滋味人生
作者：
2011年8月17至22日，美國副總統約瑟夫 拜登（Joseph Biden）應邀對中國進行正式訪問。在即將結束訪問之際，拜登於21日來到四川大學就中美關係進行演講，並與數百名學子展開互動。本期《滋味人生》選取了拜登在互動環節對川大學生提出的有關演講與雙邊關係問題的回答。讓我們一起來感受這位能言善辯的副總統的妙語連珠吧！
人物背景
約瑟夫 拜登（Joseph Biden），現任美國奧巴馬政府副總統。29歲當選參議員，是當時史無前例的最年輕的參議員。拜登在外交政策方麵是一位重量級人物，在參議院的任職時間比經驗豐富的共和黨候選人麥凱恩（John McCain）長十年，比奧巴馬的任職時間多出近三十年。拜登在華盛頓被認為是一位學院派人物，可以在發表熱情讚揚言論之後立刻言辭犀利。
Questions： 【no sound】
（1） What role has public speaking played in your life？
（2） What role do you think public speaking will play among our youth of the two countries and to our bilateral relations？
The 1）commodity that is worth a lot more than public speaking is 2）sincerity when one speaks. I mean this sincerely now. （Laughter.） There are great 3）orators that have come along in the world history who have been 4）charlatans. So the most important thing to look to in a leader’s speech is not the 5）elegance or the 6）rhetorical 7）flourish of his or her comments， but the judgment of whether or not you believe they are sincere in what they are saying.
Secondly， you 8）compliment me by saying I’m a 【sic】 accomplished public speaker. I don’t know whether you had an opportunity to see a movie that has gotten worldwide 9）circulation called The King’s Speech. Well， but for the royal blood and the money， that could have been me. I was a serious 10）stutterer when I was in school as a child， as a high school student， and even into college. And I practiced very， very hard by myself， standing in front of a mirror， trying to 11）enunciate without 12）contorting my face.
When you think about it， whether it’s China or America， the only 13）impediment people free feel…feel free to make fun of and humor of is a stutterer. If I had a 14）deformed face， you would not make fun of my face. But if I stood before you and ta-ta-talked to-to-to you like that， you’d do what you’re now—you’re smiling. And it’s 15）offensive. It’s offensive. Because it is a serious impediment. When one stutters， people believe they are stupid. People believe they are not worth much. And there’s tens of millions of people around the world trapped with a keen mind and big heart， trapped inside of a body that cannot 16）articulate what they feel.
And the reason I bother to mention that to you is to get to the third and most important point. Speech， communication—to state the obvious—is the 17）currency of understanding. It’s the currency with which we exchange ideas. It’s the stuff from which flows the sense of whether one is being truthful or honest or sincere. We judge from the way people speak whether they’re being 18）transparent and open， whether they’re being 19）cramped and 20）cabined. And so the thing that I’m most embarrassed about in my career of 38 years of having an opportunity to literally meet every major world leader in the last 38 years. I was elected as a 30…29-year-old young man from 21）modest means. And I’ve had that opportunity. The thing that always embarrasses me is—and in the back of my head， I’m embarrassed in front of you—I’m embarrassed I can’t speak to you in Chinese. I would seriously—I would rather be able to honor you and show my respect for you by speaking your language， as you honor me by speaking mine.