Chapter 36 Improve language skills through careful reading and imitation

There are few new things in the world, and even the greatest speakers rely on reading and books for inspiration.To expand the reserve of words, one must allow one's mind to receive the baptism of words frequently. An unemployed poor man in England walked the streets of Philadelphia looking for work.He went into the office of the great businessman Paul Gibbons and asked to see Mr. Gibbons.Mr. Gibbons looked at the stranger with distrust.His clothes were ragged, the bottom of his sleeves were all worn out, and his whole body was shabby.Mr. Gibbons, partly out of curiosity, partly out of sympathy, agreed to receive him.Gibbons only intended to listen to the other person for a few seconds, but then the seconds turned into minutes, and the minutes turned into an hour, and the conversation continued.After the conversation, Mr. Gibbons called Mr. Roland Taylor, manager of Dillon Publishing Company, one of the big capitalists in Philadelphia, and invited him to lunch with the stranger, and then arranged for him a good job.How could this poor-looking man influence two important people in such a short period of time?

His secret is: excellent English expression skills.In fact, the man was an Oxford graduate who had come to the United States on a business assignment.Unfortunately this mission fails, and he is stranded in the United States with no home—no money, no friends.English is his mother tongue, so he can speak it accurately and beautifully, and those who listen to him immediately forget his muddy leather shoes, ragged coat and unshaven face.His rhetoric became his passport to the highest levels of business. Although this man's story is a bit different, it illustrates a truth: our speech can be used by others as the basis for evaluating us at any time.The words we speak show our cultivation, they tell the listener what our origin is, they are proof of education and culture.

As mentioned earlier, there are only four ways in which we—including you and me—contact the world.Others evaluate us and categorize us based on four things: what we do, what we look like, what we say, and how we say it.However, many people spend their lives in a daze. After leaving school, they don't know how to increase their vocabulary, don't master the meaning of various words, and can't speak accurately and affirmatively.He was accustomed to using the illusory phrases that had been overused in the street and in the office, and it was no wonder that his speech lacked clarity and character, and that he often mispronounced and misgrammatically.I have even heard many college graduates often blurt out the mantra of street hooligans—even college graduates make this mistake, how can we expect those who lack educational opportunities due to lack of financial ability to not do the same?

One afternoon a few years ago, I stood in the Colosseum in Rome, thinking a lot.A stranger approached me—a tourist from the British colonies.He introduced himself first, and then talked about his travel experience in this "Eternal City".In less than three minutes, "You was" and "I done" blurted out one after another.When he went out that morning, he had deliberately polished his shoes and put on spotless and beautiful clothes in an attempt to maintain his self-esteem, but he forgot to decorate his vocabulary so that he could speak beautiful sentences.He would have been ashamed if he had kept his hat on when he approached a lady; but not ashamed--it didn't even occur to him--to offend someone's ears by getting his grammar wrong.His words exposed himself completely, waiting for the judgment and classification of others.His ability to use English words and sentences is really terrible, as if he is constantly proclaiming to the world what an uneducated person he is.

Dr. Eliot declared after a third of a century as president of Harvard University: "There is, I think, only one obligatory lesson in the education of a lady or a gentleman, and that is the use of his native language with precision and grace." These words The significance is far-reaching, and it is worthy of our long-term contemplation. So how can we have an intimate relationship with language that can be expressed in an elegant and precise way?Fortunately our method is not mystical at all, it is very clear.It's an open secret -- Lincoln used it to amazing success.No other American could weave language into such beautiful forms, or utter such incomparably musical phrases: "Hate no one, love all." Could a lazy and illiterate The son of a carpenter who married an ordinary woman with no special knowledge and skills——Lincoln—is especially favored by God, and he is born with a talent for using languages?But there is nothing to prove it.When he was elected to Congress, his official records in Washington included an adjective to describe his education: "Incomplete." During his lifetime, he received no more than 12 months of schooling.So who is his mentor?Sagarin Burney and Carib Hajill in the Kentucky woods, Yagiel Dussey and Drew Knover along the Pigeon River in Indiana—these itinerant elementary school teachers who traveled from this pioneer settlement As long as the local pioneers are willing to exchange ham and corn, they will stay and teach children to "read, write, and count".Lincoln only received little cultural education and ideological enlightenment from them, and his living environment did not give much help to his language ability.

