侯昌瑋

即使“我”演講前做了充分的準備，但演講效果仍不好。最后“我”明白了失敗的真正原因是自己對于結巴的恐懼，從此“我”坦然面對自己的結巴，自信地應對每一次的公開演說。

主題語境：個人成長 篇幅：347詞 建議用時：8分鐘

1 I could not have been better preparedfor the talk， my first conferencepresentation as a PhD student. I hadlearned my speech by heart， and I hadpracticed the answers to potential audiences questions. The day before thetalk， alone in my room， I felt confident.But as soon as the moderator invited meon stage， I felt like I was walking the plank. I was overwhelmed by a fear I had experiencedtoo many times before—the fear of getting stuck because of my stutter （結巴）.

2 Looking for a strategy to deal with my stutter， I realized I could speak smoothlywhen I recited the text I had learned by heart. But this wasnt a realistic approach to theentirety of my university training. I needed another tool. I tried speech therapy， but the exercisesI learned there didnt make much of a difference. To stop my stutter from affectingmy new career， I would need a more serious intervention.

3 After much hesitation， I decided to finally try psychoanalysis （心理療法） to confrontmy deep feelings of shame related to my stutter. With the help of my therapist， I slowly realizedthe real problem was not the stutter itself; it was my fear of stuttering. I decided to getrid of that fear. It took me about a year to spit out during one of the weekly sessions that I?love myself as I am. Stutter or not， I was going to pursue my desired career in science.

4 My first chance to test my newfound confidence by speaking in public arrived at a departmentalmeeting at the institute where I was a research assistant. I presented my data to25 or 30 people， and received compliments for my speech for the very first time. I returnedhome excited， relieved， and， most of all， proud.

5 Now， I no longer avoid public speaking; instead， I actively seek opportunities to beon the stage. It is rewarding and inspiring， and I feel excited to have a good story to share.And if I happen to stutter along the way， so be it.

Reading Check

Detail

1. Why did the author fail the first presentation？

A. He made no preparation for it.

B. He didnt answer the audiences questions.

C. He suffered the fear of stuttering.

D. He forgot all his speech on stage.

Detail

2. What really helped the author find his problem？

A. Practising speaking.

B. University training.

C. Speech therapy.

D. Psychoanalysis.

Inference

3. What did the author think of his speech in paragraph 4？

A. Exciting.

B. Successful.

C. Frustrating.

D. Ridiculous.

Detail

4. How does the author finally deal with his difficulty？

A. Just face it.

B. Recite the speech.

C. Cure it at last.

D. Always ignore it.

Language Study

Ⅰ. Useful expressions

learn sth by heart 牢記；熟記

walk the plank 走跳板

make much of a difference 發(fā)揮很大作用；有很大影響

relate to 涉及；與……有關

get rid of 除掉；擺脫

Ⅱ. Difficult sentence

Looking for a strategy to deal with my stutter， I realized I could speak smoothly when Irecited the text I had learned by heart. 在尋求應對我結巴的策略中，我意識到當我把熟記的文稿背誦下來時我能講得很順利。

【點石成金】本句是一個主從復合句。句中的Looking for a strategy to deal with mystutter為現(xiàn)在分詞短語作狀語；主句中，動詞realized的后面是省略了that的賓語從句；連詞when引導的是時間狀語從句；I had learned by heart為省略了關系代詞that或which的定語從句，先行詞為the text。