙儿---蒋甲,由于害怕被拒绝,曾放弃掉很多想做的事情,直到30岁的一天,他幡然醒悟,决心克服掉自己“害怕被拒绝”的障碍,于是,开始了“被拒100天”的实验,在100天中,他做了100件被认为一定会被拒绝的事情,结果如何呢,这一举动给他带来了哪些影响和意外收获?接下来,我们一起来听一听他的故事。open.163.com/movie/2017/2/6/B/MC918H30S_MC9VQJL6B.html (宝宝们,答应我,先点击链接观看视频再看文章,拉钩!一定要看到最后喔,因为最后有......彩蛋O(∩_∩)O~)

演讲原文(上)

When I was six years old, I received my gifts. My first grade teacher had this brilliant idea. She wanted us to experience receiving gifts but also learning the virtue of complimenting each other, so she had all of us come to the front of the classroom and she bought all of us the gifts and stacked them in the corner. And she said:”Why don’t we just stand here and compliment each other? If you hear your named called, go and pick up your gift and sit down.” What a wonderful idea, right? What could go wrong? Well, there were 40 of us to start with and every time when I heard someone’s name called, I would give out the heartiest cheer. And then there were 20 people left, and 10 people left, and 5 left, and 3 left, and I was one of them. And the compliments stopped. Well, at that moment, I was crying. And the teacher was freaking out. She was like “Hey, would anyone say anything nice about these people? No one? Okay, why don’t you go get your gift and sit down, so behave next year and someone might say something nice about you.”

Well, as I’m describing this to you, you probably know I remember this really well. But I don’t know who felt worse that day? Was it me or the teacher? She must have realized that she turned a team building event into a public roast for three six-year olds. And without the humor, you know, when you see people get roasted on TV, it was funny. There was nothing funny about that day. So that was one version of me and I would die to avoid being in that situation again—to get rejected in public again. That’s one version.

The fast-forward eight years and Bill Gates came to my hometown—Beijing China, to speak. And I saw his message. I fell in love with that guy. I thought “Wow, I know what I want to do now.” That night I wrote a letter to my family, telling them “By the age 25, I will build the biggest company in the world. And that company will buy Microsoft.” I totally embraced this idea of conquering the world--domination, right? And I didn’t make this up, I did write that letter. And here it is—You don’t have to read this through and this is also bad hand writing but I did highlight some key words. Er… you get the idea. So that was another version of me—one who will conquer the world.

Well, then two years later, I was presented with the opportunity to come to the United States. I jumped on it, and because that was where Bill Gates lived, right? I thought that was the start of my entrepreneur journey.

Then fast-forward another 14 years I was 30. Nope, I didn’t build up that company. I didn’t even start. I was actually a marketing manager for a Fortune 500 company. And I felt I was stuck. I was stagnant. Why is that? Where is that 14-year-old who wrote that letter? It’s not because he didn’t try. It’s because every time I wanted to have a new idea, every time I wanted to try something new, even at work, I wanted to make a proposal, I wanted to speak up in front of people in a group, I felt there was this constant battle between the 14 year-old and the 6 year-old. One wanted to conquer the world—make a difference, another was afraid of rejection. And every time, that 6 year-old won. And this fear even persisted after I started my own company. I mean, I started my own company when I was 30, if you wanna be Bill Gates, you’ve got to start sooner or later, right? When I was entrepreneur, I was presented with an investment opportunity and then I was turned down. And that rejection hurt me. It hurt me so bad that I wanted to quit right there.

But then I thought “Hey, would Bill Gates quit after a simple investment rejection? Would any successful entrepreneur quit like that? No way.” And this is where it clicked for me. Okay, I can build a better company. I can build a better team or a better product. But one thing for sure, I’ve got to be a better leader. I’ve got to be a better person. I cannot let the 6 year-old boy keep dictating my life anymore. I have to put him back in his place. So this is where I went online and looked for help. Google was my friend. I searched ”How do I overcome the fear of rejection?” I came up with a bunch of psychology articles about where the fear and pain are coming from. Then I came up with a bunch of “rah-rah” inspirational articles about “don’t take it personally, just overcome it.” Who doesn’t know that? But why I was still so scared?

Then I found this website by luck. It’s called rejectiontheraphy.com. “Rejection Therapy” was this game invented by this Canadian entrepreneur. His name is Jason Comely. And basically the idea is for 30 days you go out and look for rejection. And everyday get rejected at something, and then by the end, you desensitize yourself from the pain. And I love that idea. I said “You know what? I’m gonna do this. And I’ll feel myself get rejected 100 days.” And I came up with my own rejection ideas and I made a video blog out of it. And so here is what I did. This is what the blog looked like.