None of the farmers, businessmen, and litigants he befriended in the Eighth Judicial District of Illinois possessed a special or magical gift for languages.But Lincoln didn't—you have to remember this important fact—wasn't wasting all his time on these companions who were as talented as himself or less.He became good friends with bright minds—the most famous singers, poets, etc. of all ages.He could recite entire volumes of poems by Burns, Byron, and Browning, and wrote speeches commenting on Burns.He kept a collection of Byron's poems in his office and another in his house.The book in the office, because I often read it, as soon as I pick it up, it will automatically turn to the page of "Don Juan".Once he entered the White House, the tragedy of the Civil War consumed his energy and carved deep lines into his face, but he still seized a moment to read in bed a copy of Hood's poetry.Sometimes he wakes up late at night, flips through his poetry collections, and happens to come across poems that have special revelation or make him happy.He would get up immediately, put on pajamas and slippers, and quietly search for his secretary in various rooms of the White House, and then read one poem after another to the secretary.He will also find time to review the Shakespeare masterpieces he has already memorized, and he will also criticize some actors' understanding of Shakespeare and put forward his own unique opinions. Shakespeare's plays. Read as many times as any lay reader. King Lear, Richard III, Henry VIII, Hamlet, and especially Macbeth. I don't think there is a play like Macbeth, Very well written!"

Lincoln loved poetry.He not only recited and read aloud in private, but also in public, and even tried to write poetry.He had recited one of his long poems at his sister's wedding.By middle age, he had filled a notebook with his own writing—although he had no confidence in the creations and wouldn't even allow his best friend to read them. Robinson wrote in his book "Lincoln's Literary Accomplishment": "This self-taught man, who decorated his thoughts with real cultural materials, can be called a genius. His achievement process, and Professor Emerton's description The education of Erasmus, one of the leaders of the Renaissance movement, was the same: leaving school, he could only educate himself until he succeeded by the only method of education. This method is never-ending study and practice.”

Lincoln, the clumsy pioneer, spent his youth peeling corn and butchering hogs on his farm in Pigeon River, Indiana, for a meager wage of a penny three a day.But then at Gettysburg he gave the most brilliant speech ever made by mankind.A total of 100,000 troops participated in the Battle of Gettysburg, and 7,000 were killed.The famous orator Somner said shortly after Lincoln's death that when the memory of the battle disappeared from people's minds, Lincoln's speech was still branded in people's hearts.If the battle is remembered again, it must be primarily because of Lincoln's speech.Who can deny the accuracy of this prophecy?

The famous statesman Ave Wright gave a two-hour speech in Gettysburg, but what he said was long forgotten.Although Lincoln's speech lasted less than two minutes - a photographer wanted to take a picture of him giving a speech, but before he could set up the original camera and get into focus, Lincoln's speech was over. The full text of Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg is engraved on an incorruptible copper plate, and displayed in the library of Oxford University, as a model of English writing: everyone who studies speech, should have recited it: Eighty-seven years ago our fathers founded a new nation on this continent, conceived liberty, and dedicated themselves to the belief that all human beings are created equal.Now we are in a great civil war.We are testing whether this country, or any country with this proposition and belief, can exist for a long time.We are met on the great battle-field of that war.We have dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.It is very fitting and proper for us to do so.But, in larger terms, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground.The brave men, living and dead, who fought here have hallowed this ground, and it is not for us to add or take away.The people of the world will not notice, much less remember for long what we have said here.They will never forget what these people did here.We the living, on the contrary, should be dedicated to the unfinished work which those who fought here have so valiantly advanced—and by their honorable sacrifices, we are all the more determined to finish the cause to which they gave all—we are So determined, that their death should not be in vain--that this nation, under God, be born anew in liberty--that that government of the people, by the people, and for the people should not perish from the face of the earth.