Day One: borrow 100 dollar from a stranger. So this is where I went to where I was working. I came downstairs and I saw this big guy sitting behind a desk. He looked like a security guard. So I just approached him. And I was just going walking and that was the longest walk in my life. I just felt my hair on the back of my neck standing up, I was sweating and my heart was pounding. And I got there and said “Hey sir, can I borrow 100 dollar from you?” And he looked up, he’s like, “No. Why?” And… and I just said “No? I’m sorry. ” Then I turned around, and I just ran. I felt so embarrassed but because I filmed myself, so that night I was watching myself getting rejected. I just saw how scared I was. I looked like this kid in “The Six Sense”. I saw dead people. But then I saw this guy, you know, he wasn’t that menacing. He was chubby, loveable guy, and he even asked me “why?” In fact, he invited me to explain myself. And I could’ve said many things. I could’ve explained. I could’ve negotiated. I didn’t do any of that. All I did was run. I felt, “Wow, this is like a microcosm of my life.” Every time I felt the slightest rejection, I would run as fast as I could. And you know what? The next day, no matter what happens, I’m not gonna run. I’ll stay engaged.

在上半部分的演讲中,蒋甲讲述了自己6岁那年在全班“表扬被拒“的经历,以及之后到美国工作迷茫,想要开启新事业时内心对“拒绝”的恐惧,并描述了30岁创业时寻找投资失败,由于害怕再遭拒绝而几近放弃的历程。终于有一天,他决定打破“害怕拒绝”的魔咒,在google上无意间发现的RejectionTherapy.com网站给了他灵感,于是他在自己的博客中列出了100件会被拒绝事情,并一件件去实践它们。今天我们的演讲稿原文先给大家整理了蒋甲做的第一件事情--找陌生人借100美元。这件事情让他意识到,自己在生活中遭到一点小小的拒绝就会逃跑,而非正视并继续尝试和解决它。因此他决定第二天无论发生什么,都会留下来继续交涉,而非像第一天一样落荒而逃。接下来又会有哪些荒诞,有趣又好玩的事情发生呢?这些事情又会对蒋甲产生哪些重大影响?在明天的“演讲原文”中,将继续为大家揭晓,请大家拭目以待。

最后,给大家列举出原文中出现的一些可能会对大家造成理解障碍的生词,短语,以及表达,帮助大家更好地学习这篇演,在熟悉这些单词后,再试着重新听一听上半部分的演讲,也许会有惊喜喔O(∩_∩)O~

compliment   v. 称赞 (称赞是美德,大家记得要经常称赞,夸夸你的朋友和家人喔,当然得是真心夸赞,不然会适得其反哒)

the viture of compliment each other  互相称赞的美德

give out the heartiest cheer   给予最热烈的欢呼(大部分人都有过看演唱会的经历吧?我还记得看女神孙燕姿演唱会的那次,太激动了,全程欢呼,吼得第二天嗓子都哑了~)

freak out   惊慌 (想想上一件令你惊慌失措的事情是什么?欢迎在评论区留言)

public roast  公开批评 (roast这个单词熟悉吗?如果不熟悉,再看看这个“roast duck”--北京烤鸭,bingo,roast是“烘烤”的意思,你想想,把你放在公共场合给“烤”了,是种什么感觉?想想都可怕呀~)

reject  v. 拒绝 (本集主题词,文中还有一个同义短语发现了吗?--“turn down”)

fall in love with   爱上......(最近你有没有爱上某个人/某件事儿/某部电影/某首歌呢?)

conquer   v. 征服  (此时脑海里飘出一句歌词“就这样被你征服,喝下你藏好的毒......”感觉自己一不小心又暴露了年龄,哈哈~)

make up   编造

be presented with   被给予......(等同于be given, 大家可以在口语和写作中用起来哟~)

jump on it  抓住机会、投入其中(这个短语特别形象有木有,想要得到的东西,就必须快速跳上去占领它,抓住它,得到它)

entrepreneur  n. 企业家 (说到企业家,大家想到了谁?马云,俞敏洪,王健林,刘强东,任正非......吐槽一下,这个单词,我在整理这篇演讲稿的时候,写一次错一次,包括现在这次,哈哈,不信你拿出纸笔自己写写看,看第几次能写对,坏笑中~)

Fortune 500 company   500强公司 (有哪些世界500强公司,大家自行补脑吧~)

be stuck/ be stagnant  (表示“停滞不前,迷茫”的状态,大家是否正处于这个状态中呢?Well, I'm kind of stuck/ stagnant right now, whoops.)

It clicked for me.  我恍然大悟 (click 表示“敲击,点击”,例如我们上网时会点击鼠标,这里的“点击我”是什么意思呢?想想看,大家有没有经历过,某句话或者某件事击中了自己,让你有种恍然大悟,茅塞顿开的感觉?)

dictate my life   控制我的生活(“dictate”这个单词,想必大家都不陌生吧?英语课上,老师经常会说“Now let's have a dictation.”,对啦,就是“听写”的意思--学生党表示很头疼有木有o(╯□╰)o,也有有“命令”的意思,大家想想,听写,就是老师读哪个单词,你就必须写出哪个单词,算不算是对你写单词的一种支配和控制呢?)

desensitize...from...  对......麻木/免疫   (这里有个词根sense,表示“感觉”,sensitive这个形容词表示“敏感的”,我自己就是个脸容易过敏的人---不过现在已经很久都没有过敏啦,我还有一个朋友,大家猜猜她对什么过敏?阳光!出一点点太阳就得打伞,不敢走在阳光下,What a poor girl, she is sensitive to sunshine. 现在再来说说desensitize, de是一个否定前缀,表示“远离”,例如飞机起飞叫做departure,所以远离敏感,就表示对......已经麻木了,tize是表示动词词性的后缀,desensitize...from...现在大家对这个短语的印象有没有更深一点,能记住了吗?O(∩_∩)O~)

hair on the back of my neck standing up  害怕;紧张(这个短语也很形象有木有!脖子后面的汗毛都立起来了,这是得有多紧张,多害怕啊!这还不够,我们的蒋甲童鞋又连续用了两个表示紧张的句子“I was sweating.”--我全身冒汗,还有“my heart was pounding.”--注意,这里他用的pound,表示“重击”,大家想想,心脏一直在不停地重击,感觉都要跳出嗓子眼儿啦,好紧张好紧张~)

menacing  adj. 险恶的;恐吓的(说到“凶险,险恶”,大家想到了谁?最近大热的反腐剧《人民的民义》中,我们的祁同伟厅长可谓是menacing, 谋害了自己的好友陈海,让他演了几乎一整部“床戏”,咳咳,被撞成植物人在病床上趟了一整部剧啊,惨不惨!还有小跟班程度,看他的长相就很menacing,还有......容嬷嬷,哎呀,又暴露了自己的年龄,00后们自己去百度一下吧o(╯□╰)o)

chubby  胖乎乎的;loveable 可爱的 (这两个形容词跟menacing形成了强烈的对比,看到这两个词,大家想到了谁?你身边有没有胖乎乎又可爱的人儿?我嘛,想到了贾玲,还有我可爱的小舅妈,哈哈~)

microcosm   n. 缩影 (micro是表示“微小”的前缀,例如大家都熟悉的microsoft--微软,再比如microscope--显微镜)

engaged   adj. 忙碌的;使用中的(演讲中的stay engaged,大家能意会它的意思吗?蒋甲原本是一个一遭遇拒绝就会转身逃跑的人,而在他开始尝试了第一件遭拒绝的事情,即像陌生人借100美元后,经过反思,决定第二天无论发生什么,都不能逃,而要stay engaged,留下来继续交涉,这里stay表示“保持某种状态”的意思,例如伟大的乔布斯有句名言,叫“stay hungry, stay foolish”)

好啦,今天的单词就讲到这儿,撒花,鼓掌,希望对大家有帮助喔,最后给大家留一个小小的assignment---最后一段中”I could’ve said many things. I could’ve explained. I could’ve negotiated.“连用了三个”I could have done sth“的句型,这是英文当中的什么语法现象?在这里为什么要这样用,我们的蒋甲童鞋想要表达什么样的心情呢?欢迎大家踊跃留言,如果这篇文章对你有点小小启发的话,就点个赞吧,比心~

说好的彩蛋呢?当当当当,就是它啦:打开“喜马拉雅”app,搜索“雅ljy”,里面有我录的这篇演讲稿的音频(欢迎吐槽),这样,大家就可以下载到自己的手机里,随时拿出来听,很方便有木有!最后,欢迎大家多提宝贵意见喔,尽情吐槽吧,下集再见~(*  ̄3)(ε ̄ *)

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