Many believe that the immortal sentence at the end of this speech was composed by Lincoln.But is this really the case?A few years before the Gettysburg speech, Lincoln's partner in law, Herndon, had given Lincoln a copy of Buckle's complete speeches.Lincoln finished reading the whole book and wrote down this sentence in the book: "Democracy is direct self-government, governed by all people, rights belong to all people, and are shared by all people." Buckle's words may be borrowed from Webster, because In his reply to Hayney four years ago, Webster said: "Democratic government is established for the people, composed of the people, and responsible to the people." Webster expressed the same sentiment a third of a century ago.And who should President Monroe thank?500 years before Monroe was born, the British religious reformer Wycliffe said in the preface to the English translation of the Bible: "This Bible is translated for a government of the people, by the people, and for the people." Before Wycliffe, more than 400 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, when Cleon delivered a speech to the citizens of Athens, he also talked about a ruler who was "of the people, by the people and for the people".And from which ancestor Cleon got this idea, that is an ancient past that cannot be verified anymore.

There are so few new things in the world that the greatest speakers also rely on reading and books for inspiration. read!That's the secret to success.If you want to expand your text reserves, you must let your mind often accept the baptism of literature.John Bright said: "When I go to the library, I can only feel a kind of sadness: life is too short, and I can't fully enjoy the rich and delicious food presented in front of me." Bright left school at the age of 15 and went to the cotton factory Work and never had the chance to go to school.Yet he became the most brilliant orator of his time, renowned for his mastery of the English language.He read, studied, took notes, and recited long poems by Byron, Milton, Wordsworth, Whittle, Shakespeare, Shelley and other famous poets.He reads it from beginning to end every year to increase his vocabulary and literary material. British orator Fox perfected his speaking style by reciting Shakespeare aloud.Graystone called his study a "temple of peace" with 15,000 volumes - and he admits to benefiting from reading St Augustine, Bishop Butler, Dante, Aristotle and Homer, among others shallow.He was so fascinated by Homer's Greek epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, that he wrote six books commenting on Homer's epics and the background of his time. When the famous British politician and speaker Peter was young, he often read one or two pages of Greek or Latin works, and then translated them into English.He did so consistently for ten years, and as a result "he acquired the incomparable power of translating his thoughts into the most succinct and best-arranged language without prior thinking." The famous ancient Greek orator and statesman Demosthenes copied the historian Thucydides's historical works eight times, hoping to learn the historian's gorgeous, noble and touching diction.However, two thousand years later, in order to improve his speech style, President Wilson had to devote himself to studying the works of Demosthenes.The famous British speaker Asquith found that reading the works of the great philosopher Bishop Berkeley is the best training for his speech style. British Poet Laureate Tennyson studied the Bible every day, and the great writer Tolstoy read and reread the New Testament Gospel and finally recited it.Ruskin's mother forced him to recite chapters of the Bible every day, and stipulated that the entire Bible should be read aloud every year, "every syllable, every word, from Genesis to Revelation".In the end Ruskin attributed his literary success to these rigorous trainings. RIS is widely recognized as the most beloved initials in the English script, as it stands for Stevenson, the famous Scottish writer who could be called a writer's writer.How did he achieve the glamorous style for which he is famous?Luckily he told me his story himself: “Whenever I read a book or an article that I find very enjoyable—it says a thing well, makes an impression, or they have obvious force, or Pleasant traits in style - I make sure to sit down right away and imitate these traits. Often it doesn't work the first time, then I try again. Usually a few times in a row I don't succeed, but I at least never fail In the experiment, the rhythm of the article, the harmony and structure of each part were practiced. "I have imitated Hester, Lamb, Wordsworth, Sir Browne, Defoe Hawthorne, and Montaigne in this assiduous way. "Whether I like it or not, this is how I learn to write. Whether I get something out of it or not, that's how I learn. That's how the great poet Keats learned, and there's never been a better writer in English literature than Keats. Beautiful poet. "The most important point of this method of imitation is: the object of imitation always has characteristics that you cannot fully imitate. Try it, you will definitely fail. And 'failure is the mother of success' is indeed an old and very accurate adage .” We have cited many examples of successful people, the secret has been fully disclosed.Lincoln wrote to a young man who aspired to become a lawyer: "The secret of success is to pick up a book, read and study carefully. Work, work, work is the most important thing."